Animal welfare may not be the primary consideration at Koh Kong Safari World, run by Koh Kong International Resort (the casino-hotel a few kilometres away at the border), but the Disneyesque gateway – in a style that Bavaria’s mad King Ludwig II would have found irresistible -doesn’t hint at anything sinister.
The park has the usual zoo animals but it also puts on the sort of live-animal shows banned in most countries, with performances reminiscent of a 19th-century circus sideshow. Every morning, and into the early afternoon, birds ride tiny bicycles, orang-utans dressed up as boxers throw punches and a man puts his head inside a crocodile’s mouth.
