🥾 Trekking "God's Back Mountain" | Part 1 ⛰️ Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia 🎒
Beyond our backyard is a famous trail that leads to the summit of God's Back Mountain, and finally I got a chance to explore a portion of it.
Trailhead Upgrades 🗺️
I've lived in this area for over a year, and only now have I found the time to explore the trail that so many hikers come here for. Our house is one of the closest places to the trailhead, and quite often mountain guides use our land for parking. Our plans are to develop our land into a sort of basecamp for hikers because nobody in the village has made any big efforts to cater to these underserved visitors. We had heard that a rich businessman recently put up trail signs along the way, and within the first 20 meters of the trail we were greeted with a small trail info sign.
This hiking opportunity came when a friend of ours and his girlfriend came to visit us for the second time. On his first trip he came with his mother who is not very young or physically fit, but he he expressed interest in exploring the trail on a future trip. So this time around Monkey-B played hookey from school to join us for some adventure, but this experience is far more educational than anything she's learning in public school classroom.
🪓 Mankind's Taste For Destruction 🪚
Generally speaking, in the Khmer culture there is an almost subconscious belief that forest are home to evil spirits, ghosts, and basically all things negative, and I must assume this belief has not helped to prevent the loss of nearly all of Cambodia's wilderness. Even here in the last virgin forest of Cambodia, only 10 km away clearcutting has become so bad that the unnatural grasslands where forest once stood are host to wildfires each year that further threaten the edges of the forest that remain.
Even the beginning of the trailhead is full of clearcut forest, actually home to our neighbor's illegal garden. The Wildlife Alliance occasionally cuts her mango and banana trees to discourage her from using this land as a personal garden, but it hasn't stopped her from ensuring the fate of this land along the trail will never be forest again. Luckily though after 15 minutes of walking the virgin forest began to show itself.
Absolutely Beautiful ⛰️
On the summit of the mountain there is a view of the Gulf of Thailand that is technically Thailand. If you look on a map along the southern Thai-Cambodian border, you'll notice a long narrow strip of Thailand that is only a few kilometers wide. This strip of land unfortunately prevents Cambodian access to the sea, so we'll never be able to legally descend the mountain's opposite face for a swim in the ocean.
We had no intention of summiting the mountain on this day, we just wanted to explore the condition of the trail and whether or not there were many confusing forks in the trail that would necessitate a guide for the first trip. To our surprise the main path was very clear, so we hiked for about 2+ hours before returning home. Something I noticed on the trip was that both Monkey-B and my buddy's girlfriend felt scared of the forest, but in more of a supernatural way.
I did my best to explain to Monkey-B that in my culture we are a taught a love of nature and that it is beautiful. Even when we would take quiet pauses to listen for monkey or other animal sounds, I noticed these moments were even more tense for our Cambodian hikers. What frightens Cambodians is the same force that creates an awe and respect for nature within other cultures, but within a few hours Monkey-B had already lost all feelings of fear. I really think more and more Cambodians should do things like hiking in old-growth forests because it would begin to eliminate the fear and negative feelings the culture has towards the wilderness.
Lastly I should mention that this area of Cambodia is full of landmines, so it's probably not wise to take more than 5 or 6 steps away from the well-beaten path because you could very well be the first post-genocide/war human to put your foot in any particular location. Stay tuned for Part 2 because I took far too many pics for just one post...........
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Other than the chopped wood, it's still lush greens everywhere. I already can hear monkey
Bhowling in the forest!My first forest tracking was more than 30 years ago, but the memory still super fresh. Happily go there with 2 senior and 1 junior, sausage fest. Had a picnic by the stream, the moment I opened the can of tuna, the force was too strong, the whole can fall into the river. I'm the attempt to save the can, pulled the whole loaf into the water at the same time. No cell phone era, would mean a troubled fuel gauge led us to track extra 20 miles to bottle some fuel for the van we drove in 🤣 upon arrival at the gas station, figured there's something slimmy in my shoe, upon investigation, found a few giant leeches between my toes, and a few more behind my calf. No one knows how to get rid of them, so I peel them off by force, result in a blood pool in my hiking shoe. And reached home to found out I lost my wallet at the gas station whilst trying to get rid of the leeches 🤣
I've never found a leech on myself here in Cambodia, but I have seen hikers descending from the mountain covered in them. Adventures before cell phones were the real deal, kids of today will never understand what it means to walk back to civilization in search of a pay phone, and then reaching the pay phone to dial a number that you have stored in your brain SIM 😁😉.
Old age client: what's your number Dave?
Dave: Errmmm... Lemme check
Client: WTF Dave? Your can't even remember your own number?
Dave: I can remember your number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, but I can't remember mine.
Client: If you wanna be successful as I am, you really need to put more effort in remembering them buddy.
Dave: Boss, I don't call myself, but I call you more often. That's why I can remember your number and can't remember mine. I will try to remember my number when I am as successful as you. For now, I choose to send my number instead of tell.
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nature really has a lot of beautiful secrets in it, but only we don't know the contents of natural beauty if we don't explore it...today I say you are very lucky to have free time to explore the wilderness walks ,,actually nature is silent, but there is so much beauty that nature keeps..You are very lucky because today you can explore the wilderness even if only temporarily and accompanied by your beloved child...Seen in the last picture the nature or atmosphere there is very cool, as if we don't want to part with nature as soon as possible,Because if we enter the wilderness our minds will be clear and will not think that we are having a very big burden that befalls our lives That's the advantage that nature has..As you said in this post,I will definitely wait for the 2nd episode about nature that you tell next....
I regret that I didn't explore this trail sooner, but life sometimes just makes us constantly too busy to take time for relaxation and time with nature. I was impressed by the condition of the forest and the quality of the trail, so I will definitely be going back in the future. I still have never seen a volcano, but perhaps I can one day in Indonesia.
Very nice to read about this little adventure close to home. Glad to hear that it seemed to change Monkey B's attitude toward the forest, once she got over her fear.
Burnt trees or not, it still sounds pretty magical out there.
Yeah, there are some sad signs of destruction, but overall a magical experience. I'll be back soon without a doubt.
A very nice place sir @justinparke I know you have a great time spending with your kids they look interested in their travel. I miss to walk on dry land have a great day sir and to your family 💖💖
I did see in a recent post that it looks as though you're underwater. Is your part of the country a low-lying area or were the buildings in your post just built on low ground?
Yes sir it was built on a lower part of the ground we've been a catch basin of our place. They didn't realized how hardly affected we are
It's a very tiring trip, right, friend, but in my opinion, this is a very happy trip, friend, nature is very beautiful, uniting with positive nuances in your journey, friend, enjoy, friend.
I love to share experiences like this with my daughter, and I hope I can instill a further love of nature in future trips on this trail.
It's good to go for a walk with young kids for them to learn about nature. The place is very relaxing and interesting. To reach the top of it is a delightful feeling.
Monkey-B had fun but her legs were jelly by the end of the day. Now that I know the condition of the trail I think it will be easy to climb it in a day or two.
Climbing that trail would be challenging and fun.. Have a safe climb sir @justinparke.
Wow very nice. What a great activity trekking is. And doing the activity at such a young age is quite a brave thing to do. Good job keep it up dear
The trail reminded me a bit of my trekking in Sikkim, a very similar climate, but the nights here aren't as cold.
Si nice that you have that kind of wonderful place. It was full of wonders and adventures that most of us will love. 🤗
It's hard to believe this natural treasure is basically our backyard.
That is good to teach our children to love the Nature my friend. That place is very perfect for trail adventure very relaxing and beautiful.
I hope to return and explore more of the trail some day. I would really love to see how much I can do in a day, perhaps even a summit and return.
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1807.
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Of course it's an honor 🙏🙏🙏
It's adventurous and refreshing .Be careful sr.
A very beautiful place, one of Cambodia's last virgin forests.
Yay! 🤗
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