SAMBO- The elephant ride at base of Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phnom Penh’s beloved elephant, Sambo, will be allowed to go back go giving rides at Wat Phnom, but only after her owner promises in writing to stop causing traffic jams during rush hour, municipal governor Kep Chuktema said.
Mr Chuktema said Sambod, who has been banned from walking the streets since Saturday, would have to stay home until her owner writes the governor a letter promising not to walk the elephant home along the riverside during the evening rush hour, when the area in congested.
“I understand that the owner wants to show to the tourist our friend—to see the elephant and give something to the elephant—but the traffic jam is not good. The big problem is here,” Mr Chuktma said, adding that he would send Sambo to the Phnom Tamao zoo if her owner refuse to comply.
The ban followed complaints from people forced to wait for the elephant as it stopped at vendors on the Sisovat Quay during rush hours, he said, noting that he did not object to the pachyderm’s presence on city streets.
“I like this elephant; she as a history during the Pol Pot regime. And we can say the elephant is part of the landscape of Phnom Penh.”
Sin Sorn, Sambo’s owner, said that he was happy to follow the governor’s wishes and change the time he takes the elephant back to her overnight home opposite the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“I will follow what the municipality orders and will agree to make a promise not to bring Sambo back at the time when there are traffic jams,” Mr Sorn said.
Crowds celebrated Sambo’s 50 birthday at Wat Phnom this year, which marked 42 years since Mr Sorn took her out of jungle of Kompong Speu. The elephant spent four hard years under Khmer Rouge working farmland before reuniting with her master after the regime’s collapse. Sambo arrived in Phnom Penh in 1982 and remains the city’s only elephant.
Additional Reading...
This site runs on the Thesis WordPress Theme
If you’re someone who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, HTML, or CSS, Thesis will give you a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via extensive hooks and filters. And with so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site.
