Cambodia: Bokor National Park

For a country as small as Cambodia, there is remarkable diversity in climate. Close to the sea, you can find the Bokor National Park, site of a thousand-metre plateau that during the time of the French colonial rule was a luxury holiday resort.

Today, all that remains are the crumbling ruins of an elite life – an abandoned hotel and casino, the shell of a Catholic church, the former holiday home of the King of Cambodia – often surrounded by a swirling mist that rolls in from the sea and envelops everything in a surreal, Wuthering Heights-esque atmosphere.

The climate during the ascent changes noticeably, and as you travel on the (very) bumpy road up, or take a slow trek down, this is witnessed in the change of tree and plant life: banana trees at the bottom, gorse bushes at the top.

Over 200 species of bird have been recorded in the park, including globally threatened species such as the green peafowl, chestnut headed partridge, rufous winged buzzard and the grey headed fish eagle.

It is also one of the few places where the Great Hornbill still thrives, and the only location in Cambodia where the blue eared kingfisher and crow billed drongo have been recorded.

images: Cambodia 61 – Popokvil Falls in Bokor National Park by jrwebbe & via flickr

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Today, all that remains are the crumbling ruins of an elite life – an abandoned hotel and casino, the shell of a Catholic church, the former holiday home of the King of Cambodia

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