Jungle Journey [with Chut Wutty]: Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary

April 7, 2012
Originally posted at: http://jamesstephens.me/jungle-journey-aoral-wildlife-sanctuary/

Slowly, Cambodia’s natural wonders are being chipped away by greed and stupidity.

I was fighting a head cold the day we triple-road a derelict motorbike into the mountains of Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Speu province. The man in charge is Chut Wutty, Director of Cambodia’s Natural Resources Protection Group. In a country where everyone can be bought this non-profit group of volunteers wind up as the sole defenders of a line drawn between protected land and unsustainable exploitation.

This chapter of my trip began by running into Keyla Bebe, a student working for the Pulitzer Centre on a story covering land use in Cambodia and the intertwined social activism scene. It took just a brief conversation to realize that an opportunity existed here to see things and meet people that are well off the beaten path. A few days later Keyla and I met Wutty in his idling 4×4 at the crack of dawn. With only two seatbelts it was time to get comfortable bouncing around in the back, high on cold medication and not exactly sure where we were going.

Just the odd tire puncture thrown in to make it interesting.

To understand where we were going I had to learn a few things about how land use works in Cambodia. An economic land concession (ELC) is an area that has been given to a developer for extractive resource use. The developer/investor is granted rights to remove the forest cover and plant crops and/or mine aggregate resources in exchange for protecting a small parcel of the ELC, providing local jobs, and of course, greasing the palms of politicians and law enforcement. Keep in mind I am simplifying things here for brevity’s sake; for a full and well written description of land use in Cambodia check out Keyla’s writing and photos here.

As we drove through the countryside we were treated to the typical Cambodian landscape; sprawling fields in various states of crop cover, sporadic palms and fruit trees, and a distinct lack of any real forest. The hours dragged on and the mountains were becoming visible in the distance when it was time to make our first stop; a small collection of families producing charcoal from the timber coming off the mountain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0AUfka7RoE

The grey dome structures are pits where the wood is ‘cooked’ into charcoal. The final product is then bundled up for export to the surrounding villages and distant cities where it is used as a cheap alternative to gas and oil. The irony of the situation, however, is that some of the timber being burned for charcoal is much more valuable if sold as lumber for construction.

Checking out the charcoal.

Continuing towards the mountains Wutty would mark our progress by recalling which year it was that the surrounding area was clear-cut. Bare soil was interrupted by vast fields of sugar cane and palm plantations where ELC holders attempt to scratch more profit off of their borrowed land. In those fields we would catch glimpses of local workers applying pesticides and herbicides without much more than a mask you would get while sitting in a hospital waiting room. At the edge of the wildlife scantuary proper we stopped at the most recent clear-cut.

Improvement?

Not more than a year ago this was jungle. Now cleared of vegetation this loose, sandy soil lies exposed to the elements. A rainy season had not yet played havoc on this particular area but come May/June when the water flows heavy from the sky and mountains the devastation by erosion will become a painful reality (the ELC holder showed no signs of planting ground cover).

Getting closer!

Traveling via logging roads into the jungle proper, it was time to take a look at the landscape which once dominated the region. Slowly the trees became denser, older, and the road became less manoeuvrable until the time came to switch to motorbikes in order to reach our destination; untouched jungle. So, we parked the jeep at a forest ranger checkpoint and saddled up moto-style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE_4u-uX8dw

A few stream crossings and a lot of bumps later we were deep inside Aoral Wildlife Sanctuary. After killing the bike engines we were greeted by the sounds of the jungle… and a chainsaw. This latter racket was swiftly taken care of after one of our local guides/enforcement volunteers disappeared into the bush.

The old swimming hole.

The rest of us were left to back in a clear freshwater stream, swimming and eating fruit while surrounded by a beautiful and unique ecosystem that was and is under constant threat. In my head the process of destruction seemed as simple as it was depressing; the ELC holders receive legal right to construct roads up to and inside ‘protected’ areas, local villagers use these roads to access the valuable timber within the sanctuary, everyone gives a cut to the local forest rangers, and after a while the fringe of the protected area looks a shabby mess and is easily justified as a new ELC for ‘improvement’.

Slowly, Cambodia’s natural wonders are being chipped away by greed and stupidity. As I swam in an area that was not long ago home to elephants and tigers I imagined the possibilities for research and eco tourism- anything that could stem the bleeding of mismanagement.

For more images check out the photos section. I also have a few more videos up on youtube.