Cambodia: Environmental Conservation and Management

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1 Cambodia: Environmental Conservation and Management School of Environmental Science Proposed 2017 program The proposed 2017 program has two major changes from previous trips but maintains the essential Cambodian experience for SES students. The timing of the Chinese New Year is a little early and we will start the trip later than usual and this means 1) that our camping and biodiversity trip with the Royal University of Phnom Penh will be in the middle rather that end of the trip, and 2) there will be an internal flight south to north during the trip to reduce two days travel into just a few hours flying. Whilst the Australian dollar has relatively low value in this year, Cambodia remains a cheap and a very rewarding option for students. The 2017 itinerary will include at least one free day every 6 days so that we can get some personal pace when we need it. All plans are subject to change, as we wait until there are definitely enough students participating before making final bookings, but I hope the next few pages will give you some idea of what to expect. I include some pics from the 2014 and 2015 trips. I have accompanied the previous two trips and am organising the 2017 itinerary in this preparations stage, but the school has not announced who the accompanying staff member will be. I am happy to answer any questions until the new staff member is known. Wayne Robinson August 2016

2 Overall Trip Format The 2017 trip is a set of organised activities in each of four locations. The table below can be used as a guide, but the activities are not formalised yet. The Phnom Penh and Siem Reap locations are really in one hotel for the duration (except for an overnight stay in Siem Reap), whilst the Koh Kong section will be highly mobile, including 3 or 4 different locations over 5 nights. 0 Saturday January 28th 1 Sunday January 29th Arrive Phnom Penh by 6PM 2 Monday January 30th 3 Tuesday January 31st 4 WednesdaFebruary 1st 5 Thursday February 2nd Phnom Penh 6 Friday February 3rd 7 Saturday February 4th 8 Sunday February 5th 9 Monday February 6th 10 Tuesday February 7th 11 WednesdaFebruary 8th RUPP TRIP 12 Thursday February 9th 13 Friday February 10th 14 Saturday February 11th Koh Kong 15 Sunday February 12th 16 Monday February 13th Fly Sihanouk to SR 17 Tuesday February 14th 18 WednesdaFebruary 15th 19 Thursday February 16th Siem Reap 20 Friday February 17th 21 Saturday February 18th 22 Sunday February 19th Option to depart from Siem Reap 23 Monday February 20th Depart Phnom Penh Students should plan to be in Phnom Penh well before 6 PM on the 29 th January. Consider arriving a day or more earlier. Students may wish to book a departure flight from Siem Reap on the 19 th Feb instead of from Phnom Penh on or after the 20 th. Do not make that booking without confirmation from the Coordinator first.

3 Day 1: Sunday, January 29, Welcome As this is a trip for students to arrange own travel, we will give you a time and a hotel to be. The group will meet for dinner and introductions. Tip 1: Once you are enrolled in the subject, you will receive regular newsletters, and these will include simple instructions for things like getting through the customs at the airport, arranging a SIM card for Cambodia at the airport if you want one, and how to get to the hotel from the airport. Tip 2: You will know the hotel name well in advance and you may want to book in early or even a few days before. Tip 3: Which flights to book? Well you should use an agent and ask for a few options. Generally you can arrive during the afternoon if you leave Australia early in the morning. Or you can arrive early in the morning in Cambodia if you take an overnight flight from Sydney or Melbourne. Students enjoyed travelling overnight last year and got to be orientated in Phnom Penn during the day. They also got some sleep on the plane. Tip 4: No matter which flights you book, you will have to travel via another Asian city or Darwin, to get to Phnom Penh. Why not stop off in Ho Chi Min City, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, or Singapore for a few nights on the way over? Or on the way back. I usually stopover in Langkawi (below) on the way over. It is paradise.

4 Location 1 Phnom Penh: Monday, January 30 Sunday February 5 th 2017 Contemporary culture Visits to Royal Palace, a Buddhist temple, Phnom Wat, the Vietnam/Cambodia memorial. Before dinner drinks at the foreign correspondents club. Dinner on a cruise on the Mekong River.

5 Phnom Penh Recent History We will visit the S21 genocide museum where thousands of people were tortured and the Killing fields where thousands were murdered during the Khmer Rhouge years of the 1970 s.

6 Phnom Penh - Conservation and the Australian government in Cambodia We visit the International Union for the conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the wildlife conservation society to talk about current conservation projects in Cambodia. We will talk with Cambodian government Ministry of the Environment and the Australian embassy about their respective roles in environmental and other projects in the region. Some of these we will visit later in the trip. Visit local markets for shopping.

7 Phnom Penh - Phnom Tamao Wildlife refuge We will visit the freethebears.org facility at Phnom Tamao wildlife refuge where we will be volunteer bear keepers for a day. We will learn about the bears, where they come from and how they were rescued. Then we will set about preparing some meals for our bears and have some fun hiding their treats in their spacious outdoor enclosures. After watching the bears enjoy our treats we will also be able to look over some of the other exhibits at the rescue centre. This may include getting Lucky the elephant to paint your t shirt (while you are wearing it). Lucky understands human language will use the colours that you tell him to.

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9 Phnom Penh Cultural Immersion During the stay in Phnom Penh you will have plenty of chances to do fun things like visit markets and participate in a Cambodian cooking class, perhaps even join in a Cambodian traditional dance.

10 Location 2 February 6 th 9 th Biodiversity surveys with staff and students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. CSU and RUPP masters in Biodiversity students will participate in a field trip in the Cardamom Mountains, where we will be bush camping and doing surveys together. It will be a very peaceful and remote location, maybe near a friendly water hole for swimming. It is a great chance to make a friend at a University in another country. We will be sampling some birds, bats, insects, water quality, vegetation, etc.

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13 Location 3: Koh Kong Province February 10 th to 13 th IUCN Koh Kong We will visit the IUCN threatened mangrove forests and visit with local the community to see how they are benefitting from IUCN programs. We can participate in reforesting some of the mangroves as well. Chi Phat Wildlife Alliance We may spent two days in the Cardamom Mountains with the alliance, a community group committed to the protection of forests and wildlife. Options may include swimming, kayaking, mountain biking, night fishing, large animal, bird and bat watching. Hopefully we will get to visit their wildlife release centre, where rescued animals are prepared for release back into the jungle after rehabilitation.

14 Free day near coast region There will be an option for a short day trip to the coastal resort of Sihanoukville, where there are beautiful beaches and very cheap options of day trips to islands for snorkelling and swimming. Who knows, we could even get a beach to ourselves like last year

15 Location 4 Siem Reap February 14 th 19 th 2017 The jewel in the crown of Cambodia. The temples in the Angkor region. But Siem Reap offers a lot more as well. We will visit several museums including the landmine museum and a military museum, we will visit a silk farm, see amazing things to eat, and spend a night with local people in a floating village. We will get a presentation from ANKARA, the organisation that has to manage the 6 million or more visitors to the region every year. If you are studying ecotourism, Siem Reap will be one of the best parts of your trip.

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17 The beauty and importance of these ancient temples and customs will be enhanced by enjoying the experience with the assistance of the very informative and knowledgeable local guides.

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20 Floating village Imagine spending your whole life living on large lake! Well for some villagers in Cambodia it s a way of life. We will visit one remote floating village and learn how they survive. We will watch school children travel to and from their floating school in kayaks, whilst teenagers do burnouts in the main street, not in cars, but in motorised canoes. We will learn from local community groups that are educating the locals to preserve no fish zones and protect wildlife in exchange for tourist dollars. You will stay overnight with a family in the village and you can practise some of your basic Khmer language skills. On the second morning we will visit the newly established Prek-Toal bird sanctuary and see how the no fish zone is managed and how the bird communities have responded. This leg of the trip is truly uniquely Cambodian and highly recommended by last year s students.

21 Sunday, February 19th, Return to Phnom Penh There will be a rest day after the fishing village and either before or after we travel back to Phnom Penh. Students may wish to book their return flights to Australia from Siem Reap instead of Phnom Penh. Last day in Phnom Penh Shopping and a nice meal back in civilisation with friends. Crunchy chicken feet anyone?