Mondulkiri and the eastern highlands

The east is the part of Cambodia that does not look like Cambodia: rolling green hills, pine and evergreen forest, red earth roads and nights cool enough for a blanket. It is home to the Bunong people, and to the country’s serious elephant sanctuaries. Very few itineraries include it, which is precisely the argument for going.

Sen Monorom

The provincial capital and your base: a single main street, a lake, guesthouses with fireplaces and a genuine chill after dark at 800 metres. Everything else is reached from here by motorbike or hired car on roads that range from excellent to memorable.

Elephants, done properly

Mondulkiri has several genuine sanctuaries where retired working elephants live in forest and visitors walk with them, help prepare food and swim in the river nearby. There is no riding, no bathing performance on command and no chains. Any operator anywhere in Cambodia offering elephant rides is not one of these — that includes the ones outside Siem Reap.

Book directly with the project, ask how many visitors per elephant per day, and be suspicious of anything that promises a photograph on its back.

Waterfalls and forest

Bou Sra is the big one — a two-tier fall you can stand under in the wet season. Dak Dam and the smaller cascades are quieter. Beyond them, the Seima protected forest holds gibbons and doucs, and a guided dawn trek to hear a gibbon family calling is the sort of thing people fly to Borneo for.

Ratanakiri, further north

Banlung and the Yeak Laom crater lake, a perfectly circular volcanic pool ringed by forest and cool enough to swim in at midday. Add Virachey national park for multi-day treks, and the Sesan and Srepok rivers for a slower way of seeing the province.

Getting there

Six to seven hours by bus or shared van from Phnom Penh on a good sealed road, or a long day from Siem Reap. It is worth three nights minimum; anything shorter is spent in the vehicle.

Common questions