CAMBODIA

The Wild Northeast

Take the road less-travelled in the wild northeast of Cambodia, home to elephants, ethnic villages, undulating hills and mountains, plateaus, crater lakes, rivers and waterfalls.

The northwest corner of Cambodia is not on the usual tourist trail. Yet, the sparsely populated provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri are renowned for their unique natural beauty and wealth of natural resources. On our tour, Cambodia’s Wild Northeast (13D/12N), we’ll take you to these remote regions as well as the more well-known cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Highlights include:

• Visit the beautiful temple of Preah Vihear, a famous UNESCO World Heritage site, dramatically perched on a clifftop near the Thai border.
• Trek into the forest and visit the villages of indigenous people who have existed in the region for thousands of years. Learn about the elaborate funerary customs of the Jarai, an ethnic minority who dwell in traditional stilt houses.
• Visit Bou Sra Waterfall, which tumbles through a gorge set in the jungle. The dramatic three-stage falls create a natural and relatively safe swimming pool.
• Join the Elephant Valley Project, a sanctuary and eco-tourism site set up to care for elephants and to provide local employment. Get up close to the gentle giants in their natural habitat. There are no rides, tricks or shows; instead observe these beautiful creatures simply being happy.
• Spend the night in a homestay that promotes local industry as a means of alleviating rural poverty. Visit a local school, assist the elderly people of the village, and enjoy a sunset ox cart ride into the rice fields.
• And no visit to Cambodia would be complete without visiting Angkor! Explore the epic Angkor Wat; gaze up at the giant smiling stone faces in the Bayon Temple; experience the haunting beauty of Ta Phrom; and discover many more renowned and lesser known temples