Eastern Adventure Cambodia

📍 Phnom Penh Airport - Hotel (10 km): 30 mins

Upon arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, you will be welcomed by your local English speaking guide, who will accompany you to your hotel for check in (Normally the check-in time is at 14:00).

Phnom Penh was once considered one of the most beautiful cities in the Orient, and despite its turbulent history and recent development, it still retains a colonial charm. Cambodia’s capital is a bustling city, majestically located at the confluence of the mighty rivers of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap. Wide tree-lined boulevards and many colonial-era buildings reflect the glorious days and add to the allure of the city, where Asian and Western traditions meet in a fascinating way.

Free at leisure at your hotel.

Overnight at Phnom Penh
 

Inclusions:

📍 Phnom Penh - Kratie (240km): 5 hours / Kratie - Koh Trong (5km): 10 mins

Early breakfast. 

7:00, Departure early to Kratie today. 

On the way, stop to visit Skun, a village famous for its curious roadside snacks including grilled frogs, scorpions, and tarantulas! If you’re not bold enough to taste one of the creepy crawlers, it’s possible to play with the giant spiders who have been defanged prior to arrival at the market.

Arrive in Kratie, where you will have a short break to stroll around the town and stretch your legs before having lunch in a local restaurant in town.

Then hopping on the lodge boat to Koh Trong Island, only a short 10 minutes boat ride away from Kratie. On this Mekong island experience typical Cambodian village life, where people’s livelihood largely depends on rice farming and fruit cultivation (Koh Trong is famous for its pomelo, a grapefruit like fruit). 

Upon arrival, you will be transferred by the hotel’s remork to check-in.

In the afternoon, you can decide to take a horse/ox cart, a typical transportation used by Cambodians in their daily life or a bicycle and pedal yourself around the island (advance booking needed) or have a leisure time in the hotel.  If you grab a bicycle, reach out to the north of the island, during the dry season, a beautiful sandy beach appears. And, enjoy yourself at the beach.

Overnight on Koh Trong Island 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch

📍 Koh Trong - Kratie (5km): 10 mins / Kratie - Kampi (15km): 50 mins / Kampi - Banlung, Ratanakiri (233km): 3h30

Breakfast at the hotel.

At 08h00, cross the river to Kratie town and continue north along the banks of the Mekong, a very scenic route with great views. Stop in the village Kampi, which is the best spot to view the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins along the Mekong. Board a local boat that will take you to some of the areas where these interesting creatures are sighted most frequently. Once you have spotted the first dolphin, your boat driver will turn the engine off and you will follow the dolphins silently (duration 1 to 1.5 hours).

Back to the land and short drive to Kampi Mega Rapid for lunch (own arrangement). 

After lunch, depart to Banlung (Ratanakiri). Upon arrival in Banlung, stop at Eisan Reclining Buddha Pagoda, which offers panoramic views of the rapidly-growing provincial capital.  

Overnight at Banlung (Ratanakiri)

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast

📍 Ratanakiri

This morning, take some time to explore Koh Trong. Choose to take a local horse cart or pedal around the island by bicycle. The first destination is the island’s Wat, where a special activity awaits  – here, take part in a tree planting project initiated by a local farmer, with the aim to recultivate the once densely forested island. Contribute to the project by planting a tree that will carry your name and leave a positive trace on the island.

Cross the river to Kratie town for lunch at Le Tonlé Tourism Training Center, where young locals are being trained in the principles of hospitality to ensure a better future in Kratie. Dining here means enjoying some delicious Khmer food paired with a very personalised service. The students here are excited to meet their guests and it’s a wonderful dining experience.

After lunch, continue north along the banks of the Mekong, a very scenic route with great views. Stop in the village Kampi, which is the best spot to view the rare Irrawaddy dolphins along the Mekong. Board a local boat and cruise to some of the areas where these interesting creatures are sighted most frequently. On spotting the first dolphin, the driver will turn the engine off while following the dolphins silently. (Duration 1 to 1.5 hours).

Overnight on Koh Trong Island: Rajabori Villas

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch

📍 Ratanakiri

Departing your hotel at 8:00am, today explore the rural tribal communities that live in the Ratanakiri countryside. 

First stop at the Banlung market, soak up the lively atmosphere of the market and learn more about the different types of fruit, vegetables and other surprising culinary ingredients.

Continue to the lava field, your starting point for a trek (5km) between forest, river and rice field. Your path ends at a typical house owned by a Kreung minority. Talk to the family, whose main source of income is rice farming, and find out more about their way of life. 

Next, stop at a Kreung village, another of Ratanakiri’s diverse tribal communities, for a walk around their village. Now located just beside the road, this tribe had long been isolated from the rest of Cambodia before new infrastructure was developed in recent years. Notice the tobacco pipes that most of the women in the village enjoy and stop to chat with locals if you are curious about their lives. 

Back in town for lunch (own arrangement). 

In the afternoon, continue to visit another tribal community that is known for its “bamboo shower” and continue to the locals mining for the gems after which Ratanakiri province is named (“Ratanakiri” translates as “Mountain of precious stones“). Unlike modern mining methods that devastate the land, traditional mining consists of digging a small hole, down which a miner descends, sending buckets of earth up to sift through for stones.

Return at your hotel 

Overnight at Banlung (Ratanakiri)

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast

📍 BanLung - Sen Monorom (185km): 3 hours / Sen Monorom - Bousra Falls (35km): 45 mins

Breakfast at your hotel. 

Depart from your hotel at 08:00 am to Mondulkiri.  

After driving approximately 3 hours, check into your hotel and have lunch in town (own arrangement). 

Then head out to the natural highlight of the region: Bousra Ecopark and Waterfall, a particularly scenic two-tier waterfall and the largest in Cambodia where you can walk around and explore the beautiful falls. If you wish, it’s a perfect place for a cool dip or a refreshing drink while listening to the sounds of nature. 

Please note: If enjoying time at the falls, where swimming is possible during the low-water months (approximately December to June), it is possible to stay here for lunch or a midday snack: there is a wide variety of exotic local fruits and nuts for sale at the falls.  Visitors with mobility issues may not be able to visit the lower falls, which requires descending a dirt trail through the forest that is particularly slippery in the Green Season months (June through November).

On the way back to town, we can stop along the way at the various plantations of the local people. What was once a vast landscape of rugged nature has since become a place where many have started cultivating crops due to the cooler temperatures and fertile grounds. 

Among others you might see pepper, cassava, rubber or even tea where your guide can stop briefly and explain the intricacies involved.  

There is also a viewpoint that’s worth having a look before heading back.

Overnight at Sen Monorom (Mondulkiri)

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast

📍 Sen Monorom - Elephant Valley Project: 45 mins

Get picked up from your hotel at 7:00am for transfer to a meeting point of the Elephant Valley Project, a sanctuary for elephants within a 1,500 hectare reserve where the elephants can roam and learn how to be semi wild elephants again. Here you will hike (7 km) out to meet one group of elephants in the morning in their natural forest habitat. In this immersive experience you will spend half the day with the elephants, enjoy the observation of the elephants in their beautiful forest home (join-in activity).

Return to the hotel at noon.  

Note: As the elephants are located in valleys that are accessible by dirt trails and stairs, visitors with mobility issues may not be able to visit the elephants in their natural habitat and may be constrained to the elephant center and “elephant spa” during dry season months and may be unable to visit EVP during Green Season, when the path down to the center can be very slippery. Join-In tour is limited to 12 guests and only available Sunday-Fri.

Afternoon at leisure

Overnight at Sen Monorom (Mondulkiri)

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast

📍 Hotel - Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary Camp (84km): 1 hrs 53 min

Pick-up from your hotel at 04:30 am. Today, you will have a full day exploring with your expert local guide for trekking deep into the nature and wildlife sanctuary (join-in activity). 

We will head to the Camp located inside the core area of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary for wildlife viewing, with Critically Endangered Black-shanked Doucs, Yellow-cheeked, Crested Gibbon, Macaques, and other mammals of the Annamite, under the preparation of the local indigenous Bunong Tribe. The hike is quite strenuous yet you will enjoy yourself through the beautiful green forest and nice natural songs. 

Return at 08h00 for a breakfast at the camp and learn more about the conservation effort at Jahoo camp to protect endangered gibbons and other rare wildlife.

Have some rest and then prepare for a jungle hike deeper into the Wildlife Sanctuary. Explore the forest with your indigenous guide and discover other rare wildlife such as the giant black squirrel and northern pig-tailed macaque. Arrival at a sacred waterfall and enjoy a traditional lunch cooked in bamboo. If you wish, you can snooze and swim whilst surrounded by lush rainforest within the heart of the Protected Area. 

After more jungle trekking and spotting other endangered primates, such as black-shanked douc langur, return to the Bamboo Camp. Depart Jahoo and arrive back at your hotel by 17:00.

Note: 
Guests should have a good physical condition to endure hiking in a tropical climate on steep forest trails. We advise you to wear comfortable outdoor clothes of neutral colors (avoiding white, red, blue and black). Long trousers and long-sleeved tops are most culturally appropriate and provide best protection against biting insects and stinging plants.
We do not recommend Jahoo tours to people younger than 15 years old. 
Join-In tour is limited to 6 guests

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch

📍 Sen Monorom- Kampong Cham (265km) 4 hours Kampong Cham- Phnom Penh (125km) 2.5 hours

Breakfast at the hotel, followed by departure back towards Phnom Penh. 

Before you leave Mondulkiri, visit the Coffee Plantation, where one of the many crops that grow exclusively in Mondulkiri’s cool weather climate is produced. The Coffee Plantation allows visitors to walk through the groves of coffee plants and learn a bit about coffee cultivation.

From the mountains of Mondulkiri descend down an increasingly trafficked road, stopping briefly at an impressive monument commemorating the liberation of Cambodia by Vietnamese forces leading to the end of Cambodia's civil war, 40 years ago.

Stop for lunch in the provincial capital of Kampong Cham (own arrangement), which lies along the Mekong River and features a riverside lighthouse, built during the French Colonial era. 

Depending on the season, you may make a brief detour to visit Kampong Cham’s iconic bamboo bridge. Traditionally constructed each year to allow access to the island of Koh Pen in the Mekong River southeast of Kampong Cham, the bridge is later destroyed by the river as the water’s rise each rainy season. Although a new, permanent bridge has recently been constructed to the south, the locals continue to build the bamboo bridge as it draws both local and international tourists to the riverbank. 

Next, visit Nokor Bachey temple in Kampong Cham. Wat Nokor is both charming and interesting, featuring beautiful wall paintings adorning a modern Buddhist pagoda built inside the grounds of an Angkor-era temple, the only temple of such design in Cambodia.

Overnight at Phnom Penh

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast

📍 Phnom Penh Hotel - Airport (10 km): 30 mins

Breakfast at hotel.

Get picked up by the guide and driver at the hotel for a transfer to the airport and the onward departure flight.

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast