Cambodia Birding Tours
After being isolated from the birding and travelling world for so long, Cambodia has emerged as one of South-east Asia’s finest birding and cultural destinations. Our comprehensive tour of the country targets both of Cambodia’s endemic species – the beautiful and incredibly localized Cambodian Laughingthrush and Cambodian Tailorbird, as well as many other rare and very special birds, several of which can otherwise only be seen with extreme difficulty at a few isolated and remote sites in Asia!
Our classic tour covers the spectacular and world-renowned temples of Angkor Wat before visiting Cambodia’s key birding localities. The famous Prek Toal water-bird colony and sanctuary at the north-westerly edge of Tonle Sap Lake will offer us the best opportunity to observe the sought-after Greater and Lesser Adjutants, Milky Stork and Grey-headed Fish Eagle. We can expect to find a large population of wintering Sarus Cranes at Ang Trapaeng Thmor before moving onwards to Tmatboey via the Florican grasslands for the Critically Endangered Bengal Florican, Giant and White-shouldered Ibis, Blossom-headed Parakeet, Black-headed Woodpecker, White-rumped Falcon and Spotted Wood Owl. The forests around Okoki will hopefully produce the rare and endangered White-winged Duck, Bar-bellied Pitta, Oriental Bay Owl and Blyth’s Frogmouth and with a bit of luck, the rare and elusive Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo. A boat trip on the Mekong River near Kratie should yield the localized Mekong Wagtail.
Our short short extension to the Cardamom Mountains targets the rarely seen endemics and near endemics of Cambodia. A short stop around the outskirts of Phnom Penh should give us the recently discovered Cambodian Tailorbird before we head to Mount Aural in the Cardomom Mountains. The lush, evergreen forests that cloak the mountain are home to the endemic Cambodian Laughingthrush and near-endemic Chestnut-headed Partridge. We conclude the tour at an area of remote grasslands where we hope to find the very rare Chinese Grassbird and little-known Manchurian Reed Warbler with chances too of the seldom-seen Asian Golden Weaver.