Sam Veasna Center, in the Wat Bo area of Siem Reap, is the authority on birdwatching in Cambodia, with professionally trained English-speaking guides, powerful spotting scopes and a network of camps and bird hides scattered throughout north Cambodia. It uses ecotourism to provide an income for local communities in return for a ban on hunting and cutting down the forest.
Locally, SVC's most popular trip is to the spectacular Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary in the Tonlé Sap wetland area. It also runs trips to Ang Trapeng Thmor Reserve, about 100km from Siem Reap, one of only a handful of places in the world where it’s possible to see the extremely rare sarus crane. All tours include transport, entrance fees, guides, breakfast, lunch and water. New destinations opening up include Chung Kran Roi mountain in the Varin District, home to some rare forest birds.
Day trips include a visit to one of the local communities. Hotel pick-up is at around 6am and drop-off is by nightfall.
Some of the proceeds from the Prek Toal tours go towards educating children and villagers about the importance of the birds and the unique flooded-forest environment.
