A Local Adventure

It certainly wasn’t the most auspicious of starts to our holiday to be collected by a motorcyclist whilst turning into the laneway that leads to our house, the week before we were scheduled to depart! No bones were broken but a persistent headache and stiff neck, lower back pain and a few scrapes and bruises resulted from slamming down hard on the asphalt road after the front wheel of my bike was clipped by a speeding motorcycle.  I promised myself that if I wasn’t considerably better I would consult a doctor in the capital about the ringing in one ear, white noise in the other and still tender to the touch spots on my head. We even researched which hospital was best to go to. Ha!

Whether the buzz of the traffic blocked out the internal symphony or whether it was the sheer excitement of being back in the big smoke and heading off for a new adventure, I don’t know but I felt better and we contented ourselves with a few luxury meals and aimless wandering in Phnom Penh with the only urgent business being to ascertain how our planned trip to Australia later in the year might impact on our visa renewal process. Good news on that front as we were assured it would all be resolved easily. We willingly believed the welcome news and settled for relaxing into holiday mode, enjoying all the luxuries on offer in the capital.

The van trip to Mondulkiri Province was smooth sailing, once we had done battle to convince the conductor to allow us to sit in the seats we had actually booked three days earlier. That battle won, we settled in for a comfortable ride, entertained by the changes in scenery we were passing. The escape from the city saw the van fill to near capacity and the mountain of luggage and freight, pile higher and higher between our seats and the door. Hopefully there would be no need for an emergency exit. As we wound our way through the ever expanding outskirts and the inevitable development, industrial parks and new luxury residential communities I was amazed that we had never seen this side of PP before.

Quickly the scene changed to great expanses of banana and mango groves with scattered settlements surrounding them. The traditional, Khmer-style, wooden stilt homes we have long admired lined the road on either side and there were a many more variations on the design and size than we see locally in the Kep/Kampot region. It also pleased me that most of the new construction was in this beautiful style and there seemed to be plenty of it. The concrete, new construction we predominantly see and in fact live in, might be more convenient but it cannot complete with the beauty of the classical wooden houses, which blend so well with the natural environment. Some are high above the ground and no doubt have magnificent views from the balconies, while others are up only a few steps from the dusty, chicken and duck filled yards.

The small towns along the route were also predominantly this style of architecture and the roadside stalls and shops sold identical wares and services: clothes, plastic goods, bakery items, fresh fruit, vegetables, and flyblown meat and fish jumbled in with auto-repair workshops, electronics, bicycle and motorcycle outlets, mobile phone agents and snack vendors. Had it not been for the architecture, we could have been on a road trip in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand or southern China and memories of similar trips in those locations flashed through my mind. Purchasing a few sticks of bamboo filled with sticky rice and coconut or beans heightened this feeling. We have eaten this exact snack at roadside stops in the other Asian countries mentioned but this was the first time to encounter it in Cambodia and we were happy to be reacquainted with it.

We hurtled along passing everything possible at break-neck speed; the further from the capital we ventured the more the agricultural practices diversified. Soon rice paddies, obviously producing their second crop for the year and water buffalos were visible in abundance.  To my surprise young pepper plantations also became more and more common. In my ignorance I had thought this crop to be exclusively grown in Kampot and Kep, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the continually falling prices we hear about from growers, were the result of these new regions becoming producers. Another surprise was the plantations full of trees all lined up in perfect rows. It wasn’t until we saw one small grove with the circular cuts and white dishes just below that I realised that these where rubber trees and only some of them were currently old enough to be tapped. A fellow passenger informed us she was the owner of an avocado farm just outside of Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri’s capital but we didn’t see any evidence of these trees only their produce on roadside stalls.

Shortly after crossing into Mondulkiri Province the roadsides boasted huge stands of black sacred bamboo and appeared to be no more than jungle. The roads also became steeper and we encountered the only rough road and repair work for the whole trip. It was short stretch and as the road improved again and the agricultural enterprise also reemerged making me wonder if this was a newly cut section of the highway, which it must be said was in remarkably good repair and very well trafficked. 

A mere six hours later, after a largely uneventful journey we arrived in Sen Monoram and alighted to cooler weather and black clouds looming in the sky. By the time we had off loaded our bags in our chosen budget accommodation and were setting off on foot to explore the small scrappy township, thunder growled in the sky and we thought it prudent to grab the umbrellas but we weren’t deterred from walking the 2 kilometres back along the dusty red soil tracks. All that beautiful architecture also has a downside I was clearly able to see. Large stretches of land have been cleared and logging is obviously big business in these parts.

As the growling thunder intensified we made our way back to the Nature Lodge and observed that these tracks could easily become quagmires in the wet season. Good fortune favoured us and the skies opened up for hours of torrential downpours just moments after we had wandered across the open space to our rather secluded little hut on the expansive grounds. We settled into for a welcome cool evening accompanied by the peaceful sounds of birdsong and rain on the roof.

The real reason for venturing this far north for us and almost every other traveller too I suspect, was the prospect of spending a day with the elephants in one of the fiercely competitive elephant sanctuaries scattered around the town. We did our research and settled for what we thought was the most viable operation at a reasonable price. There are many operators and all offer similar experiences though annoyingly they seem to feel the need to undermine and denigrate each other.

This was the birthday treat I had dialed up from afar and I was not disappointed. We were collected from our lodge at 8:15am promptly and driven to a collection point in town where more companions for the day quickly jumped into the back of the pickup. We having been collected first were able to occupy the cabin space and for this we were grateful.

After the payment of our US$50 per head at the headquarters of the Mondulkiri Project office we set off in two vehicles with both the cabins and the tray backs loaded with expectant adventurers. The ride was short and we all hiked the final leg into the base camp, where it was possible to stay overnight if you had chosen the longer elephant experience and jungle hike option, as some of our companions had. It was the first of several such uphill and down dale hikes for the day and the cooler weather and often-shady conditions were a delight.

mahout 

Our group was larger than I expected with 24 people and a guide who we soon discovered was the founder of the organization: the charismatic Mr. Tree. We were briefed about what to expect for the day and the history, objectives and mission of the Mondulkiri Elephant Rescue Organization as well as specific elephants we might encounter and how they had come to be part of the project. In total there were 6 elephants in the valley: five females and one elusive male, who were told we would not see as his mahout had the specific brief to prevent him from coming in contact with tourists. They had all been rescued from working lives in the tourist or logging industry and no-one including the mahouts rode any of them. This was part of our prerequisite and I was impressed that the emphasis of the organization was to allow them to lead the kind of lives that they should have enjoyed in the wild even though they had all been captive for their entire lives. It was continually emphasized that we were to allow the elephants to come and go as they pleased and to either join us or not in both the jungle or river settings. These intelligent creatures however could not resist the lure of bananas and we were all generously provided with copious quantities of them.

feeding each other

Less than 20 minutes after setting off from the base camp we saw out first pair of pachyderms. Sophie and Happy were obviously well used to the arrival of banana toting tourists and immediately trunks started searching for our cache. We all did our best to retain some supplies for the remainder of the elephants, as we had been instructed but it is difficult to resist the enquiring trunk and nudging of a 2 ton beast determined to persuade you to give up your treats. We had to be instructed to walk away or while we still had bananas they would never leave. Soon Princess and Lucky were vying for our attention and we all traded allegiance.  Princess for some reason wouldn’t take bananas with her trunk but had to be fed directly into her mouth but this did not make her any less persistent than the others. Last but not least came Comvine the largest of the pack. She too received her fair share and wandered off to uproot bamboo only after ensuring all supplies had dried up. All the elephants stayed remarkably close and were totally unconcerned about our presence and unaware of their own bulk it seemed as they approached. It was incredible to see them roaming freely, hanging with friends and even feeding each other, whilst also turning their back on those they didn’t like and wandering away.  Bamboo is their main diet and they were relentless in their search for more and more of it.

OK hand over the bananas!

      

Elephant happy Face 

When we climbed back up to the base camp for the supplied lunch, which contained both fish and vegetarian options, everyone was totally elated that we had by luck seen all the elephants and been able to interact with them on their own terms.

A brief rest period after lunch ended with the afternoon guide taking the reins and leading us through the jungle over a rickety (one person at a time) makeshift bridge to a favoured watering hole. There were no promises of elephants arriving at anytime but in due course two of the three expected wandered down to the river to join the well-prepared banana offering travellers, already armed with brushes and dippers to assist them to bathe. They arrived separately in their own good time and obviously enjoyed the scrubbing and splashing as well as the bananas. One even raided the supplies of those changing to get into the water as she wandered through backpacks and clothing without once touching anything that wasn’t a banana! Whole bunches disappeared in seconds and that ever inquisitive trunk was searching frantically for more before eventually entering the water. Although we chose to be the only two not to enter the water at this point we thoroughly enjoyed watching the escapades and frivolity. With my compromised balance and bouts of dizziness since my accident, the rocky riverbed seemed to me to be an unnecessary risk.

Once more through the jungle and over the bridge and we were headed for another watering hole where the two remaining elephants preferred to bathe. We were informed that they liked to be alone and were not friends. They also preferred to bathe without the assistance of travellers so this was to be a watching only experience. Unfortunately we arrived too late to see them in the water but we did see them and how they reacted to each other by heading off in opposite directions. These were the oldest two and apparently they like their independence and solitude.  They separated but stayed not far off in the hope of also receiving bananas and were rewarded for their patience and persistence.

So another remarkable encounter ended and we climbed our way back to the base camp and onward to the awaiting vehicles. It was a much quieter and contemplative group that returned to Sen Monorom digesting the magnitude of the magical experience we had all had. We were dropped back at our lodge and despite how exhausted and elated we were it was impossible to consider what the birthday banquet might consist of, without first downloading the nearly 150 photos I had taken that day.

Certainly this birthday adventure and trip was a far cry from the luxuries and sights of New York City last year but it was a Cambodian highlight and a welcome and fitting celebration of another milestone.