2-Day Cambodian Gibbon Spotting Tour

2-Day Cambodian Gibbon Spotting Tour

This Cambodia adventure is simply an amazing experience for all wildlife lovers. You will get to see the incredibly rare Northern Yellow-Cheeked Gibbons in their natural habitat in the Ratanakiri province of Northeast Cambodia. In partnership with ‘Conservation International’ and the local communities have put together an exclusive one-night gibbon spotting trek, the first of its kind in Cambodia. It is a unique experience for enthusiastic wildlife spotters and those who are interested in biology and nature conservation. There are not many visitors to visit the site yet, making this an extremely special opportunity indeed.

Itinerary

Day 1: Journey to Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area.

Stop At: Ratanakiri Province, Ratanakiri Province
You will be picked up from your hotel at 8.30am and depart from Ban Lung at 8:45 am and travel 40 km north straight to Veun Sai town. Once in Veun Sai you have time to buy any last-minute items before crossing the river on a local ferry. On the other side, we sign in to the conservation area and meet with a member of the Community-based Ecotourism Team then catch motos to I Tub village, a Laotian community approximately halfway to the Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area station. Lunch can be done along the way or at the station.

We will arrive at the gibbon research station at around 12.30pm where you will be introduced to the station chief, scientists, researchers, and your gibbon guide as well as shown around the camp. You then have time to relax and make yourself comfortable. At around 3pm, we start walking to the nearby Savannah for a spot of different trees and might see tracks and signs of some of the local wildlife such as the claw marks of the sun bear on tree trunks, footprints of deer and other species as well as local birds before sitting down to an early dinner at about 6:45pm. You will then head to early bed to save the energy before rising early as you will need to be awake well before sunrise the next day.
Duration: 12 hours

Meals included:
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation room

Day 2: The Gibbon Spotting

Stop At: Ratanakiri Province, Ratanakiri Province
Today we rise early at 3:15 am because the gibbons wake up with the sun and call to mark their territory as soon as dawn breaks. At 4 am, whilst it is still dark we following a small trail to the protected gibbon area about 45 minutes away to make sure that we are there in time to hear their call. We then reach the edge of grassy savannah and wait for the call of a certain gibbon family, currently the only group that accepts people in their presence. The different groups start to call (sing) at around sunrise with some calls carrying up to 2km. Once the habituated groups of gibbons start to sing, the gibbon guide will try to locate them in the forest as fast as possible and he will guide us to the spot so we can watch them as they go about their morning activities in the tree canopy. In some cases they let you come very close – less than 15 meters – which provides an excellent opportunity to take pictures. This is a special time as the gibbons can travel quickly in the trees and leave in a split second, anytime they want. Once they do, it can be very difficult for us to find them again, however, the group can often be followed for a couple of hours throughout the forest.
After the gibbon spotting, we head back to the station for brunch at about 10 am. We then pack up and get ready to leave. We get back on our moto’s and follow a different path through the jungle and head back to I Tub village and then onwards to Veun Sai town, cross the Sesan River by a small ferry. Our journey has now come to an end and we travel back to Ban Lung arriving at approximately 3 pm.

What to bring: Small backpack, mosq
Duration: 6 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.