Koh Kong: Island Fun

Koh Kong City is a fairly nondescript place, little more than an essential hub for getting out to the nearby islands. The weather was also a little gloomy on day one, so we wandered the tiny city to find some lunch at a noodle bar near the centre (an absolute bargain – egg and vegetable noodles for less than a pound!) and booked up our next bus and a tour for the next day to Koh Kong Island. 

Just as we were eating our noodles, the rain came back again, so we dived into the adjacent market and mooched about in there for a while. These tropical deluges don’t last too long though, so we were soon ambling along the riverbank and considering crossing the bridge with an ice cream… but then the skies began to darken like the end of the world was about to cross the horizon so we ducked back into town again! 

That night, we had a fantastic meal at Paddy’s Bamboo Guesthouse, which was only a few metres away from our hostel in case the rain struck again. They do an amazing red curry, which Bradley had, though I wasn’t feeling 100% so opted for some comfort food in the form of pancakes (also very nice). We were off to Koh Kong Island early the next day so we soon went back for an early night.

We were picked up early by the tour guide from Koh Kong Eco Tours, though we’d been given the wrong departure time so we weren’t quite ready! It wasn’t just us though, as at the next pick-up they weren’t ready either – some ill communication going on there. Eventually, we joined a tour group of ten other people, boarded a small wooden boat, and headed out to sea. 

The tour was due to take us out to Koh Kong Island, where we’d be able to swim, snorkel and relax on the beach, before a freshly cooked seafood lunch and a return trip via the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, where they have a mangrove walk. I’d always wanted to see mangroves in action rather than just read about them, so I was quite excited about this!

It took over an hour to reach the island, and along the way we saw some other, smaller islands set against excellent sparkling seas – it was a beautiful day, after a day of temperamental rain! 

The boat eventually approached a perfect beach lined with coconut trees and with a lagoon in sight, and we drifted in and jumped out onto the beach. While the tour guides prepared lunch, we all went swimming and snorkelling, which was amazing as the water was so clear! 

We saw several small jellyfish nearby, which freaked me out a bit but I got used to them – they were quite pretty really, and they were beautiful to watch as they propelled themselves about. These were right along the coast, but a little further out we saw some colourful clownfish, like little nemos. 

As well as being crystal clear, the water was also super-warm, so it was a gorgeous way to spend an hour or two. We were then rewarded with a fantastic lunch from our guides, all cooked using a handmade barbeque and a small firepit. We had steamed vegetables, sticky rice, baked fish, plates overflowing with tiger prawns, chilli sauce and fresh bread, plus rounds of Angkor beer! There were even plates of pineapple and bunches of bananas for anyone who still had room for dessert. 

While the guides cleared away the meal, leaving the beach as we’d found it and reloading their supplies on the boat, the rest of us enjoyed wandering along the beach, paddling in the warm waves and photographing the beautiful bay. Bradley found a coconut and practiced his shot-putting skills too – Rio 2016, perhaps?!

Sadly, this detour to paradise had to end, so we boarded the boat once more and this time made our way to the Wildlife Sanctuary, and the mangrove walkway. This area is part of the Koh Kong conservation corridor, which covers the south of the Cardamom Mountains, as well as this gloriously well-preserved mangrove forest. Much of the mangrove forests of more developed countries in South East Asia, for example Thailand, have been destroyed to make way for new resorts and hotel developments. However, here the mangroves are protected from this mass negligence. 

Mangroves can make some small difference to coastal erosion, as they line the shores and protect them from the impact of the waves, but they often prefer to develop along more sheltered coastlines with fewer heavy waves so have a limited ability to provide day to day erosion protection (though are certainly better than nothing). Where they are invaluable, with regard to protecting the land is when a tsunami hits, as their intricate root system and the mangrove trunks present a significant barrier to a fast approaching tsunami. 

The brilliance of the mangrove forest lies in its ability to thrive in difficult conditions not favoured by other trees and shrubs. Mangrove trees are comfortable with a wide range of salinity levels, temperatures and water heights, and they show remarkable adaptation to their environment, such as their spindly root ‘legs’ with a large enough surface area to help them ‘breathe’, despite low oxygen levels in the water. It was awe-inspiring to see these amazing plants, and to know that they are under protection here to ensure they don’t meet the same fate as other established mangrove forests in this part of the world.

 Video from top of the 'lookout'

On the way back to Koh Kong City, we were chatting to an interesting man who was telling us some great stories about his Cambodian wife (who knew the tour guides so was busy chatting to them) and his extended family in Cambodia. Conversation turned more serious when he began to tell us about how she survived during Khmer Rouge rule – we heard some terrible and shocking stories, including one where she helped a woman give birth while a group of them were on the run through the jungle, trying to escape to nearby Thailand. Somehow she had to stop the woman screaming and her newborn baby crying in case they were heard and then captured, or shot dead. Within an hour of delivering the baby, she had to help and encourage the exhausted new mother to keep moving into the jungle to evade capture, as they were being pursued. It is still incredible to us to imagine these terrible things happening, and within relatively recent living memory. Our new friend seemed to feel the same way – as he spoke about what she had experienced, he seemed quite bewildered about it too, and explained that she still wakes from terrible nightmares, which is of course to be expected. His dedication to supporting her through this, and the joy they shared in their new life together, was so lovely to see after everything that happened here.

Once the boat arrived back in Koh Kong City, under an ever-darkening sky which once again threatened rain, we headed back to Paddy’s Bamboo Guesthouse for a curry (feeling much better today, I chose the curry too, which was delicious) and we returned to our hostel for a film and to pack our bags before the bus out of town the next morning.

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