Notes From a Scots Girl: Chambok: Off the Beaten Track in Cambodia.

Chambok is a village community situated on the border of Kirirom National Park in the Kirirom mountains of Cambodia. Chambok is a community-based ecotourism venture that was set up in 2002 to help protect the national forest land and provide an income source for the rural village communities trying to sustain a life here.

We were lucky enough to find out about this place through the manager at the orphanage. He wanted to take us there on a day out at the weekend and of course we were excited to see another little bit of Cambodia - and an area that most tourists passing through on their travels don't have the privilege of seeing.

We set off in our little safari style mini jeep! There was a short stop at the local market on the way to pick up chickens, iced coffees and other supplies for our picnic lunch! The drive to Chambok took around 45mins from our village of Traeng Trayueng and like most days here it was sunny and very hot, but driving up into the rich green mountains in the little safari jeep gave us a nice cool breeze. On our way we passed the Kirirom Hillside Resort, but further into our journey it became increasingly remote. The hillside was dotted with the occasional farming house surrounded by cultivated farm land, but mostly it was forest. The dirt track we were on became rougher and we all held our breath going over the various wooden 'bridges' !

When we arrived at Chambok there was a few small groupings of traditional Khmer houses on stilts and the only other traffic we encountered was the local cows being herded along the road!

The first stretch up the mountain to the waterfall was by cow cart! Which was a pretty bumpy and funny ride! The other half was on foot and it was a real hike and coupled with the baking heat it really wasn't easy!