Tourism & Destination: Mondolkiri, Towards the Land of Elephants

My wife and I decided one day during a long weekend to set off and explore the north, towards the provinces of Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri. We were looking for somewhere different from the beach and far from Phnom Penh. We decided to venture there by car, and it turned out to be a very pleasant trip, both in terms of the places we discovered and the driving conditions.

On the way to the Land of Elephants

So off we go, a few kilometres from Phnom Penh, taking Highway 8, where traffic is still relatively light on this May morning. We quickly approach the Vietnamese border. As we drive through the town of Snuol, the agricultural landscape changes, with rice fields and sugar palms lining the road giving way to a multitude of pepper farms and rubber plantations stretching for several hectares, rows of slender trees ready to be stripped by tappers to extract the latex, which will then be sent to Chinese tyre factories.

We then headed to Sem Monorom to meet Torn from the Bunong Elephant Project. There are several similar projects offering trekking and elephant rides in this region, but this one came highly recommended due to its professionalism and involvement with the local Bunong community.

There are many different packages available, ranging from multi-day jungle treks with immersion in a local village to simple rides and swims with the gentle pachyderms lasting a few hours.

Torn kindly organised a simple, personalised day for us with trekking, a visit to the waterfalls followed by an encounter with the elephants before a final swim in the river. For this type of day, we paid $35 per person, which included drinks and meals, and the number of tourists was limited to ten. There are no elephant rides, only an encounter, the opportunity to swim with them, walk with them, and feed them.

After a long day of travelling, we decided to go for a few drinks at Chill on the Rocks. It's a small place, with only two tables with benches inside and a few more on the patio. Run by a friendly Swedish couple, Chill on the Rocks is a pleasant place to stop for a cocktail or a beer.

The prices are reasonable, between $1.75 and $2.50 for a cocktail, and they also offer a few tapas dishes. Although this bar also has a menu, we decided to look for somewhere a little more spacious to have dinner in town, and we ended up at the Hangout, a few dozen metres further down the road.

The space is more open and there are more tables.

We had forgotten that the evenings were cool in this part of Cambodia and, even with our jumpers on, we were shivering and eager to get back to our bungalow, which we did after wolfing down a quick dinner of a few basic but well-prepared Khmer dishes, curry and noodles.

The next morning, we were ready for our hike. Torn picked us up around eight o'clock, and we set off in his 4x4 with several other tourists towards the hills. After barely fifteen minutes on the road, two groups of walkers formed and we set off with our guide Bunong, who explained along the way that his ethnic group is the most represented in this part of Cambodia and that Khmer is his second language. With my more than basic Khmer, the conversation was easy...

The hike took us through the hills, then a valley where we crossed a Bunong farm, before arriving at the bamboo jungle. During this hike, the variety of landscapes was quite impressive and, as we made our way through the jungle, we looked for signs of wildlife but only spotted a few claw marks on a tree, elephant dung and fallen bamboo. We ask our guide if he often sees snakes, and he shrugs his shoulders and says, ‘Sometimes yes, sometimes no...’, which doesn't really reassure us. For a quick meal, we stop near a small waterfall, which is quite pleasant even if the water is quite cold. At 2pm, we finally join the other group of hikers sitting around the river, listening to their guide's elephant stories while some of them splash around in the river, splashing us profusely.

Some of us take short walks alongside the animals, while others head over to join the two elephants in the water to give them a good scrub, which is an excellent way to discover just how massive yet peaceful these animals are. We then feed them bananas and sugar cane. We watch them dry off and set off again.

The next day, we plan to leave for Ban Lung, in the province of Ratanakiri, but we are in no hurry to leave. The night before, we had dinner with a young Swedish couple we met on our hike, and we invited them to join us to discover Boo Sra Waterfall, the largest in the region. It is located forty-three kilometres from the city centre in the district of Pich Chenda, and the road is fairly easy, so it won't take us more than thirty minutes to get there.

This waterfall is very popular with locals, who have made it a favourite spot for picnics and swimming. The upper level is about ten metres high and the lower level drops 25 metres down to the gorge. It is a picturesque and relatively unspoilt setting that makes for some beautiful photos. Nearby is the ethnic village of Phnong called Pichinda, which also offers a small guesthouse.

The waterfall is not accessible at all levels, so it is best to stick to the small paved walkway that leads to the main falls, where you can enjoy a vigorous shower and a cold water massage. On the way back, we stopped at a coffee plantation three kilometres before the town. The plantation is very pretty, with several other fruit trees alongside the coffee plants, including passion fruit.

Unfortunately, there were no guided tours or information available. However, there was a restaurant, and we enjoyed a very typical Khmer meal, accompanied by excellent coffee, of course. We then bought half a kilo of Arabica beans at $20 per kilo, a little expensive, but such a pleasure cannot be refused before setting off for Ratanakiri.

Text: Michael Berg – Illustrations: Michael Berg and Chiara Abbate. Translation: Christophe Gargiulo

---

Useful addresses:

1. Rent a car from Phnom Penh or Siem Reap: https://avis.com.kh/. Tel: +855 (0)23 884 744

2. Indigenous People’s Lodge: http://www.indigenouspeoplelodge.com/ Tel: +855 (0)12 72 53 758

3. Bunong Elephant Tours: http://bunongelephantproject.org/ Tel: +855 (0)97 816 2770