I couldn’t quite pick between two interesting jungle tours offered by a local company so I decided on doing both over six days. For the first three days, four others had joined so I had some company while trekking through the remote areas of Cambodia’s jungle bordering Laos. The five of us were escorted by a tour guide and two forest rangers that live in a nearby village.
We got to see what a difference darkness makes when all sorts of creatures came out of hiding during a short night hike the first evening.
We emerged from our hammock cocoons well before sunrise the next morning to go in search of some gibbons. Even though we could hear them singing not very far away, the jungle was quite dense with spiky trees and there weren’t any trails leading to them. While we didn’t get a chance to see the gibbons, we did get to see a jungle cat high up on a branch and giant hornbills flying overhead, as well as plenty of other interesting creatures along the way all while learning about various different animals, hiding spots, and types of trees from our guide Sokal.
Despite being in a national park and quite far from villages, we couldn’t escape the sound of a chainsaw always a constant presence somewhere in the distance. Sokal explained to us that the corrupted government allows cutting of trees in the parks as long as the loggers pay a certain fee per tree. Some exceptionally large trees are sliced and left for a year to dry out and harden more before they are dragged out of the jungle.
Each spot we stopped at in the jungle posed its own little challenges. Swarms of mosquitoes, leeches, red ants, and other flying insects attacked us once the sun went down. We never really had anywhere to sit so you just have to shower yourself in bug spray and hope for the best.
After two nights, we hiked back to the village we started from. The four others waited for motorbikes back to Banlung while our guide left to gather more food for the next three days.
When Sokal returned, we were behind schedule so we hopped on the motorbikes right away and rode out to our starting point rather than hiking the whole way.
Once we reached a narrow trail where we ditched the motorbikes, I asked Sokal if he grabbed any more water because a young girl back in the village took one of my two water bottles and I only had a bit of water left in the other. However, Sokal completely forgot to grab water and so did the young forest ranger Bahn. After thinking about it for a few minutes, they decided to push on anyway and we’d figure it out along the way. A short while later Bahn realized he forgot the cookware as well. It was going to be dark soon and we had already said goodbye to the guys that were returning the motorbikes to the village so we had no choice but to continue on. We passed a few young villagers heading home and Sokal convinced them to give us an empty water bottle, a plastic plate, and two spoons. Everything else would be crafted from bamboo.
We started off in much lower terrain than the previous few days and had to cross a couple rivers before making it to a waterfall for the night. Because we were so close to water, leeches were everywhere, even more so than hiking in Vietnam. I didn’t realize it until a day after but I had a big leech bite mark on my waist and even under my arm. I wore two layers of socks so my feet were fine but I was still picking off leeches every few minutes.
My guides, however, were hiking in flip flops and only Sokal was wearing socks so their legs were streaming with blood when we reached the campsite.
Since we didn’t have proper cookware, Banh had carved up bamboo tubes to cook up rice and vegetables over the fire while Sokal and I prepared the veggies. Although the rice was a bit burnt, it ended up being a very authentic experience true to the old ways of jungle inhabitants and Bahn even crafted himself a bamboo water bottle with a plug.
We spent the next day climbing higher and deeper into the jungle to our next campsite next to a river where we were fortunate to see a family of black shanked duac langurs climbing high in the trees.
We arrived at the campsite early in the day and this was to give Sokal and Banh enough time to prepare our transportation for the next day. They disappeared into the bamboo forest and emerged a while later with long and straight sections of bamboo which were then dropped into the river.
Bahn used his machete to scrape a bamboo shoot into thin rope-like strands before jumping into the river to start strapping the bamboo together. It only took an hour or so for him to finish constructing our new raft.
The next day was very sunny and very hot. I had been using my own water filter to filter water up to this point but I had been filtering so much water that is was getting very clogged. I didn’t bring the backwashing kit with me so that meant we left down the river with just a bit of water but we jumped in the river for a swim quite often to cool off.
Our raft wasn’t particularly buoyant so we were dragging over the shallow sections more than desired. Since it was just the start of the rainy season, the river water level was quite low. After an hour or so, we stumbled upon a washed up raft so we salvaged a couple extra bamboo shoots to help us drift a bit easier.
We lost our only bamboo paddle early on and didn’t notice because we were using bamboo poles to push against the river bed to propel us forward. However, the poles kept snapping and, from what I can gather, only thin and water-logged bamboo shoots are strong enough for use as a rafting pole and we seldom came across these while drifting downstream. We were drifting quickly through the low sections but paddling in deep water with sticks barely helped move us forward against the wind so it was a long day in the sun until we reached a homestay down the river.
The plan was to spend the night at the homestay but I was informed Bahn was getting married in a few days and needed to get back to the village so we all left together and spent the final night in a traditional village stilt house where Bahn and his extended family live. No electricity, running water, drainage, etc but I didn’t mind. Sokal and I slept in our hammocks under the house and I’m sure we both had a shitty sleep because a baby was crying during the night which triggered dogs, pigs, and roosters to start making noise all night too.
Life in these villages is quite simple. At first glance, people don’t do very much. It just seems like they hide from the sun all day and sleep off the warmest parts of the day in a hammock. Weeks of 35C to 40C temps has definitely drained my energy and its impossible to stand in the sun without sweating within a minute so I totally understand why seeing men and women go about their daily lives in underwear is a common sight. They’re just living in this climate the best way they know how to.
On the way back to Banlung, I spotted people in a field with metal detectors. Sokal was quick to explain that they were clearing landmines still leftover from clashes in the 70s and 80s and there are estimated to be as many as four to six million mines and other pieces of unexploded ordnance still remaining in Cambodia. Stepping on a landmine didn’t even cross my mind as a possibility before heading out into the jungle.
Casualty rates have varied considerably in recent years which has been anywhere between 11 and 20 deaths per year. I suppose fortunately for me, trekking through a dense jungle isn’t easy so I didn’t really have a choice but to follow pre-existing trails that are likely free of unexploded landmines by now.
I was feeling a bit off the rest of the day and I lacked any energy but it wasn’t as bad as when I left the jungle in Vietnam so maybe my body is slowly getting used to living in the Jungle. I tried my best to avoid drinking any unfiltered water but the rice and vegetables were cooked in stream water and coffee was made with boiled stream water too. Fortunately, I didn’t have to throw up or anything this time so I consider that a huge win.
I couldn’t really pass through Cambodia without visiting its most famous tourist destination so I caught the next bus to the west side of the country.