Elephant trekking in Cambodia

It takes a long time to get from Phnom Phen to Mondulkiri (Sen Monorum). But compared to the rest of Cambodia,  nature there is a lot greener and might be a nice change.  Plus, nowhere else in Cambodia can you find an elephant trekking where the animals are treated so well, or even rescued from worse treatments.

I stayed at Treehouse Lodge and had booked a 2 day/1 night trip with them, which costs $75. Since there are only few mini vans at certain times a day that drive to and from Mondulkiri, you have to arrive the night before the elephant trekking and sleep another night in Sen Monorum after the trip.
I was so tired from the long journey from Vietnam that I couldn’t even be properly scared by the huge mice that ran through the bungalow at night. I just heard them but they were always gone when I turned the light on and so I just hoped that they would stay outside the mosquito net.

A day with elephants
The morning was a bit confusing. We left at about 8.50am instead of 8.30 and since we were never properly informed what would await us, we didn’t have any idea what was supposed to go on anyways. That’s something they could improve and for example sit down with the new people every evening and tell them about the program the next day. Just looking at the brochure wasn’t enough for me.
Anyways, they finally had divided us into correct groups and we were driven over an off-road track to the simple forest lodge, where we would spend the night in hammocks.

Then, we all received some bananas to carry down a path and go feed to the elephants. There were 6 in total and they were all bought from previous owners that mistreated them with hard work, hitting or making them carry tourists on a wooden carriage on their backs until the backs were scratched and bones were broken. Now they can roam around in the forest and are very happy to see tourists again, because they feed them bananas.
It was beautiful to be so close to these animals.

We returned to the lodge to enjoy a delicious lunch on the floor and then could relax a little in the hammocks. In the afternoon, it was time for the elephant’s bath. Three of them were swimming with us and we could wash them and the other three just showered themselves. Again, this was an awesome experience but of course, it would have been more intimate with less people around. We were about 20 in total. So, therefore, the elephant trekking in Chiang Mai with Piroon is definitely still first on my list.
But with this project here, you support to save elephants. Mr. Tree also wants to start a breeding program. There are no baby elephants in Cambodia because most owners follow animalism, which means that elephants have to have a wedding before they can get a baby or otherwise, bad luck will come to the family. However, a wedding costs a lot of money, which the owners don’t want to spend and so there are no new elephants… The owner of the Mondulkiri Project wants to change that now.

In the evening, we had dinner at the same place as lunch with everybody who would spend the night in a hammock in the jungle. A lot of rice wine drinking was going on since the owners just always put a new bottle on the floor mat.
The night in the hammock was much better than I expected. I neither was cold (even slept in short clothes), nor was it uncomfortable. So, I actually slept quite well.

 

A full day trekking
In the morning, we received a lovely breakfast of Nutella-banana pancakes and then felt strong enough to start the 18km hike back to town. It was only me, Sean from England and our guide. Both of them were 20 years old. When did I become the old one?
Many who had done the 8 hours walk the day before raved about how pretty and good it was. I’m probably a bit spoiled because I have seen so many amazing places and had to say that very often, the forest looked similar to Switzerland except for the bamboo trees once in a while and the waterfalls were not too special either (the others loved them). But in Switzerland, I would never go hiking under such muddy conditions and so, I didn’t really find it necessary here. It was nice though, that we stopped by at our guide’s grandmother’s hut in her rice field shortly before the end and received some cucumber that looked and tasted somewhat like a melon.
Since we were only 3, we finished the hike in 7 hours. If you are able to walk for about 6 hours, you should be fine for this walk. It’s mostly straight with just a few short climbs once in a while. There are enough breaks at the waterfalls to regain energy. The thing that makes it more difficult is all the slippery mud. You really have to chose every step carefully.

In conclusion…

 

What I liked best about the trip were, of course, the encounters with the elephants. It’s possible to do just that, without a trekking but I wouldn’t come up all this way to Mondulkiri for only one whole day. I also liked all the passionate explanations by Mr. Tree. You can clearly see that he stands behind this project with his whole heart and it makes you feel like you are doing something good for the community by visiting this project. And anything our guide on the hike explained about the forest was also very interesting.