Cambodia is amazing. This poor country has so much to offer. I can strongly recommend everyone to take a couple of weeks off and discover this unique place. I'd like to talk about a life-changing experience which I made there.
It's been on my bucket list for a while now and I finally crossed it off my list: Spending time with Elephants in a rainforest. I mean a REAL rainforest far away from any civilisation, mobile service and electricity.
One of the things I always heard about is, that there are elephants in the rainforest and that you can spend the day with them. So I did some research. I noticed that there are heaps of scams out there. I wanted to make sure that I will join and support a project which is sustainable and is not just there to make money with tourists. And there it was: "The Mondulkiri Project". A real life-changer.
So, what's the project about? The Mondulkiri Project is an Elephant Rescue Programm which is located close to Sen Monorom in the north-east of Cambodia. It was founded by Mr. Tree. One of the funniest and most knowledgeable Asians I have met during my travels in Asia. I do appreciate this guy so much for what he does for the endangered animals and local cummunities. The projects goal is to protect the rainforest and it's elephants.
The Cambodians especially the indigenous locals need money. To make money they are cutting down the forest to sell the timber to countries like Vietnam or to use those clear areas for small farms to grow rice and pepper. This is a huge problem for any kind of animal which lives in the rainforest. The idea behind this project is to provide the surrounded communities with income without losing the rainforest. By providing elephant and jungle trekking experiences for tourists and developing traditional medicines from the rainforest it is possible to earn income for locals and to save elephants and other endangered animals at the same time! The Bunong (hill tribe in Sen Monorom) must do hard labouring work to survive. Even if they are sick and old. There are no pensions or public social security schemes which could support them. The Mondulkiri Project improves the lives of the poor locals by creating jobs. They, for example, get hired and learn about sustainable tourism and how to take advantage of it. What I figured is, that it is very important for them to learn english. Once you're in it, you could basically apply anywhere in Cambodia and get hired. What we take for granted is not the case in Cambodia. A thing that we should be thankful for.
There are not many elephants in Cambodia left, because of land clearing for other industries. Furthermore the elephants are used for hard farm work but also a lot of them are used as tourist attractions. They are treated horrible to entertain people from all around the world (Thailand is another example). They have to carry them around for hours without any breaks, water and food. Conclusion is: their life won't last for long. Sad, but there is some hope. The Mondulkiri Project is striving to become the first natural breeding program to support the long-term survival of elephants in Cambodia, as Mr. Tree told me.
The Mondulkiri Project actually takes care of 6 elephants which can walk around freely in the forest. They eat a lot of bamboo, play in the mud and swim in the rivers. It's great to see them playing like little kids. Before this trip I did not even know that elephants can smile that nice with such a chuckling face. Especially the part in the rivers next to the waterfalls seemed to be their favorite one.
It was a great experience to follow those amazing creatures through the bushes all day long. To see and learn how they live together, how they take care of each other and how they communicate was a real stunner. I could talk all day long about them and their behaviours. Did you know that they reach an age from more than 80 years? Or that they have the longest pregnancy of all the animals - it takes 22 months for conception to give birth! Or that the elephants trunk is more than just their nose? They can sense the seize, the shape and even the temperature of an object with it! Mr. Tree will give you even more fun facts about those guys.
He offers a one-day and two-day elephant tour. I've booked the two-day tour, because I thought it's more thrilling to sleep in a wooden cabin in hammocks. No electricity, no running water and no comfortable beds made this experience so real. I've been travelling and sleeping in hotels or hostels all the time - but trust me, this night was one of the most memorable nights. Sitting together with the others. Have dinner and rice wine and playing games was fun!
From my point of view this two-days-tour is a must-do. On top of the day with the elephants there is a 18 kilometer hiking trip trough the rainforest which is gonna take about 8 hours and is leading you through the real beauty of the untouched country. No tourist would ever go there or even get there without a tour guide. A secret tip for all the people who want to go feel and see the "real" Cambodia.
The tour costs about 80 USD for two nights, all food inluding for the two days, bananas to feed the elephants and the hiking experience. See it as a donation with 2 days of thrilling fun and laughs. All of this written down doesn't sound that appealing, I know - just give it a go and you will know what I am talking about.
All in all a great experience that I will never forget. It turned out that it was more than just a day with elephants. This project showed me that we all can make a difference by creating business models with win-win-situations for everyone. The depth of this project honestly got my heart. I will strive to implement more of those projects all around the globe into my life and learn from them.
Please feel free to give me a shout if you'd like to know more about the project or just have a look on their website: http://www.mondulkiriproject.org/
Special thanks to Mr. Tree and his employees.
I'll be back.
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Alexx
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