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Thursday 26 February to Saturday 14 March 2009 with Jon Dunn as leader. Cost: £2400 plus about £700 for flights Click here for explanation of price breakdown Maximum group size: 6 with 1 leader. |
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For many years Cambodia suffered from a seemingly unending civil war, which effectively closed the country off to visitors. Finally however this conflict ended and Cambodia is now open to the outside world and is welcoming tourists. Certainly the most outstanding tourist attractions are the temples surrounding Siem Reap in the heart of the Khemer Empire - an empire that lasted from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The best known of these temples is Angkor Wat, with its soaring towers and intricate wall carvings, but many lesser known temples abound, some growing out of the dense jungle that has reclaimed them over the centuries. Beyond the archeological highlights, which are spectacular in themselves, Cambodia also offers outstanding birdwatching opportunities. Many of the larger species that have largely or completely vanished from surrounding countries can still be found in Cambodia, sometimes quite commonly. In particular, we have a chance of seeing seven species of stork - including the highly-threatened Milky Stork and the Greater Adjutant along with Sarus Crane, Spot-billed Pelican, Bengal Florican, and the highly-endangered White-shouldered and spectacular Giant Ibis. While vultures have virtually disappeared from Southeast Asia, moderate numbers of up to three species still occur in the Chep district of northeast Cambodia, which we’ll visit. Cambodia’s dry savanna and dipterocarp woodlands are probably the most pristine in Southeast Asia and here a number of specialised landbirds can be found, including up to a dozen species of woodpecker. We’ll also visit the great Mekong River in search of the newly described and striking Mekong Wagtail and the endangered Irawaddy River Dolphin. Day 1: The tour begins with an overnight flight from London, via Bangkok, to Siem Reap. Day 2: Arriving at Siem Reap in the afternoon, we’ll transfer to our hotel in time to experience the sunset at Angkor. Night at Siem Reap. Day 3: We’ll have a full day to explore one of the architectural wonders of the world, the ruins of the old Khmer capital of Angkor, lost in the jungles for almost five hundred years until discovered by French explorer Henri Mouhot in the mid-nineteenth century. Notwithstanding the restoration work that has been carried out, the sense that the jungle is waiting to reclaim Angkor is never far away. Besides giving our full attention to the magnificent carvings and temple friezes at the Bayon, we’ll also find many birds, including Alexandrine and Red-breasted Parakeets, Lineated and Coppersmith Barbets, Asian Barred Owlet, Black Baza, Black-headed Bulbul, and Asian Brown Flycatcher. Night at Siem Reap. Day 4: We’ll take a full day’s excursion to the Ang Trapaeng Thmor protected area. This large wetland, constructed for irrigation during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and surrounded by rice paddies, is now an important area for a variety of waterbirds. Here we expect to find over 200 Sarus Cranes, hundreds of Comb Duck, Cotton Pygmy-goose, Purple Swamphen, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, and Greater Painted-snipe. We may also see Small Buttonquail, Australasian Bushlark, and, if we are lucky, Milky Stork, Greater Spotted Eagle, and perhaps some other scarcer waterbirds. Night in Siem Reap. Day 5: We’ll take a full-day boat excursion to the magnificent waterbird breeding colony at Prek Toal, the core area of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. Among many other species, we expect to see hundreds of Oriental Darters, Great and Indian Cormorants, Spot-billed Pelican (listed as threatened), Painted Stork, Asian Openbill, Lesser and a few of the endangered Greater Adjutants, Black-headed Ibis, and Grey-headed Fish Eagle (listed as ‘near-threatened’). A few pairs of Milky Stork also nest here. Night in Siem Reap. Day 6: We’ll have an all-day drive to Thmatboey, in Preah Vihear Province on the northern plains, stopping en route near Kompong Thom to search for the endangered Bengal Florican and Manchurian Reed Warbler in the floodplain grasslands. Other grassland birds may include Small Buttonquail, Australasian Bushlark, and Asian Golden and Streaked Weavers. As we near the dry dipterocarp woodland surrounding Thmatboey, we’ll look out for birds such as the Alexandrine Parakeet and the near-threatened White-rumped Falcon, endemic to Southeast Asia. We’ll settle into our accommodation in the village’s ecotourism cottages, arranged under the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ibis Tourism Project. Night at Thmatboey. Days 7-8: We’ll have two full days of birding around Thmatboey, one of the richest lowland habitats in Southeast Asia. While birds can be hard to see in many other Asian forests, birding around these relatively open woodlands, savannahs, and pools is an absolute delight and at times we’ll be seeing birds faster than we can possibly note them down. The diversity of woodpeckers is outstanding, with sixteen species recorded including Black-headed, Streak-throated, White-bellied, Great Slaty, and Yellow-crowned Woodpeckers. There is also a chance of Rufous-bellied Woodpecker. Other medium-to-large birds include Indian and Javan Nightjars, Yellow-footed Pigeon, Green Imperial Pigeon, Blossom-headed and Alexandrine Parakeets, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Rufous-winged Buzzard, White-rumped Falcon, Blue Magpie, and Rufous Treepie. The many smaller birds include colourful minivets, Common Woodshrike, Indochinese Cuckoo-shrike, White-browed Fantail, Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, and Brown Prinia while we have at least a reasonable chance of seeing the vulnerable and elusive Pale-capped Pigeon. We’ll also expect to see Woolly-necked Storks, but the real prizes awaiting us are the two critically-endangered ibises, Giant and the even rarer and more threatened White-shouldered Ibis. Giant Ibis, in particular, may be heard from our accommodation bugling in the early morning. Nights in Tmatboey Ecotourism Committee Cottages. Day 9: After stocking up on supplies in Tbeng Meanchey and adding cooks and local guides to our number, we’ll drive six hours to Chhep, along rough roads that in places are little more than a cart track. We’ll take short breaks along the way, which will allow for some birding in better-quality forest. We may expect to see some of the same species we have already encountered, including Lesser Adjutants, Black Baza, and other raptors and woodpeckers, but there is always the possibility of surprises and new additions. Night in wooden field houses. Day 10: All day will be spent birding in Chhep. We’ll spend time at the vulture restaurant where, from the cover of hides, we should see all three of the globally-threatened vultures, Red-headed, White-rumped, and Slender-billed, the latter two critically-endangered. The grasslands and surrounding mature deciduous forest here are largely undisturbed, and reflect what parts of Southeast Asia looked like many decades ago. Raptors are numerous here, and the surrounding forests are full of birds. We may see Black-necked and Woolly-necked Storks, more Grey-headed Fish Eagles, and there is also the possibility of Aquila eagles. Later we’ll drive to a site for White-winged Duck before settling into our campsite for the night. Day 11: We’ll have an early visit to some ponds to look for the rare White-winged Duck. In addition to this sort-after species, we’ll encounter many other birds including possibly Siamese Fireback, White-headed Duck, Swinhoe’s Minivet, and Black-necked Stork. Night at campsite. Day 12: After another early morning visit to the duck ponds, the rest of the day will be taken up with a drive to Kompong Thom. Night in Kompong Thom. Day 13: We’ll drive to Kratie from Kompong Cham and once there we board a boat for a cruise along the Mekong River. On the numerous sand and shingle banks we should find the endemic and strikingly plumaged Mekong Wagtail, in addition to Spot-billed Duck, Small Pratincole, and River Lapwing and, with luck, we’ll see River Tern and the endangered Irrawaddy River Dolphin. Night in Kratie. Day 14: Breakfast in Kratie will be followed by a stop at a lake before we travel on to Keo Seima town, our base for the next day and a half, which allows us to look for birds in the evergreen forests of southern Mondulkiri. This little-explored corner of Cambodia preserves one of the largest remaining blocks of Southern Annamitic forest, providing a chance to see birds not encountered elsewhere in the country. The main species we hope to see here is the very local and globally-endangered Orange-necked Partridge and we’ll spend the first evening looking for this enigmatic bird in its favoured bamboo forest. Night in Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area (SBCA). Day 15: In the early morning we will continue the search for Orange-necked Partridge and take the opportunity to try to track down the other Southern Annamite specialities such as Germain’s Peacock-pheasant, Red-vented Barbet, Pale-headed Woodpecker, Bar-bellied and Blue-rumped Pittas, Golden-crested Myna, and Grey-faced Tit-babbler. Later we’ll travel deeper into the conservation area to some less disturbed forest. Green Peafowl are seen regularly in the area and are sometimes observed by the main road. Evenings are also the best time to see the area’s mammalian speciality, the Black-shanked Douc. It is thought that more than half of the world’s population of this endangered primate is found in the SBCA, where it is commonly seen in roadside trees. Night in Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area (SBCA). Day 16: After some early morning birding in the area we’ll drive to Phnom Penh and connect with a flight, via Bangkok, to London where the tour ends on Day 17. Note that this tour involves a few nights in basic accommodation sleeping communally in a large wooden or bamboo house, and also camping. Bathroom facilities will be shared on these occasions. The ground arrangements for this tour are organised by our American associates WINGS.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
Last updated June 2008. |
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