Ang Trapeang Thmor Wildlife Reserve

Address: Ang Trapeang Thmor (protected freshwater wetland), Kampong Thom area, Cambodia

Ang Trapeang Thmor is an artificial reservoir designated as a sanctuary for saurus cranes, though herons, egrets, and storks also frequent this expansive watering hole, especially in the dry months between January and April, when the surrounding countryside is barren. In the dry, non-breeding season more than 300 saurus cranes gather here, alongside over 200 other bird species.

The reservoir lies near the ancient highway that once connected the Khmer capital at Angkor to the city of Phimai, in modern-day Thailand. Although the present reservoir was built with forced labour during the Khmer Rouge era, its position along this old route suggests it may originally have been an Angkor-era work re-excavated much later; an Angkor-era stone bridge survives just before the reservoir.

Adventurous visitors can hire a car out to the reservoir and then a local boat, but the sanctuary is best experienced on a birding tour from an organisation such as the Sam Veasna Center. About 30 minutes back towards Poipet lies the silk village of Phnom Sruk, where a partnership of NGOs and the government has trained several communities in sericulture and silk weaving.