Mondulkiri, four days in the forest
Four days east of everything: hill forest, Bunong villages, a night on the Mekong at Kratie, and a day walking with elephants that are not carrying anyone and never will again.
At a glance
- Days
- 4 days, 3 nights
- Group
- Maximum 8
- Start
- Phnom Penh
- End
- Phnom Penh
- Effort
- Moderate, forest walking
- From
- USD 410 per person
Who this is for
For people who have ten days or more in Cambodia and want a landscape that is not temples and not rice. Mondulkiri is hill forest and grassland at a thousand metres, half its population is Bunong rather than Khmer, and in December you will want a jumper at night, which nobody packs for Cambodia.
It is also the only trip we run where the animal welfare question is front and centre, and it is worth being clear about what we are and are not offering.
The elephants, said plainly before you book
You will walk into forest with a guide and a Bunong keeper, find the elephants where they happen to be that morning, and watch them feed and move for two to three hours.
- You will not ride them. Nobody rides them and nobody has for years.
- You will not bathe them, feed them by hand or pose with them. All of those require an animal to be controlled, and control is the thing we are trying not to pay for.
- The projects we use pay Bunong owners a monthly amount so the elephants do not have to work, and manage the forest they live in.
- Some days you get within twenty metres. Some days you spend two hours watching backs move through undergrowth at eighty metres and that is the whole visit.
- There are four or five animals, not thirty. This is a small project in a large forest.
Then this is the wrong trip and we would rather you knew now than on the morning. Places offering bathing and hand-feeding exist in Cambodia and we will not book them for you.
The reasoning in full is on responsible travel.
Day by day
Phnom Penh to Kratie, and the dolphins at dusk
Leave Phnom Penh at 08:00 and drive four and a half hours north-east on National Road 7, along the Mekong for the last stretch. Lunch in Kratie, a grid of unrestored French shophouses on the riverfront where nothing has been done for visitors.
Late afternoon out to the Kampi pool, 15 km north, in a small boat that cuts its engine and drifts. Irrawaddy dolphins live in a handful of deep pools in this stretch of the Mekong. The population fell to around eighty animals and has recovered to just over a hundred since the fishing ban in the core pools was enforced. Sightings are common and never guaranteed.
Sunset on the Kratie riverfront afterwards, which is the town's entire social life.
Kratie to Sen Monorom, and the first afternoon in the hills
A four-hour drive east, and the change in landscape is the point of the day. Rice gives out, the road climbs, rubber and cashew give way to hill forest and open grassland, and the temperature drops five or six degrees.
Afternoon at Bousra waterfall, two tiers 40 km east of Sen Monorom, powerful between June and November and still worth the drive in the dry months. The most visited place in the province, which here means twenty people.
Back to Sen Monorom for the evening. Bring a layer: at a thousand metres, December and January nights drop to around fifteen degrees.
A day with the elephants, and a Bunong village
The whole morning at the forest project. A short drive, then a walk in with a Bunong keeper to find the elephants. Two to three hours watching them feed and move, at whatever distance they choose. Lunch at the project.
Afternoon in a Bunong village with a Bunong guide who does the talking. This is a household that has agreed to receive visitors and is paid directly, and there is usually something being made for use rather than for sale: a resin torch, a basket, rice wine in a jar. If a walk to a resin tree is on offer, take it.
Optional homestay night here instead of the guesthouse: a mattress under a net, a shared wash, and a household that gets up at five.
Seima forest at dawn, then the long drive back
Out at 06:00 into the Seima protected area, which holds significant populations of black-shanked douc and yellow-cheeked gibbon. Gibbons are heard far more often than seen; douc are seen more often than people expect. Two hours, then back for a late breakfast.
The drive to Phnom Penh is six and a half to seven and a half hours and there is no way to make it shorter. We break it at Snuol and again for lunch, and you will be in the city by early evening. If you are flying, book nothing before 21:00.
Prices
| Party size | Simple | Best available |
|---|---|---|
| 2 travellers | USD 590 | USD 740 |
| 3 - 4 travellers | USD 480 | USD 610 |
| 5 - 8 travellers | USD 410 | USD 530 |
What is included
What the price includes
- Three nights: one in Kratie, two in Sen Monorom, named in your quotation
- Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver throughout, including the long return leg
- English-speaking guide throughout, plus a Bunong guide in the province
- The full-day forest elephant visit, including the project's fee and lunch
- Boat to the Kampi dolphin pool with life jackets, and the community entry fee
- Bousra waterfall and Seima protected area entrance
- 24-hour Cambodian phone support
What it does not include
- International flights, the Cambodian visa and insurance
- Lunches and dinners other than the day-3 project lunch, and all drinks
- The village homestay, if you add it
- Warm clothing, which you will want and which nobody brings
- Tips
Photographs
Who this tour is not right for
- Anyone who wants to ride, bathe or hand-feed an elephant. We do not book those activities and this is the trip where that matters most.
- Travellers who dislike long drives. There are two seven-hour-equivalent days in four, and no flight exists to shorten them.
- Anyone travelling July to October, if forest walking is the reason. The province is green and beautiful and the laterite tracks are slow and slippery.
- People who need good hotels. The best room in Sen Monorom is a comfortable family-run guesthouse at around USD 40 and there is nothing above it.
- Trips of under ten days in Cambodia. This costs you four days including two travel days, and on a short trip that is the wrong trade.
How it fits
Most people bolt this onto Angkor and Phnom Penh, which makes a twelve-day trip. If you want that as one booking, it is Cambodia in depth, 14 days, which adds Battambang and the coast. Background on the province is on the Mondulkiri page and on Kratie.
Questions travellers ask most
Will I be able to touch the elephants?
No. You walk into the forest and watch them feed and move at whatever distance they choose, which is sometimes twenty metres and sometimes eighty. No riding, no bathing, no hand-feeding. That is the entire point of the projects we use.
How bad are the drives?
Four and a half hours on day one, four and a half on day two, and about seven on the way back. All on sealed road. There is no flight to Mondulkiri and there will not be one, so the drives are the price of the province.
Will I see the dolphins at Kratie?
Usually. Sightings on a dusk boat at the Kampi pool are common and never guaranteed, and what you see is a back and a blunt head at a distance for a second at a time. December to May is the more reliable window.
Is a homestay worth adding?
If you want the evening more than you want a comfortable bed, yes. It is a mattress under a mosquito net, a shared wash with a water scoop, and a household awake at five. We never include one without being asked.
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