The Elephants of North East Cambodia

We have just returned from our mid semester break during which we visited Mondulkiri in the far north east mountains of Cambodia. We visited some CMS missionaries, taking up some supplies for them and blessings from people back here. In the Mondulkiri region live the Bunong people, an ethnic tribe who are culturally quite different from theKhmer and who speak their own dialect. The Bunong have for centuries captured domesticated wild elephants for work, however the elephant numbers are dwindling. The Bunong are very superstitious and will not let the domesticated elephants breed as they consider this brings bad fortune. Many of the traditional elephant skills were lost during the Pol Pot Period. The people often share an elephant between extended family groups and significantly overwork them, sometimes until they die. The Elephant Valley project seeks to meet the needs of the local people and elephants, renting farmland and elephants so that they can work along side the Bunong people and teach them how to care for their elephant and give it enough food and rest. The aim also is to manage this area of forest and prevent the rampant deforestation that strips so much of the region as outsiders grab the land, ​​fell timber and grade the soil, leaving large bare dust bowls. Some of the funding for the project and the local Bunong community comes from visitor costs, including fees for an afternoon trek in the forest with the elephants. Visiting this project was a highlight of our time in Cambodia.