Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Elephant Valley Project
10km northwest of Sen Monorom • Day-visit $70, or $40 including a half-day's volunteer work; longer visits (including seven-day
volunteer programmes) are also available (see the website for details); overnight stays $20 (dorm), $50 (private bungalow with half-
board) •
T
099 696041,
W
elephantvalleyproject.org
A place where “Elephants get to be elephants again”, the innovative
Elephant Valley
Project
was set up to create a haven for Cambodia's increasingly threatened pachyderm
population. The project is the complete antithesis of the usual tourist theme-park, with
all the animal exploitation it inevitably entails. here are no elephant rides here
(something the project actively discourages). Instead, visitors get the chance to shadow
the project's two resident elephant families, walking with them through the jungle and
observing them at leisure in their natural environment, while learning about them
from their Khmer mahouts.
The project is part of the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment NGO or
ELIE
, for short, which works to improve the welfare of domestic elephants in
Mondulkiri, many of whom suffer overwork, malnutrition and abuse. ELIE runs
several projects locally, including an elephant research and monitoring programme
and a mobile vet service.
Waterfalls around Sen Monorom
To get to Bou Sraa or Romanea you'll need to rent a motorbike (see p.236) or rent a moto (about $25 for the return trip to both falls) - the
road to Bou Sraa ($2 toll) is only so-so at best, and can be tortuous in the rainy season (expect the journey to take at least 90min); for
Romanea take the main road back from Bou Sraa towards Snuol for about 10km, and then fork left and left again; Monorom waterfall can
be easily reached by moto (around $3 return) or on foot
Cambodia's most dramatic cascade,
Bou Sraa
waterfall is a fabulous two-tiered cascade
some 35km from Sen Monorom, towards the Vietnamese border. The setting alone
makes the falls worth visiting, the river dropping over 30m into a jungle gorge.
Getting there is something of an expedition, however, making it easy to see why the
locals get around by elephant. Not nearly as dramatic as Bou Sraa, but a whole lot
easier to get to (though the road is unsurfaced and can be tricky after rain), are the
three-tier
Romanea falls
.
Just 4km northwest of Sen Monorom is the 10m-high
Monorom waterfall
(also
known as the Sihanouk falls). Along the way you'll pass the ruins of the (rarely used)
royal residence, after which you should follow the left fork to the falls. You can swim in
the pool at the base of the falls, even in the dry season.
4
Seima Protection Forest
Southwest of Sen Monorom, flanking the road to Snuol, is the
Seima Protection Forest
(SPF)
. Established in 2009, the SPF is home to some of Cambodia's most spectacular
wildlife, although the forest's daunting size and lack of infrastructure means that
ecotourism here is still very much in its infancy. Resident animals include elephants,
tigers, banteng and gaur, along with more than 300 species of bird and some 2500
yellow-cheeked crested gibbons. The forest is also home to the world's largest
population of
black-shanked douc langurs
, with an estimated 42,000 of these engaging
blue-faced monkeys living here. Remarkably, their presence in the forest went
completely unrecorded until a few years back - prior to their discovery the world's
largest reported group of black-shanked doucs (in Vietnam) was a mere six hundred.
Access to the forest is strictly limited at present, although visits can be arranged
through Green House Tours (see p.237), who currently offer treks into the forest
lasting between one and three days.
