Given that I’ve become slightly obsessed with butterflies of late, I was excited to see that there was a butterfly sanctuary to the west of Siem Reap. Taking a break from exploring ruins, I decided to visit this paradise in the hopes of discovering some new butterflies that I would eventually add to my Minecraft mod.
After a brief lie in and a short tuk-tuk ride, we found our way to the Butterfly Paradise. There was no one else around and the place looked empty from the outside. Everything was so quiet that I was worried it wasn’t open on that day. Thankfully, once inside we found a couple of staff members at the ticket counter. They seemed surprised to see us, but were happy to sell us tickets.
We were given a map of the Butterfly Paradise, which showed the various areas of the park, including a Tortoise Pool, Koi Pond, and Rabbit Hutches. It was laid out so that you could walk a single path and see the all the installations along the way, though there were shortcuts you could take if you missed something, or wanted to skip a part of it.
The first things I noticed on walking in were not butterflies. They had a couple of tortoises living in a small enclosure, next to the koi pond. They seemed happy enough, despite their limited space. As is usual, the koi pond seemed filled to the brim with orange and white fish.
The park itself consisted of concrete paths surrounded by tropical vegetation: food to allow the butterflies to flourish. The whole area was covered in netting, keeping predators out while trapping the butterflies within. Many different species of butterflies fluttered around, though it was hard to get close enough to take good pictures.
One of the first areas I visited outside of the main area was a room dedicated to preserving butterfly eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises. The staff member here happily showed off some of specimens at each stage. They even had some caterpillars that were halfway through metamorphing into chrysalises. This was the most interesting part to me, since eggs and chrysalises are hard to spot in the wild.
The next area felt more like a small zoo than a butterfly sanctuary. Here they had small glass enclosures containing anything from snakes, grouse and hens, geckos, rabbits, and more. There didn’t seem to be any logical order to the displays other than “these are cool animals to see.” I wasn’t that interested, so I went back to the sanctuary proper to see what butterflies I could see.
There weren’t as many butterflies as I expected, but many were flying around, clinging to nets or landing on leaves. Among them I spotted Commanders and Common Birdwings, two I had learned to identify already. It seems these are the main two breeds kept at the Butterfly Paradise.
After a short while it became obvious there was nothing more to see so, after saying goodbye to the tortoises, and the rabbits, and a random white dove, I left to order a tuk-tuk to my next destination.
While I had some fun at the Butterfly Paradise, I was left unimpressed. In hindsight I would realise how this sanctuary wasn’t too great after visiting one in Bali. Still, it’s good that it exists here, as it’s a site built to help children learn about butterflies and the nature around them. Something that is much needed in a country that cares a lot about education.
