Greetings from Cambodia - www.freethebears.org.au

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31 Jan - 7 Feb

Greetings from Phnom Penh!! I've had a fantastic first week here in Cambodia working with the bears at Phnom Tamao Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Research Centre. There are 104 bears at the sanctuary, some are Asiatic Black bears (also known as Moon Bears) and others are sun bears, the cutest wee things I've ever seen.

It's not only been hard being back in a routine but also tough, physical labour in VERY hot temperatures. We leave the house at 8am each morning and are back about 4.30pm. Daily duties include feeding the bears, cleaning their enclosures, cleaning their cages (a LOT of bear poo has been shovelled over the last week!), preparing their food of bananas, guava, pineapple and green beans and general maintenance such as painting cages. It's completely different to anything I've done before and great to watch the bears, esp cute wee Nutkin who is only a few months old.

The bear sanctuary is mostly funded by an Aussie organisation called Free the Bears, as a result most of the volunteers and co-ordinators are Aussie...it's like working at First State again 😊 All great guys though and the house we're staying at is very comfortable. The keepers are all Cambodian but my Khmer remains extremely limited.

Prob won't have a chance to be in contact much over next few weeks or update blog as only have limited, slow internet access.

Hope all is well in snowy Scotland.

PS Come on Scotland in the Six Nations!!!

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Comments

[Monaco Mike]

Snowy Scotland
Oi - don't forget you have readers in "snowy England" as well !