APOPO Visitor Center

I had an amazing and meaningful experience at APOPO Visitor Center in Siem Reap. This place is educational, inspiring, and very well organized. The center explains clearly how APOPO trains HeroRATs to detect landmines and tuberculosis. The presentation is informative and powerful, and the staff are professional and friendly. It’s not just a tourist attraction — it’s a place that shows real impact in saving lives and making Cambodia safer. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Siem Reap. ⭐ 5/5 – Inspiring and educational experience.

An excellent tour and a great organisation to support. Our guide was very friendly, informative and funny and made the visit so enjoyable. We didn’t prebook but turned up 15 minutes before the session started to book on. We had a great demonstration of the rat finding the tnt and even got to hold them! Loved Michael Jordan (the fat rat who was described as lazy and a “big boy”). Definitely a must visit in Siem Reap, it’s only an hour and only $10!

100! The APOPO HeroRAT Visitor Center is absolutely incredible and one of the most memorable experiences you can have. The visit is both deeply educational and genuinely inspiring, offering fascinating insight into the history of landmines and unexploded ordnance, as well as the life-saving work APOPO does around the world. Learning about the methods used to train the rats is surprisingly interesting and impressive... you gain a real appreciation for how intelligent, gentle, and effective they are. Watching the HeroRATs at work during live demonstrations is amazing, and seeing how quickly and accurately they detect explosives is truly eye-opening. One of the highlights is the chance to meet and even pet the rats. They are incredibly calm, friendly, and adorable, which completely changes any preconceived ideas you might have about rats. The staff are passionate, knowledgeable, and great at explaining everything in an engaging way.

5/5 Stars – Absolutely unforgettable and inspiring experience! I just visited the APOPO Visitor Center in Siem Reap, and it was hands-down one of the most memorable and meaningful stops of my entire trip to Cambodia. If you’re in Siem Reap (especially after exploring Angkor Wat), do yourself a favor and make time for this—it’s truly special. The staff were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and super informative. Our guide was passionate about the mission, explained everything clearly—from Cambodia’s landmine history to how these incredible HeroRATs (African giant pouched rats) are trained—and answered all our questions with enthusiasm. They made the whole experience feel personal and engaging, and you could tell they genuinely love what they do and care about the cause. The highlight was the live rat detection demonstration—it was mind-blowing! Watching these smart, agile little heroes sniff out “mines” in the simulated field with such precision and speed was impressive beyond words. They scratch to signal a find, get a reward, and it’s all done so safely and efficiently. Seeing them in action really drives home how they’re saving lives and clearing land for communities. (Bonus: we even got to hold one of the gentle giants afterward—they’re surprisingly cute and calm!) This isn’t just a tourist spot; it’s an inspiring look at innovative humanitarian work that’s making a real difference. The center is well-organized, air-conditioned (a nice break from the heat), and great for all ages—kids would love it too. Highly recommend—100% worth the visit. Thank you to the entire APOPO team for the amazing work you do and for sharing it so wonderfully. These HeroRATs (and their human heroes) are true legends! 🐀💥 Would visit again in a heartbeat. 5 stars aren’t enough!

what a great experience! the tour costs 10$ and you can either book online or pay on location (maybe just check before if there are are some booked spaces for your desired time to make sure it takes place). it takes about 45-60 minutes but time flew by! you learn about the rats' training and work and even see a showcase of it. those who want can also hold one of the rats (but for their health and safety you have to wash your arms first). they seem to be taking care of the rats really well and also seem to be mindful of how much they work (e.g. choosing different rats for the showcase and only letting one be held for a short time by a specific number of people). at the end you see some stats and a short video about the organisations work. our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly and you could ask her any questions you might have. there is a small exhibit about the organisations work and some (safe) landmines to look at and a gift shop with merch and some rat plushies. an engaging and informative experience that also supports their important work! don't forget to take a nice stroll through the botanical gardens that are across the road!

Must visit when in Siem Reap! This was such an amazing experience. The tour is about an hour long and you cover so much in that time. We learned how they trained the rats, how the rats are tested, we watched a demo, got to hold a rat and got to learn more about the work they’ve done in Cambodia. It was an incredibly informative and fun experience. I loved getting to hold Nina Banana and getting to see Ashley find explosives. The organization does great work and coming here to support them is well worth your time and money!

It was super interesting to learn about this organization and their efforts to clear away the land mines in Cambodia and all over the world. Then getting to watch the demonstration of how the rats actually clear the fields and alert to a possible explosive device was really captivating. I would highly recommend while visiting Siem Reap.

I was pleasantly surprised with this organisation. Alot of effort has been invested in training & results have been phenomenal. Almost, 45+ million metres squared have been cleared by this initiative, making it mine free. From comparison sake, these rats can cover 5x100m area in less than 30 minutes. Human takes 3-4 days. These rats sniffing sensitivity of TNT is far greater than any known device. There are still more than 15,000 mines to be discovered. Wishes them all the best!