Mondulkiri, the province in the North East of Cambodia is unique in many ways. It is the most sparsely populated Cambodian province and at the same time the largest. Mondulkiri was crazy difficult to reach until the mid-2000s. A journey by car from Phnom Penh took at least two till three days. If you were lucky not to get stuck in the red mud. Until a Chinese company built a highway straight through the forests on the massive hills which had isolated the province for ages. The Chinese were not driven by altruism but by the prospect of cutting and transporting huge forest trees to sell them for a fortune in their home country. Unfortunately, the deforestation still continues. What we can do, is to replace the cut forest locations by cacao farms, set up in an organic, agroforestry style.
Once the domain of thousands of tigers and elephants, Mondulkiri is now home to only 250 wild elephants and 50 captive elephants, mostly owned by Bunong tribe members. The last tiger has been seen more than a decade ago, though there are unsuccessful attempts to re-introduce them.
Domestic elephants are considered to be a part of the Bunong tribal families. And as normal family members, they can be quite unpredictable sometimes. Two years ago, right in front of one of our farms, a male elephant (bull), was upset with his owner and speared him with one of his tusks right through his chest. The poor guy died instantly. It took several days before the elephant calmed down. In the meantime he roamed around and was especially fond of small sugar fields of local farmers.
An estimated 20,000 people are still considered to be a member of the handful of tribes that still live in Mondulkiri. Most of them are members of the Bunong tribe. If you like to visit Mondulkiri and want to swim and bath with elephants, than the local, mister Vanleang of Mondulkiri Tour is a good start: +855-(0)12 82 80 46
The famous 3-tier Bu Sra waterfall is only a few kilometers from our main cacao farm. You will be able to visit the first tier and maybe the second. However it is completely unable to reach the third tier for a normal visitor. Even local die-hards don't take the effort. A few years back during heavy rainfall, we were the last cross the wooden bridge that spanned across the river end which directly comes out in the waterfall. A heavy flood flushed the bridge away, only minutes after we carefully had crossed by car.
And in contrast to exceptional floods, there was such an extreme drought in 2015 that the Bu Sra waterfall completely dried up for a week. This was the first time in history (as far as the memory and family stories of any living 'Mondulkirian' goes).