Prek Toal Sanctuary: Birdwatching in Cambodia

Explore Tonle Sap Lake and Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary on a private tour from Siem Reap. Discover diverse wildlife, floating villages, and rare bird species.

Duration: 9 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Siem Reap - The tour guide and driver will greet guests at the hotel lobby and provide transportation to the pier at Tonle Sap Lake for a private boat journey to explore the bird sanctuary at Prek Toal.
  • Tonle Sap Lake - Located in northwest Cambodia, Tonlé Sap is part of the Mekong River system. It is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast…
What's Included
  • Pick-up & Drop-off at your Hotel by private transfer
  • English Speaking License Tour Guide
  • All Sightseeing Entrance fees
  • All private boat tours around Tonle Sap for all sightseeing sites
  • Prek Toal birds sanctuary entrance Tickets
What's Not Included
  • Tipping for guide and driver
Additional Information

Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary stands as a key avian refuge in Southeast Asia. Experience Cambodia’s remarkable wildlife on an exciting full-day private tour around Tonle Sap Lake, departing from Siem Reap. Observe local life on the water as you navigate past floating villages, markets, and stilted homes, before entering the protected biosphere reserve of…

Location
Siem Reap
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(23 Ratings)
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Pamhockenberry
Jan 27, 2026
Prek Toal tour with floating village & Buddhist Pagoda stops - My husband and I very much enjoyed our all day tour. Leap was our guide and Paeap was our driver. We had a wonderful visit to Prek Toal. The trip from the hotel by van was very comfortable. We then took a larger boat a distance to a floating village were we got into a smaller boat that took us into the reserve. We saw many birds and Leap did an excellent job of pointing them out and identifying them. We enjoyed the viewing tower which allowed us to see the rookery for pelicans, Asian Open Billed, and Painted Storks. On the return we stopped at a baray and a Buddhist Pagoda. Leap did a wonderful job of explaining the history of the area. Everyone that we met was very kind and friendly. We recommend taking this tour. Bring a lunch or ask to purchase one in the floating village. Water is provided. The larger boat motor is loud so bring some earplugs if you are bothered by that.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Passtheflamingo
Jan 7, 2026
Awesome way to experience the bird sanctuary - I would recommend this tour if you want to spend more time seeing the bird sanctuary compared to some other area tours! We had an amazing day seeing the birds, floating village, reservoir and monastery. Our guide (Mr. Sara) and driver (Mr. Pheape) were great—Sara was really knowledgable and helpful, he also asked us on the way to the tour whether we wanted to call ahead to reserve lunch at the floating village, which we did, and it ended up being one of the highlights of the day for us, incredible fresh fish and other dishes.
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Peyamt
Jan 7, 2026
Wonderful and relaxing experience - Really great tour, we had a wonderful time, learning about all the birds in such a relaxed setting! The lunch that was served was especially good, they had freshly caught fish that was grilled! I would recommend this if you have a free day
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Peterda9102bc
Mar 30, 2025
Amazing experience - Absolutely outstanding experience. Our guide Leap was amazing providing detailed experience regarding species of birds. Our driver Pheap was outstanding and punctual picking us up at our hotel. We went deep into the bird sanctuary. The entire process was smooth and seeing the floating villages was also very interesting. I would recommend this trip to any birding enthusiasts as it was fantastic. Would try to do this again in the future.
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Robertlh2287iu
Mar 30, 2025
Best part of my trip to Siem Reap - Absolutely amazing! My favorite part of my trip to Cambodia. We saw a ton of amazing birds and our guide Leap was extremely helpful. Both of our boat trips both on the lake and in the preserve were really fun and the drivers were fantastic. We also got to see a number of the floating villages which was great. Overall can't recommend high enough!!!
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Rasugr
Dec 26, 2024
Genuinely Great Tour - Our tour with Prek Toal was excellent. We went a few days before Christmas and there was just enough water to be able to travel through small waterways instead of on the lake. Apparently the birding will be better in a month but the small waterways will be dry. Communication with Hoksan was easy and our tour guide, Sophal, was excellent. He was great at spotting and identifying the birds, and he also gave a lot of information about the floating village. On other tours I felt we were only seeing what was set up for tourists, but this trip felt genuine. The home where we had lunch was the same as the other homes. The town has had successes and failures and its all there to see. Hoksan is putting the money from these tours back into the community to improve housing and develop sustainable vocations for the residents. One thing to note- bring layers for the temperature on the boat in the morning.
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61theresad
Dec 12, 2024
Great day out of the city - Very informative and interesting day trip. Good bird viewing from tree platform and amazing scenes at Meachrey floating village. Rain was a great guide and he arranged the car and boat components perfectly. We would definitely recommend a trip with Rain.
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Freedom54365831644
Feb 27, 2025
It is still worth a trip to visit! - My guide is Rum, His english is not bad but I guess with their local accent, we may need them to repeat themselves occasionally. Saw quite a number of birds in the santuary so it was a worth while trip. The engine from the boat can be quite loud but you will get used to it. If not, please bring along your noise cancellation ear buds. The tour is a bit pricey though but I hope the funds do help the villagers.
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Goplaces45706126743
Jan 1, 2025
A feast for birders - Prek Toal Birds Sanctuary is a great habitat to observe stunning large water birds from Painted-billed Pelican, Painted Stork, Asian Open-billed to Oriental Darter. Observation tower after a 30 to 45mins-electric sampan boat ride allows one to check out Painted Stork nests from the monocular telescope prepared by the SVC guide, Savobin, a super friendly and passionate young gentleman born in the same Province, Battambang. Read through the bird list provided before departure to get the best experience. Enjoy!
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Andi
Jul 24, 2025
3 hours and £275 and almost no birds! Waste of time and money. Wait until Nov when the birds return. - We wasted £275 to save your money! We were very disappointed with the tour today. The guide gives you a double-sided laminated sheet with all the birds in the park. However, between JUL - NOV there are very few birds. So if you are there for bird-watching, save you money. If, however, you are happy to spend this money for a couple of hours boat trip around the lake and floating villages then fine. I felt sad having to leave a poor review because our guide was so cheerful and enthusiastic, but even he was sad for us to see so few birds. We have travelled all over the world and understand with wildlife trips nothing is guaranteed, but to see only 2 eagles, a couple of bee eaters and a heron in over 3 hours is very poor to say the least!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $179
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).