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WILDLIFEALLIANCE EXPERIENCE
SOUTHERN CARDAMONS TOUR
‘’What we are looking at now is one of the rarest natural resources in Southeast Asia-it’s more precious than rubies or emeralds. It’s a living emerald-a tropical rainforest. Today, less than 30% of Cambodia’s rainforest remains and most of it is right here.’’ FEFF CORWIN 100 Heartbeats, Discovery Channel
Medium-end Itinerary
Spend 6 days and a half experiencing the beautiful Southern Cardamom Mountain Range
Have first experience of how Wildlife Alliance over the last decade has successfully applied direct protection methods to turn this threatened rainforest into the best preserved in Southeast Asia’s and one of Asia’s safest habitat Cambodia’s globally endangered and threatened species of mammals: Asia Elephants, Clouded Leopards, Gaur, Banteng, Southern Serow, Asiatic Black Bear, Malayan Sun Bear, Asia Wild Dog, Pileated Gibbon, Smooth-coated Otter and Hairy-nosed Otter, Irrawaddy Dolphins, and Humpback Dolphins.
- Overnight stay at ecolodgesKohSathun in Chi Phat and 4 Rivers Floating Lodge in Tatai
- All meals are made with local fresh products grown by Wildlife Alliance projects.
- When in Chi Phat, there will Lobster fishing by small boat at night and Lobster barbecues.
- In addition, at every stop, visitors will be offered fresh fruit from farmers’ gardens.
Activities
Arrive Phnom Penh
Upon arrival, you will be met at the airport and transferred to the hotel. After time to relax or explore Phnom Penh on your own, we will head to the Elephant Bar at the Raffles Hotel for Welcome. Overnight at Bougainvillier Hotel
Day 1: Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center
07:00am: Depart for Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center by car. Located 45km south of Phnom Penh, Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center is a government-run wildlife facility where, with the technical assistance of Wildlife Alliance, nearly 1,200 victims of the illegal wildlife trade are cared for and rehabilitated, including endangered species like Asia elephants, tigers sun bears, and clouded leopards among many others. We will be met Wildlife Rescue and Care Programs Director Nick Marx who, along with other WA animal staff will give us a tour of what is now considered be the best-run wildlife rescue center Southeast Asia, and have the opportunity to meet Chhouk, our elephant with a prosthetic leg, and the other animals we care for there.
12:15pm: A picnic lunch will be provided by WA staff and dinner will be on your own after our return to Phnom Penh.
Overnight at Bougainvillier Hotel
Day 2: Depart for Koh Kong
07:00am: We will begin our sojourn in the field, visiting our programs in Koh Kong province. We will head to AndongTeuk where we will proceed by speedboat to Stung Proat ranger station to meet the forest patrol teams and learn about their work protecting the Southwestern Elephant Corridor, one of the last seven remaining elephant corridors in Asia, and how they combat illegal logging, deforestation, wildlife poaching and other threats. We will then continue on to Chi Phat, site our Community-Based Ecotourism project where we will have lunch in the CBET Visitor Center, meet the CBET Committee, and learn about what has been called by Lonely Planet ’the best community-based ecotourism destination in Cambodia.’ We will then transfer to KohSothunEcolodge, where we will dine on freshly caught (by us!) Mekong lobster and spend the night.
Overnight at KohSothunEcolodge
Day 3: Chi Phat; Reforestation Nursery
After breakfast 07:00am at the CBET Visitor Center, we will travel by car the Million Tree Nursery where we will view seed preparation, shade nurseries, and the greenhouse and learn about seed collection of over 90 indigenous species and how Wildlife Alliance is working to restore the rainforest. Will continue by motorbike to picturesque O’Malu waterfall, one of the region’s natural wonders, where we will have a picnic lunch and a chance to swim before heading back to Chi Phat .Upon our return, you will have the option of mountain biking to ChhayKposwaterfall. We will celebrate that night with dinner and cocktail party in Chi Phat.
Overnight at KohSothounEcolodge
Day 4: Stung Prat; SovannaBaitong
At 07:00am, we will enjoy an exhilarating speed boat ride to Stung Proat Patrol Station. Then we will accompany the patrol along the Stung Proat River and by foot patrol along hunting trails. In the afternoon, we will return to AndongTeuk by boat. We will then by head by van to TrapeangRoung, home of our second CBET site, and join in the local Water Festival activities including traditional boat racing. We will depart the festival by boat and head to our riverside campsite for sunset cocktails and a gourmet Cambodian dinner. We will spend the night with all the amenities in 4 River Floating Lodge.
Overnight at 4 Rivers Floating Lodge
Day 5: JW Cambodia Eco-Holidays Resort
- 07:30am: Depart for JW Cambodia Eco-Holiday Resort
- Relax in the beautiful landscape of BotumSakor National Park. One of Asia’s last remaining elephant corridors VIP facilities for corporate upper level managers and a fantastic Ropes Course with Vision Quest for corporate groups, Provides on-site training for Leadership and Team Building.
- 12:00pm: Lunch at JW Resort
- Nature lodge resort and corporate training center.
- Elephant rescue center and elephant tour
- Zip lines eco-adventure tour
- Coastal ecosystem discovery tour
- 19:00pm: Dinner and overnight at JW Resort
Day 6: Return to Phnom Penh
At 08:00am, we will depart for the rural village of Sovanna Baitong to learn about the agriculture and community development programs, supported by Wildlife Alliance. Meet Wildlife’s agronomists and community development specialists, who have helped slash-and-burn farmersachieve prosperity and a more stable lifestyle. In the afternoon, we will depart for Phnom Penh.
Overnight at Bougainvillier Hotel
Why the Southern Cardamoms
- The Southern Cardamoms are the portion of the mountain that directly borders the Gulf of Thailand, therefore receiving the highest rainfall of the Cardamom Mountains and making them the most important water reserve for the region. The Southern Cardamoms have the largest number of waterways, wetlands, swamp forests, inundated grasslands and the most intricate network of tributaries and estuaries of the entire Cardamom landscape.
- The high rainfall of the Southern Cardamoms creates the richest ecosystem diversity of the entire Cardamom Mountain Range because the forested mountain slopes live in symbiosis with the coastal lowland forest swamps, wetlands and mangroves, resulting in an inter-dependantecosystem. In this interwoven ecosystem, the coastal ecosystem cannot survive without the upstream mountain ecosystem.
In this symbiotic relationship, the function of the dense evergreen forest is to hold moisture along the mountain slopes, recharge underground aquifers, regulate water flow to the lowland wetlands and supply essential nutrients to the coastal mangroves. The function of the wetlands and mangroves is to provide fish breeding grounds and fish ling nurseries to the entire coastline.
- The Southern Cardamoms hosts the largest portion of the Asian elephant corridor, the majority of habitat sites for the Siamese crocodiles and the only site for Royal turtles.
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