Mondulkiri: Cambodia's Highland East

Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri's provincial capital, sits on a plateau high enough that the province's climate genuinely departs from the rest of Cambodia — noticeably cooler air, rolling hills, and stretches of pine forest that give parts of the landscape an almost temperate feel rather than the tropical lowland scenery found across most of the country. The town itself is small and low-key, functioning mainly as a base for elephant sanctuary visits, waterfall trips and treks into the surrounding hills rather than as a destination in its own right.

Mondulkiri has become the centre of Cambodia's shift toward ethical elephant tourism. Several sanctuaries in the forest around Sen Monorom work with elephants retired from logging camps or riding-based tourism elsewhere, and visits here are built entirely around observation and interaction rather than riding: walking alongside the elephants through the forest, helping prepare and feed them, and joining them for a bathing session in a river or pool. It's a genuinely different, slower kind of wildlife encounter than a riding-based attraction, and one that puts the animals' welfare ahead of a quick photo opportunity.

Bou Sra, a wide, multi-tiered waterfall dropping in stages over a broad rock face into the forest below, is one of Cambodia's most-visited natural sights outside the temples and the coast, and a straightforward half-day trip from Sen Monorom by road. The lower tier is the most accessible and popular for a closer look or a swim in the pool beneath it, while a path leads up to a second, taller tier for a wider view over the falls and the forest around them.

Mondulkiri is the traditional home of the Bunong (also spelled Phnong), an indigenous highland people with their own animist beliefs, language and customs distinct from lowland Khmer culture, including traditional practices around forest land and community decision-making that differ substantially from the rest of the country. Several community-based tourism initiatives around Sen Monorom, run by and benefiting Bunong villages directly, offer visitors a genuine, respectful way to learn about highland life and traditions — treks, homestays and guided village visits organised on the community's own terms, rather than a staged photo-stop.