05/07/2025
I. About Community
Community in Protected Area (CPA) called Sre Y-Numpum was officially established in 2016 under the recognition of Ministry of Environment for 15 years from 2016-2031. The community is about 25km from provincial centre and it is located in Srae Y village, Sangkat Rumnear, Krong Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri province. The village currently has 217 families with approximately total 900 population. Eighty percent of the village population is Bunong origin (alternatively spelled Phnong, Punong, or Pnong). The remaining 20 percent are Khmer origin. Main income of the people living in Srae Y village almost 100% depends on rice cultivation and collecting non-timber products like resin, honey, and mushroom, 25% on animal raising, 15% crop growing and 5% selling labor. This community has 1,777ha of protected area which was officially registered with fully recognized protection principles.
CPA established Sre Y-Numpum community-based ecotourism which is one of community social enterprises under the management of Community in the protected area “Srae Y -Numpum”. It was established in 2009 joint by CPA members living in this area as a vision to protect forest and natural resource, and provide travel experiences for visitors that minimize environmental impact, mobilize visitors to support local communities, and promote appreciation for natural and cultural heritage.
II. About ecotourism services
The community committee members have been mobilized and trained on hospitality skill to provide tourism services such as homestay, food, forest trekking, Punong traditional dance, cycling, camping, and agricultural activity participation to be able to provide the services to the visitors.
Through the services, the visitors will contribute to natural resource conservation and experience rural lifestyle and able to learn on traditional agriculture techniques of poultry raising, rice farming, harvesting wild honey, making Punong local food, and other Punong traditional dances. The visitors can visit the community natural resources like mountains, organic Punong rice field, protected area, and a waterfall site, and can go cycling around the village, photograph the seasonal peacocks, bee, and other wild lives to be found during the tour, can watch the traditional Punong dance at night, taste Punong traditional wine, join livelihood activities, listen to community history, swim in the waterfall, go fishing, go trekking in forest, and go camping at the waterfall site guiding by the local tour guide.
1. Community homestays
Community homestay is a type of accommodation where travellers stay in the home of a local resident, often as part of a larger community-based tourism initiative. This type of lodging allows for deeper cultural immersion and interaction with the local community, as opposed to more traditional accommodations like hotels. Community homestays are often found in rural areas and offer a more authentic and personalized travel experience.
Currently, there are five homestays established and able to accommodate up to 100 visitors per night with 4$/night per person. These houses are made of wood and concrete for the ground floor following Khmer style. The traditional Punong houses now can not be found in the village. However, their current houses still contain some large jars which are said to be more than a thousand years old to show the identity of Punong people. Staying at the community homestays, the visitors will learn about their cultural houses and experience the real life sleeping in a house surrounded with forest.
2. Food
unong people have a unique dish called Samlor Prong (a kind of soup) which is cooked inside a bamboo tube over a fire. This traditional soup mixed ingredients like grilled fish, eggplant, chili, prahok, and wild herbs shown their closed connection with the nature. The visitors however can order many other delicious dishes on the dish menu.
The community can provide three meals per day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The meal price is generally set 2$ per person for breakfast, 3$ per person for lunch and 3$ per person for dinner. If the visitors order others to be included the price will also be added.
3. Punong Traditional dance show:
The Punong traditional dance look differently and it is a unique dance celebrated in any special occasion like rice harvesting ceremony, school opening, wedding, and any other special parties.
The visitors can book the dance group to perform at night and during having parties. This dance traditionally shows the culture of Punong people in hunting, rice planting, and rice harvesting. The dancers wear the traditional clothes differently between men and women. They use Kong local name for the music instrument and other agricultural tools to show agricultural cultivation. Big jars are also used during the dance to store traditional wine. Traditional wine is very important for Punong parties and religious celebration.
4. Waterfall
The waterfall called Leng Pong is about 5km from Sre Y village centre and we can go by iron motor invented by local mechanic which can be used to run through the hard jungle road condition. We can also leave the motors or cars next to the entrance and walk through the forest about 3km to waterfall site because riding an iron motorcycle can be dangerous.
The waterfall looks natural and it hasn’t been changed by people. Going to the waterfall site, we can enjoy swimming, forest trekking, fishing, and camping there. We can do activities differently following the seasons. In rainy season, we can go fishing and having picnic with food they can make by collecting wild vegetables and fish from the waterfall. In dry season, we can swim in the waterfall as the water is cleaned, go fishing and camping there to experience night living condition.
5. See the Punong rice farming:
The people in the village almost 100% their livelihood is depended on rice farming. They have Chamka local word and rice field. Chamka and rice field are totally same but the techniques are differently applied. Chamka is generally called when the land is not flat and exist various plants growing with rice while rice field is flat, cleared and can store water. Traditionally, Punong people have rotated Chamka for growing rice. They move from one place to another every year as they believe that this way can keep good soil for rice. Chamka doesn’t need to be ploughed. They just clear the jungle by burning during dry season and fill in the rice seed using hand planting tools. Rainy season comes, the rice start growing including other plants. Rice field, the farmers need to plough and flat, seedling, and planting.
Following the technique situation found that rotated Chamkas impact in deforestation so the government and organizations work together to stop rotated farming. Therefore, the farmers currently stop doing rotated farms and they keep growing in the same land every year. Their fixed lands were officially offered by the government and moving to new place is not possible. The current rice field is located next to the village while Chamka is far away from their houses. Rice growing is important for their lives. The visitors will hear a lot of stories about the farm land.
6. Seeing peacock
Peacocks are wild animals living in the forest in community protected area. They are sometimes found during rice harvesting season (Nov-Jan) coming to eat farmers’ rice. These peacocks were sometimes hunted by unknown hunters. Therefore, they are not very often to be appeared. Come to watch wild peacocks, the visitors need to hide and stay calm longer; however, this way is to contribute to wildlife conservation
7. Going camping:
Camping site is situated next to the waterfall site where the visitors can enjoy lives in forest and gain more experiences through staying in camp at night. It is about 5km from the village. During rainy season, the camping site has been said it is a bit dangerous as some dangerous wild animals may come at night. The visitors can enjoy camping during dry season as it is safe and water is cleaned and the ground around the waterfall is dried. During camping in dry season, the visitors can experience in finding many wild vegetables and fish for making food. The community provide hiring tents for visitors and also have a large bed for ten camping.
III. Support community
Come to visit our community, the visitors can contribute the conservation through purchasing the community products like wild honey, organic rice, Punong traditional wine, and other wild vegetables like seasonal mushrooms, Melientha (local name called Prech tree), rattan, and many other seasonal wild vegetables exist in the forest. The visitors also contribute through providing capital on livelihood activities like poultry raising, vegetable growing, and other community social enterprise development to vulnerable households including the support on house renovation for vulnerable households, primary school infrastructure construction, community patrolling, and community resource centre renovation.
IV. Meet our team
We are the Community in protected area committee members. We are happy to guide you around and to provide you the services and products we have. To meet us, you are strongly recommended to contact our representative Mr. Yon Ma, Program Manager based in Mondulkiri province, through the contact below.
Tel: +85588 55 84 565
Email: [email protected]
