A remote region of Cambodia's northeast, Ratanakiri is unique. Its characteristic red earth roads and paths bordered with lush greenery and rolling hills.
Life is simple, farmers till the earth and work the rice paddies with hand tools.
Villagers live in hand-built stilt wooden houses. At night, closely knit village communities gather around the fire and share a warm meal and homemade rice wine.
There are no highways, only simple pot-holed dirt roads. During the rainy season, villages soon become inaccessible. Food and housing do not fulfill the population's needs. Electricity and running water are a rare commodity, if not luxury.
Many villagers are also deprived of basic education. If not for a matter of basic survival, men, women and children together must work the fields day after day.
The constraints of this agrarian lifestyle also limits contact and awareness of the world outside the village.
Website
Ratanakiri.com is a meeting place for the people of Ratanakiri and the rest of the world.
Through the marketplace, villagers sell their products and traditional crafts directly to the world's consumers. Witness some of the local success stories of various economic, educational and health projects.
See also: Shopping for gems in Ratanakiri, Cambodia
Hidden high into the primordial northeastern forests of Ratanakiri are the 12 highland hill-tribe peoples known as the Khmer Loeu - a term coined by King Sihanouk. Practising animism and slash and burn farming, the Brou, Jarai, Krung, and Tampuan tribes, among others, still hunt with poison darts and crossbows. Many also still wear traditional costume - Krung women in sarongs and bare-breasted Brou women with tattooed faces and ivory tusk earrings in their elongated earlobes.
A peaceful people, they have had more than their share of ill fortune. During the Second Indochina War, American B-52's bombed large portions of the hilltribes' territory in the Americans' futile attempt to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which continued to run relatively undisturbed by the wanton destruction. However, the bombing not only killed and injured many tribes people, it also drove away the animals they hunted and destroyed their farmlands. Then - though the Khmer Rouge had found shelter in these mountains while the Communist guerillas were building their forces - once Pol Pot's despotic regime gained power, the KR returned to Ratanakiri and systematically wiped out half of the tribes-people.
Less than 60,000 hilltribes people now remain and their numbers are further threatened by a high mortality rate from malaria, diarrhea and childbirth complications. Their lives and livelihoods are now also threatened by the encroachment of logging into their territory.
Yak Loam Lake
Situated 5 km southeast of Banlung, the lake is the most beautiful of Ratanakiri formed by a volcanic eruption almost 4,000 years ago. It's 50 m deep and 800 m in diameter. Around the lake runs a walking path of 2,500 m.
Chha Ung Waterfall
These are the largest waterfalls near Banlung, plunging 30 m into a gorge. The pool at the base is good for swimming and you can also climb behind the water curtain, but be careful!
Kachang Waterfall
This Waterfall is located in the Kontung stream (6 km from Banlung) and flows into the Sre Pok River. The height is 12 m. and the water flows and falls throughout the year.
Katieng Waterfall
Also located in the Koutung Stream, below the Kachang Waterfall, 3 km. Height: 10m.
45 km north of Banlung. With a land area of 332,500 ha. it has a variety of plants and trees in the forest and many different kinds of animals and birds.
Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary
Situated 37km south of Banlung. With a total land area of 250,000 ha. there are tigers, elephants, red-headed vultures etc.