Mondulkiri Project Elephant Sanctuary — Attraction in Mondulkiri

We left our two-day experience here with very mixed feelings which we feel are important to share with potential visitors. I'll start with the positives: the organization is one worthy of your support. They are truly trying to protect the lives of both the elephants and their natural habitats in the Mondulkiri region. With limited resources, this is not an easy task. They rent/buy land to save it from deforestation which would result in both a loss of biodiversity and habitat for the elephants. We spent a lot of time doing research on a place that supports ethical tourism with its elephants, and it certainly seems that this organization does that. Keep in mind that the elephants are trained, having been previously owned to work in the logging industry or agriculture, and they have suffered previous hardships and abuses at the hands of humans. They now have a sanctuary where they can walk through the jungle, eat bananas, and play in the water, coming and going as they please. Now for the negatives: seeing that these elephants are (semi) domesticated, it did at times feel like they were putting on a show, especially with the bathing part of the tour. The part in the jungle with the elephants was lovely: we found them in their natural habitats, eating plants and roaming freely. For the bathing part, they came in one-by-one to spend time with us, and I'm not sure that they really enjoyed it. There were 20 people around them touching them and taking selfies. I'm not sure this is a choice they would've made on their own, and that part felt a bit forced. However, considering their lives before, it seems like an overall positive retirement for these aged elephants. The most difficult part for us was the jungle trek. The walk itself is not very difficult if you are used to hiking/walking. It's the views you see that will forever be burned into your memory. Out of the six hours walking, we spent not even half of that time in actual jungle. EVERYTHING has been burned. We felt like we were walking through a jungle graveyard. We passed countless active fires, leaving the path ashen and smoky. The guide rarely communicated with us, providing no details as to what we were looking at/how this place has changed over time/any information at all. He spent the tour walking well ahead of us and watching videos on his phone. We were shocked and horrified by the state of the land here. There is in no way that this can still be considered a "jungle trek", and considering that the jungle surface area has reduced from 80% in 2000 to just 30% in 2015, the situation will clearly continue to worsen. This is not necessarily the fault of the organization who has only been active since 2013 and is working hard to combat this, but we felt we were misled with the description of the trek and would've really appreciated a guide who provided explanations, background information, ANYTHING. It left our hearts broken and our minds heavy with the horrendous state of our planet. Overall, we are happy to have given our money to an organization that is trying in many senses of the word, something the region...

All in all, we had a great time at Mondulkiri Project. It was a wonderful experience to meet and feed the elephants. As far as you can tell, they seem happy and in a good shape. The bathing part is not absolutely necessary in my opinion. The elephants didn't seem to enjoy the water that much - they just came for more bananas. The evening in the camp was really fun. We had a great time eating traditional bamboo soup, playing games and laying down for stargazing with the whole group. Sleeping in the hammocks was also a really nice experience. On day two, we did the hike through the beautiful jungle with some amazing waterfalls and viewpoints. Despite the great landscapes, we didn't enjoy the hike that much. Unfortunately, our guide didn't talk or explain anything to us. He was just starring at his phone for almost the whole trek watching youtube videos and laughing about them. When we asked him something about nature or culture in the area, the answer would just be "yes" or "no". When we encountered a snake on the way, he didn't provide any information, he just took the snake and was trying to scare another girl of the group. The same happened with some spiders a couple of hours later. Maybe it's not his fault - maybe there is a lack of training for the guides. Moreover, some parts of the hiking path were really dirty. Especially the lunch place was covered with bottles, beer cans, plastic and so on. That's a no go for a so called "eco tour". When we arrived at the village in the end, our guide just told us to have a look and disappeared. We didn't know what to do and couldn't communicate with the village people without knowing the local language. So the whole group just sat down and waited one hour until the pick up came to take us back to town. What a pity in such an interesting place. Please make sure that the guides communicate and interact properly with the group. Please also help to keep clean this wonderful jungle (some photos...

What an absolutely amazing experience! I did the 2 day trip, tracked through the jungle the first day and visited the elephants on the second. I stayed at the Tree Lodge and got picked up from there, We had a group of 5, which turned out to be a great number! Our guide was friendly and had a sense of humour. The tracking was tough but worth it, it was a shame to see such a significant part of the track burnt down and turned into farm land. The parts which were in the jungle were full of big trees, bamboo forests and we also visited 3 water falls and swam in one, which was a great opportunity to cool down. We didn't see a lot of wide life. We eventually arrived in the Judge Lodge for sunset, what a great reward after a long day. The family hosting us were so kind and welcoming. We made soup in bamboo, played cards with the guide and slept in hammocks (not as uncomfortable as one might think!). Day 2 we had a new guide (can't remember the name, but he was young), who was very knowledge about the elephants, the rescue project and the locals (Bunong people). I very much enjoyed talking to him and learnt a lot about each elephant's story, the locals' way of life and what it was like during the Khmer Rouge. Meeting the elephants in the morning was so exciting, they all have different personalities, and they LOVE bananas :D We walked with them and fed them for a couple of hours. In the afternoon we went back to swim with two of them, one completely submerged into the water, the other one just stood and watched knee deep. They are such unique and gentle creatures, I will remember this experience for years to come! Both guides and the hosting family were absolutely amazing, answered any questions we had and prepared great meals for us. I travelled from Siem Reap to do this experience and it was totally worth the 10...