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All our tours include meals, a local English-speaking guide, transportation from/to Sen Monorom and unforgettable memories.
Spend a day hiking in our elephant forest sanctuary, hand-feeding and washing the elephants, supporting the project and the community and enjoying a riverside lunch. End the trip with a visit to a Bunong village.
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Explore Mondulkiri's wilds: hike lush forests, discover vibrant flora & fauna, swim in waterfalls, explore caves, and savor a delicious lunch. Immerse yourself in local culture with a village visit, learning their unique traditions and way of life.
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This two-day jungle adventure offers deep immersion into Mondulkiri's wilderness, featuring trekking to stunning waterfalls, traditional jungle camping and cooking, and opportunities for wildlife spotting. Experience the region's natural beauty and local culture.
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This two-day tour immerses you in Mondulkiri's natural beauty and Bunong culture, featuring jungle treks to hidden waterfalls and ethical elephant encounters. Experience local life, learn about conservation, and enjoy the region's stunning landscapes.
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This three-day tour provides a comprehensive experience of Mondulkiri, combining jungle trekking and waterfall exploration with authentic cultural immersion and an unforgettable elephant experience.
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Please contact us for a personalized experience.
Sam Nang is the co-founder of the Elephant Community Project and fully dedicated himself to provide a better future to the elephants, the environment and the Bunong community.
Sam has lived in Mondulkiri for over 20 years and knows the area extremely well. He worked as a guide for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) who sent him to Indonesia to learn about developing an ecotourism network. He lived in the forest with the Bunong people for three years and speaks their language. He worked in an NGO orphanage for three years and owned a restaurant for 15 years. Sam is the owner of the Boran Sortha Guesthouse and the manager of the Greenhouse Retreat.
With tourism growing, Sam started an ecotourism tour company to share his expertise and experience with travellers, to support the Bunong heritage and to protect the environment.
Torn is the co-founder of the Elephant Community Project and the expert guide in the jungle and with elephants.
Although he was born and raised in Kratie, he moved to Sen Monorom over 20 years ago to follow his love for elephants, doing research for domestic elephants and working for Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment (ELIE), a local NGO with the aim to improve the health and welfare of captive elephants, to conserve their natural habitat and to support the local community.
Torn built the Elephant Valley Project (EVP) with a partner from England in 2007 where he was the project manager, translator and tour guide. When his contract finished in 2010, he worked with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), which brings volunteers from abroad to work in Cambodia to share the experience and skills.
Our staff team includes three cooks, six guides and three forest patrolmen, most of whom were ordinary Bunong people before we taught and showed them how to provide excellent service to our guests. We also collaborate with several Bunong families in the villages who provide food and accommodation.
If you join us for a big cooking show, you’ll probably meet Pogba, one of the cooks. His special dishes include jungle bamboo soup and chicken BBQ with lemongrass and chili. The other cooks at the riverside base are Srey Neng and Meng Li, a married couple from Putang who learned food preparation from a young age. Their father Teng is one of our local guides.
Nara, one of the other guides, is a carpenter and forest farmer and knows the jungle in and out. He knows every existing path and doesn’t mind using his machete to create a new path.
Mrs. Heng is the first guide we’ve had but she’s too funny to be described here.
Gia, a man with a humble but big smile from Pulong, worked as a local guide for many years and takes great care of guests staying overnight at the base or in the village.
The mahouts are the dedicated caretakers of our elephants, ensuring their safety and well-being and spending the majority of their lifetime with elephants.
Mr. Sok is the mahout of G’Ben. He comes from Putang village and is a highly experienced mahout and forest expert, having lived in the forest for most of his life. He learned mahout skills from his family from a young age. His own elephant naturally passed away, so missing the time spent with these animals, he joined our project two years ago. He is particularly skilled at finding food in the forest.
Mr. Pleu is the mahout of Happy-Lucky. He comes from Putru village and after his elephant was sold, he decided to join the project to follow his passion for elephants.
Mr. Po is the mahout of Mr. Pon. He comes from Putang village and he learnt how to be a mahout from his father. Being born in the 2000s, he is one of the last generations of the Mondulkiri mahouts.
Happy-Lucky's real name is Mekun, which means 'eating' in the Bunong language. With our guests, we gave her the nickname “Happy-Lucky” because of her extraordinary smile, especially when she sees food, and for being lucky to find a new home at the project.
She is owned by seven families and comes from the Pulong village, where she was used for traditional work and tourist treks. We welcomed her at our forest sanctuary in 2018.
“She’s the most eating elephant in the world” – Sam
G’Ben is owned by ten families and comes from Pulong village, where she was used for hard labor, including logging. Upon her arrival at our project in 2022, she was very thin and in poor condition, having been nearly abandoned by her owners. No one was caring for her, and she had almost lost a leg. A scar from a chain is still visible on her front-right leg. She used to annoy Happy-Lucky, but now they’re best friends and take care of each other.
Mr. Pon is a large, tall but slender, and remarkably strong elephant. He comes from Putang village and is now owned by only three families. He was previously used for transporting wood, trekking, and hunting, as his owners were hunters.
In his youth, Mr. Pon suffered from an illness, possibly from eating plastic, so his bones grew faster than his muscles and he lost his tusks. Since Mr. Pon came to our project in 2020, he is a happy and healthy elephant and likes to hug.
Mondulkiri province is located in a remote mountainous area in the northeast of Cambodia, near the border of Vietnam. It is the nation's largest province and it is the home of the Bunong (or Phnong) people, the largest indigenous ethnic group of Cambodia. The Bunong population is estimated at 30,000 out of Mondulkiri's total 43,000 residents, with the Bunong language being the primary language spoken within their communities.
The Bunong people have lived in harmonious coexistence with the region's forests for generations. Traditionally hunters, living in close harmony with nature within the forest, Bunong people are renowned for their traditional elephant taming practices. They domesticated elephants over a century ago, forging a deep and enduring bond. Since then, they have lived alongside these animals that serve as integral partners in the Bunong way of life, assisting with transportation of food or materials, such as wood and bamboo, agriculture, farming, hunting, construction of houses and other facilities, crossing rivers during the wet season and various other activities.
The bond between the elephants and the community is essential, as elephants hold a spiritual significance for the Bunong people. Elephants are famous for their intelligence, memory, and gentle nature with their caretakers. The shared animistic roots of the Bunong and elephants have strengthened the connection between the community and the elephants.
Traditionally, the Bunong deeply value their elephants, considering them family members and opposing their sale to sanctuaries or tourist attractions. They regard their elephants as respected elders, like grandparents, having lived alongside them since birth. Elephants are brought back to the village for important occasions, such as deaths, weddings, and births.
A single elephant often lives with multiple families, typically five or six. The elephant owners hold a respected position within the community, possessing specialized knowledge of elephant care and performing spiritual rituals for their well-being. As well, Bunong traditional medicine contributes to the elephants' remarkable longevity.
The bond between a mahout, the caretaker, and the elephant is profound, often lasting a lifetime. Traditionally, a mahout maintains a degree of ritual purity, dedicating his life to the elephant's well-being. This may involve abstaining from marriage, perfumes, and certain modern practices believed to be detrimental to the elephant.
Elephants are deeply connected to the community, often sensing impending events. According to Bunong traditions and beliefs, an elephant can fall ill if something wrong occurs within the village or if a community member breaks a rule, such as a child being born before marriage. To atone for such transgressions, the community performs sacrifices for both the elephant and the mahout.
The Bunong perform monthly ritual sacrifices, honoring the elephants' spirits and importance. These ceremonies are performed to appease the spirits of the forest, asking for forgiveness if the elephants have disturbed or consumed anything considered sacred. The ceremonies, rooted in the culture and in animism, involve sacrificing animals, such as chickens and pigs, and painting designs on the elephants. The mahout is the only one who consumes the sacrificial offerings.
This project directly benefits the community by offering visitors an authentic experience of their unique relationship with elephants in their natural habitat. As the traditional custodians of the land and elephants, the Bunong possess invaluable knowledge of the forest and its resources. The increasing demand for elephants threatens their cultural survival, as removing these animals from their home and separating them from the Bunong would be devastating.
This program provides an alternative to elephant relocation, respecting both people and animals by preserving their way of life. It allows the Bunong to maintain their traditions while adapting to the challenges of living in a protected forest. Visitors can participate in daily life, including feeding and bathing elephants, learning about their care, and experiencing the unique bond between the Bunong and these magnificent animals.
The project prioritizes preserving land for the elephants' foraging needs, sharing Bunong knowledge, culture, and traditions, and fostering cultural understanding through local guides. Operating independently, it ensures that tourism revenue directly supports the Bunong community and their continued stewardship of this land.
Tourism has grown in the region in recent years, and the Bunong community wishes to participate in a way that allows them to share their culture with visitors and learn from them in return. This exchange could enable them to preserve their traditional way of life without being forced to leave the forest in search of work in the cities.
They rely on your support to maintain their community and protect their elephants from being sold to sanctuaries, where they would be merely displayed as tourist attractions. This program will help the Bunong remain in their village, as you will witness firsthand during your visit. It is vital that the benefits of tourism directly support this community and their continued life on this land.
Please contact us if you wish to be a part of this effort.
Felicia C.
USA
Michela L.
from Italy
M. A.
from Belgium
+855 97 905 5553
+855 17 905 659
[email protected]
Boran Sortha Guesthouse, Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri, Cambodia
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