Cambodia 4: Battambang & Cardamom Reserve

  

  Dawn on Preat River, Cardamom reserve 

27 - 29 Dec : Battambang 
After an hour’s wait, every seat in the boat was full, and we set off on the eight hour journey from  Siem Reap to Battambang, crossi ng the northern tip of Tonle Sap lake (2,700  and then making our  way up the Sangker River. Being the dry season, at times the boat was carving through dense undergrowth with only a boat’s width channel. We passed through the amazing floating settlements - marvelling at the people whose lives depend on the river, with shops, schools, pagodas and incredibl e bamboo fishing net ‘cranes’.    
   

                                               

 

Bamboo fishing ‘crane’ being towed down river

We stopped for a lunch break at a floating cafe/shop - complete with loos, and finally arrived in Battambang at 4pm to be regaled by the usual tuk-tuk touts who whisked us to Here Be Dragons - a quiet (phew) hostel on the east bank of the river where we comandeered a 6-person dormitory!

28 Dec 
Sam and his buddy from yesterday’s transfer arrived promptly at 1pm in their 2 tuk-tusk and drove us 12km out to Phnom Sampeau. We opted to walk up the hill slowly (rather than jeep ride) and wandered aound the various temples and somber “killing caves” in the afternoon heat.

Look carefully and you can see Jake & Annie
in the centre of the cave!

Up to the very top for amazing viewing point located by scout Tom, looking across the billiard-table flat flood plains towards Battambang

A bowl of noodle soup from one of the many street cafes, and then we ordered a beer and settled down to wait to the famous Battambang bats to emerge at 5.30pm from the huge limestone cave about 15m up the cliff face. They were incredibly punctual, fluttering out above our heads and into the evening gloom in phenomenal curling black lines. We left 15 mins later to go to the circus, and they were still pouring out in a seemingly un-ending blur of flapping. The colony numbers between 1-3 million wrinkle-lipped bats each of which travels up to 50km and consumes about 15g (50-100% of its bodyweight) of insects nightly.

 

Our wonderful drivers took us 45 minutes through Battambang to the Phare Ponleu Selpak performing arts school. There were about 250 people in the tent to watch the circus show with young performers from disadvantaged backgrounds. It started with a traditional Cambodian dance, and then 45 mesmerising minutes of amazing acrobatic ‘story’ with a group of six plus musicians; absolutely Cirque de Soleil standard - and indeed it was the last night for five of the cast who were turning professional and heading to Siem Reap. Tuk-tuk back to the hostel, some competitive table tennis then bed.

 

At least Jess’ tuk-tuk had a working headlight! 

29 Dec 2017 - 1 Jan 2018 : Rainbow Lodge, Cardamom Reserve
The recommended quicker route to Rainbow Lodge was taxi (two for six of us) north west to the Thai border at Phsar Prum, walk across in Thailand, minibus waiting to transfer us south on faster Thai roads and then cross back into Cambodia at Cham Yeam, and final minibus to Tatai Bridge then boat 10 minutes to the lodge.

Walking from Thailand into Cambodia, Cham Yeam crossing. 

It didn’t quite go to plan as took 8 hours rather than 6, Thai customs took a while to accept we were only in transit so couldn’t fill in the “Acommodation” box, and Cambodian customs fleeced us $50 per person for entry visas instead of $30 (known practice but nothing we could do about it); net result a flippin’ expensive short cut that only saved an hour or two.

Tension soon dissipated as we checked into the tranquil Rainbow Lodge set in the jungle on the edge of the Preat River, with just 9 cabins / 18 guests. We had the most beautiful swim of the trip in the warm salty river with a thin layer of cool fresh water on top, as the sun dipped into the verdant green jungle.

Sunset swim in the Preat River: look carefully and can see Jess... 

30 Dec
Up at 05.45 with Jake & Tom to try and see birds at dawn, then a glorious pre-brekkie swim.

Afterwards we took three kayaks and paddled an hour up to the Tatai waterfall. Unbelievably  peaceful, and the highlight was a white bellied sea eagle (we think) swooping over the kayaks.

The waterfall is a popular spot for swimming, but is still beautiful, and great fun swimming in and under the various falls. A boat arrived from the Lodge with our “packed lunch”: hot fish and pineapple curry - yum! The kayaks were taken back and we walked with lovely Won for two hours through the jungle back to the Lodge.

[insert Go Pro waterfall footage later]

31 Dec 2017
We had the most amazing last day of 2017, spent on an all-day nature tour with the very knowledgeable and enthusiastic Gee who moved here from Britain 8 years ago. The morning was in the jungle, with numerous fascinating insects & bugs (his speciality), a welcome break for lunch and siesta (just me!) and then we crossed the river for a superb afternoon of birding, and a sunset boat trip up the river, neatly concluded with a pair of wreathed hornbills and a black-capped kingfisher (iridescent blue as it flashed across the water), and then the 5* award for producing two type of Nightjar!

Trying to whittle down the wildlife pics for the blog is hard; here’s a taster - and I’ve put the bird list for Cambodia (so far) at the end for anyone that’s remotely interested (and Barn!).  Labels to follow...

Bizarre spider - name unknown

Fishermen’s spider 

Small skink

...spider (horns are actually at the back, so this is facing away from camera!) 

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
And pics below capturing this aerobatic beauty in flight 

Male & female Wreathed Hornbills

Another delicious dinner at the Lodge with a chilled bottle of wine to celebrate, and then The indefatigable Gee took us on a 2+ hour night walk with numerous gruesome spiders, but luckily no snakes (this time). Spider photo creds: Jake.

Net-casting spider (aka “Ogre Faced” !)
Only 5cm - but fascinating hunting technique

We finished the spider hunt at 11.15pm, had a drink to hold out until midnight, then all collapsed into bed shattered. A perfect end to 2017.

1 Jan 2018
And the prefect start to 2018: a swim in the river before a cooked breakfast!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018 !!! (L-R: Jess, Jake, Chris, Annie & Tom: photo by Ben!)

Sadly we had to depart the wonderful Rainbow Lodge, and took a minivan 3+ hours south to  Sihanoukville - where luckily we had booked to stay well away from the centre in Otres Beach 2.  

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Bird list: Siem Reap tour (25 Dec) and Cardamom Reserve (31 Dec).

1. Black partridge
2. Grey-capped Pygmy woodpecker
3. Black-headed woodpecker
4. Wreathed hornbill
5. Blue-Throated Bee-Eater
6. Chestnut-headed bee-eater
7. Black-capped kingfisher
8. Green-billed malkoha 
9. Common Hoopoe
10. Alexandrine parakeet
11. Red-breasted parakeet
12. Blossom-headed parakeet 
13. Silver-backed Needletail
14. Brown-backed needletail 
15. Asian palm swift
16. great eared nightjar 
17. Large-tailed nightjar
18. Red collared dove
19. Spotted dove
20. Peaceful dove
21. White-breasted waterhen
22. Common crane
23. White-bellied sea eagle (flew above us for 10 mins whilst kayaking: fantastic. but unusual plumage so couldn’t be certain)
24. Intermediate egret
25. Cattle egret
26. Chinese pond heron
27. Black-crowned night heron
28. Great cormorant 
29. Black-Headed Ibis
30. Asian fairy bluebird
31. Brown shrike 
32. Burmese shrike 
33. Black drongo 
34. Ashy drongo
35. Greater racket-tailed drongo
36. Black-hooded oriole
37. Common iora 
38. Large cuckooshrike 
39. Ashy minivet 
40. Small minivet 
41. pied fantail 
42. Asian brown flycatcher
43. Red-throated flycatcher
44. White-Rumped shama 
45. Common myna 
46. Chestnut-bellied nuthatch 
47. Barn Swallow
48. Black-crested bulbul
49. Yellow-vented bulbul
50. black-headed bulbul
51. Sooty-headed bulbul
52. Stripe-throated bulbul
53. Streak-eared bulbul
54. Common tailorbird
55. Pale-legged leaf warbler
56. Scarlet-Backed Flowerpecker 
57. Purple-Throated Sunbird
58. Crimson Sunbird
59. Little Spiderhunter