Cambodia's crocodile farms: A photojournalist's up-close encounter

I nervously stepped up onto a shaky rusted stairway, leading to a planked walkway where I first saw the dozens of mature crocodiles who, I was later told, hadn't eaten in over a week. There was no protective cage or net above the cemented holding area and my immediate nightmare was to accidentally lean over, cartwheeling into the pen that looked like a mix of Jaws and Jurassic Park.

Crocodile Photo Essay

Legend has it that the Khmer Rouge use to feed prisoners to the crocodiles. Lately, the owners of the crocodile farms have been criticized for charging tourists $10 so they can feed live chickens and ducks to the hungry, toothy reptiles.

Near the end of my second trip to view the famous Angkor Temples of Cambodia, I walked into the Khmer Crocodile Shop, in the Old Market section of Siem Reap. Inside the shelves were stocked with an assortment of items, including handbags, belts and small stuffed crocodiles. After I identified myself as a reporter, the owner offered me a free tour of his crocodile farm just a few miles away.

It turns out there's been a bit of a push to make the numerous crocodile farms in and around Siem Reap an alternative destination for temple fatigued tourists. The crocodile farms raise the lizard for its meat and hide. Cambodia's market for crocodiles is in Thailand and Vietnam where they fetch between $600-$800 each, with the more yellow-skinned crocodiles earning a higher price.

At the end of each tour lies a boutique with various leather goods. The crocodile wallet looked tempting to me but I couldn't pull the trigger on the sale. The whole thing looked like an antiquated dirty zoo. All three of the farms I ended up visiting had seen better days.

My faithful taxi driver confessed that he rarely takes tourists to the farms.

Travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia

The great Angkor temples around Siem Reap are the iconic tourist image of Cambodia. These World Heritage sites are the reason the Southeast Asia country draws in over 10 million tourists a year. The most famous, Angkor Wat, is the largest religious structure in the world. On any given morning during the November to April dry season, you can expect thousands to witness the sunrise over the three iconic spires of Angkor Wat. Round trip airfare from Syracuse is about $1500.

The ninth annual Angkor Photo Festival in late November brought me back to Siem Reap again. It is the largest and best photo festival in Southeast Asia. The exhibits and venues showcase some of the highest caliber photojournalism from across the globe. Seeing the work and meeting the photographers who produced it was a real inspiration for me. The best part of this festival is that it's free.

Having made the trip to Siem Reap twice I've budgeted my stays at about $55 dollars a day including lodging, meals, transport, temple pass and even laundry. I stayed at the Shadow of Angkor Guesthouse for $25 a day. It has clean, comfortable quarters with modern amenities like private bath, air conditioner, refrigerator and a balcony. It sits along a small river in the old sleepy French district and is a five minute walk to the night life of the Old Market, including the infamous Bar Street.

The food expense is an even better buy. I budget in about $5 per meal, be it breakfast at the guesthouse or an evening meal at the Red Piano -- frequented by Angelina Jolie-- on Bar Street. I hired one of the guesthouse drivers at $15 a day, riding in a motor bike pulled carriage. You can buy a temple pass, good for any temple, for use on any six days of the month, for $60.

Tourism exploded in Cambodia from two events that occurred in the late 1990s: The final surrender of the Khmer Rouge and the construction of the modern airport in Siem Reap, the central destination for the Angkor temples. Besides the expensive airfare from the US, Cambodia is very affordable. The only problem is that you have a lot of competition from tourists around the world.

Sourced: Cambodia News