The waterfalls, elephants and rural beauty of Mondulkiri, Cambodia
Mondulkiri is a rural region in the north-west of Cambodia. Its largest town, Sen Monorom, was our second stop in Cambodia. It took two buses and about 10 hours to get there from Siem Reap, although it was meant to be direct and five hours. Always add several hours to your expected journey duration in South East Asia ha! Other than the rooster on the bus who piped up every now and then, it was actually relatively painless!
The main reason we were heading to this area was to spend time with elephants at the lovely Elephant Valley Project. Read more on this wonderfully ethical sanctuary here!
Although elephants were the main draw and the highlight of our time in Mondulkiri, the region is definitely worth a visit in its own right. Sen Monorom is your typical hectic Asian town with bikes zooming around in all directions and a stink that is often is equal parts foul from pollution and delicious from street food. But you only have to drive for five minutes in any direction out of the town and it becomes wonderfully rural. We spent two days scooting around the countryside taking in the miles of lush green jungle and red earth. It’s beautiful!
Here are our three highlights:
The Bou Sra Waterfall
These huge falls were probably the most touristy spot that we visited, and even then we only saw perhaps another 10 non-locals just as we were leaving. It’s a stunning and quiet spot that is about 30km from town along a decent paved road. You have to pay 2000 riel (50c) to park your scooter and another dollar to enter the waterfall area. From there it’s a few minutes walk to either the top or the bottom of the falls, and they are stunning from either perspective! We were there at the end of wet season so I can imagine it looks a lot different in dry season. Mid November was pretty impressive for us, though! I’d heard you can swim here but the current looked pretty strong and it’s only about 50 metres from the bottom of the falls to another big drop. It didn’t seem worth the risk to us! A lovely spray comes off them to cool you down so we were quite content ha! The bottom of the falls is a popular picnic spot for locals and there are plenty of bamboo shelters to sit in and lots of food, drink and clothes stalls on your walk down to the waterfall. Bou Sra is one of the most impressive waterfalls I’ve seen and definitely worth the drive out!
To get here:
Head up the main high street, turn right at the roundabout and drive about 15km until you reach a fork in the road. Turn right here, then at the next fork, about another 10km later, turn left. The waterfall is signposted at each fork, it’s easy!
Dak Dam
This town is a small village inhabited by Bunong people – a Cambodian ethnic minority. The Bunong have a rural and basic lifestyle with a lot of old traditions. You can get ecotourism trips and homestays in Dak Dam where you get to learn about their way of life, which sound really good! They were out of our budget sadly, but one of our guides on our elephant experience was from a Bunong community and he gave us some information about their beliefs. Armed with a bit of knowledge from this lovely guy, we headed out to the village ourselves via moto!
It is about 25km from Sen Monorom and is well sign posted. The road is paved until the last turn off when it becomes a red dirt road, but it’s still relatively smooth. We meandered around the village slowly just to observe this rural way of life. We received lots of excited waves from what looked to be the entire school when we passed by their PE lesson! Everyone was really friendly here but spoke no English, unsurprisingly. If you head out the other side of the town for five minutes there is also a nice waterfall with a picnic area at the top. It’s a beautiful little place!
To get here:
Head down the main high street and follow the main road for about 5km until you see a left hand turn onto another good, paved road. Dak Dam is signposted. Follow this for about 15km then take the signposted Dak Dam red dirt road on the left. Take the first right turn and keep going straight for the waterfall. Or go straight on to loop around the village.
The sea forest and sunset lookout
Mondulkiri is surrounded by jungle and is super green. The so-called Sea Forest (main pic) is a viewpoint that looks out across the jungle. All you can see for miles is the green of trees, hence the name! It’s a really beautiful spot that’s about a 15 minute drive from Sen Monorom. From here, if you head back down the road towards the town you’ll come across a pagoda on a hill – Wat Phnom Doh Kromom. This spot has views of the town and jungle and on a clear day it is a gorgeous place to watch the sunset over the green. We enjoyed it in the company of local people and monkeys!
To get here:
From the high street turn right at the roundabout. Then take the next major left turn, which will feel like you’re almost going back on yourself. Take the next right. This will take you up a hill, and the sunset viewpoint is up another hill on your left – the second turn off marked by elephant statues. The sea forest lookout is further up the road, take the dirt track on your right just in front of a small village.
Accomodation:
There is plenty to choose from in Sen Monorom and if you’re interested in one of those homestays the Hefalump Cafe is a good place to start to help you get it booked.
We stayed at the Chantha Sreypich Guesthouse. This was basic but cheap for a double room and its attached restaurant was dead cheap too. The owner is super friendly and provided us with a map of the area and booked our onward bus journey for free. He also did moto hire for $6 per day.
