Eastern Cambodia - Cambodia - page 580

park proper. However, private tour companies can be useful in setting things up in ad-
vance with park staff, who are not always responsive.
The signature trek is an eight-day, seven-night Phnom Veal Thom Wilderness Trek (per per-
son 1/2 people US$400/350) . It starts from Ta Veng with an overnight homestay in a Brau vil-
lage. The trek then goes deep into the heart of the Phnom Veal Thom grasslands, an area
rich in wildlife such as sambar deer, gibbons, langurs, wild pigs, bears and hornbills.
Trekkers return via a different route and pass through areas of evergreen forest. The price
includes transport by moto to the trail head, park admission, food, guides, porters, ham-
mocks and boat transport. Prices drop the larger the group. There are also one- and two-
night treks available in the park.
Lumphat
The former provincial capital of Lumphat, on the banks of Tonlé Srepok, is something of
a ghost town these days thanks to sustained US bombing raids in the early 1970s. The
Tonlé Srepok is believed to be the river depicted in the seminal antiwar film Apocalypse
Now, in which Martin Sheen's Captain Benjamin Willard goes upriver into Cambodia in
search of renegade Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando.
Bei Srok (Tuk Chrouu Bram-pul; admission 2000r) is a popular waterfall with seven gentle
tiers. It's about 20km east of Lumphat. You can also get here on a rough road that leads
south/southwest from Boeng Yeak Lom. Many Ban Lung tour companies offer Bei Srok
as a day tour combined with some abandoned gem mines nearby and bomb-crater spotting
around Lumphat. Access is difficult to impossible in the rainy season.
To get to Lumphat from Ban Lung, take the road to Stung Treng for 10km before head-
ing south. The 35km journey takes about 45 minutes. Pick-ups to the taxi park in Ban
Lung leave early in the morning from Lumphat and return in the afternoon on most days.