CAMBODIA

Beginning of april 2016, we head to Phnom Tamao zoo, 45 kilometers south of the capital, where the facilities of Free The Bears "FTB" are located. Matt invited us to come and discover this sanctuary which counts 137 bears. There are moon bears and sun bears. Our first surprise is to discover that moon bears are not always black and we are subjugated by the beauty of a female with golden fur. The sun bear is the smallest of the bears, its hair is short and it is easily recognized by its orange- yellow U-shaped task on the chest and its small ears. Its exaggerated claws and its long tongue serve to extract the honey and the insects from which it feeds. All of these bears were rescued by the team of Free The Bears before to be sold in bile farms or restaurants.

Matt is counting on our presence to improve the children playground area. In this area, children discover information about the wildlife while having fun. This mission is much simpler than that of Kuang Si in Laos and fortunately for us, because the high temperature (50° in the sun) makes the physical work harder.

Nev, the head of the "FTB" center, takes us to the house where we will stay until the end of April. We were expecting a comfortable home, but what we discover exceeds by far our expectations. This villa with swimming pool, provided by a sympathizer of the NGO, is immense and exceptionally, there are no volunteers this month. It is a real paradise where we can rest and recover after these 5 months in Laos, where we worked very hard.

The next day, we are on the ground to imagine and order the equipment needed for the new installations. We are going to build new low walls and add soil, in order to protect the existing trees and let the vegetation regain life and increase the plant area. We wish to build a wooden platform on two levels, identical to the one found in the bear enclosures, with the traditional hammock that the plantigrades love so much. We will also build a wooden roof on the entrance corridor where posters and photos will bring information about the fauna of Cambodia. Other small improvements and modifications will be carried out in parallel if time permits. We work with Cambodian workers who have an incredible resistance to heat. Lack of material slows down the work, but the New Year is coming and we must stop the construction for 5 days in order that visitors can enjoy the area.

Once the new year is finished, we resume our activity on the children playground. The temperatures are extreme, and we record 50° on the roof that we are covering with logs. This cover must resist the macaques who have the reputation of destroying everything that passes into their hands, as for example my sunglasses of which I could only save the glasses.

We accelerate the rate the last week to finish the maximum of things and Matt, his team and especially the children are very satisfied with the changes made to the playground. We gave a boost and the members of the team are very motivated to continue this project which is now in their hands.

We have to leave the country and follow the road 7, which will allow us to return to Laos from the south. The rice field landscape is still monotonous, but we finally go through forests in the northeast. It is in this area that the bears are the most numerous, but unfortunately the forest often leaves place for huge plantations of palm oil. This junk is everywhere and I can assure you that when we see the disaster created by the production of palm oil, we look at the labels of what we buy and we BOYCOTT here, in Europe and everywhere in the world.