Highlight - Phnom Penh

Six days exploring the course of the Mekong in The Kingdom of Wonder. Starting from Phnom Penh and moving upriver all the way to the border with Laos. We will stay in the river town of Kratie, noted for its Colonial Architecture, and population of Irrawaddy Dolphins nearby. We'll have a bit of Bicycling on the quiet garden island of Koh Trong, stop at the Spider Market in Skuon, stay with a local family at the Laos Border, see the Bamboo Bridge, view the rapids and waterfalls separating Cambodia and Laos, and Kayak through the Flooded Forest. At the conclusion of your tour we can return you to Phnom Penh or drop you either at the Laos border if you wish to explore that country, or in Stung Treng if you wish to visit Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri. We can arrange tours there, or you may continue on your own.

Duration 6 Days
Experiences Tour Guide English
Instant Confirmation
No Deposit Required
Free Cancellation 48 hours before
Mobile Voucher Accepted

Six Day Private Mekong Adventure Tour

Day 1) Phnom Penh - Kratie

After you guide picks you up at your hotel we hit the road north, our first stop is the town of Skuon and the Spider Market where you can indulge yourself with Deep Fried Tarantula as a snack. Then we head up to Kampong Cham where we stop for lunch and visit the Bamboo Bridge (in dry season). This bridge is built every year to connect the island of Koh Pen to the shore after the river level drops in the Dry Season. Back on the road it is a pretty drive following the Mekong, going past a mixture of cultivated areas, forest, and grasslands with small towns and Pagodas in between. Arriving in Kratie, your guide will check you into your hotel, then you are free for dinner.

Day 2) Kratie Market - Irrawaddy Dolphins

After breakfast at your hotel your guide will take you on a tour of the city, viewing the Colonial Buildings and then walking through the Market. There you can try local foods from fruits to the many snacks Cambodians love. Then we visit Wat Rokar Kandal to see its 400 year old wood carvings. With the climate and the countries tumultous history ancient wooden objects are relatively uncommon. Lunch time, we will sit on a roofed bamboo platform overlooking the rapids and cascades at Kampi. Delicious food and a cooling breeze off the river make this a nice spot to eat. Now, well fed and rested, we board a small boat to seek out the deeper pools in the river where the Irrawaddy Dolphins make their home. These fascinating endangered creatures are only found in a few places in the Mekong. They are reliably spotted here. Your guide will then return you to your hotel.

Day 3) Kratie - Koh Trong - Laos Border

Following breakfast we hop on the ferry for the short ride to Koh Trong where we pickup some bicycles for a tour around the island. Most people here get around either walking or by bicycle, so this is a quiet spot. Many fruits and vegetables are grown here in the rich soil, with the quality of its Grapefruit and Pomelo especially prized. We will have lunch on the island at a local restaurant, then take the ferry back to Kratie and continue north to the Laos Border. Arriving in Preah Rumkel you have your choice of staying either in a Guesthouse or in a Homestay, both offer beautiful views across the river and into Laos. If you choose the Homestay option you will be eating with your host family, and staying in a traditional wooden house with shared outside bathroom.

Day 4) Falls of the Mekong

You will have breakfast with your host family, or at your guesthouse if that was your choice. From there we board a boat and travel upriver to the Sopheakmit Waterfalls at the border with Laos. This is a grand series of falls, rapids and cascades over 10 kilometres wide. The falls are impassable by boat and have long hampered river trade. During the time of the French Protectorate a short portage railway was built to bypass the falls, it was never very successful and was closed in the 1940's, a bridge and small sections of track along with one locomotive are all that remains of it. In the dry season we may have to walk part of the way there depending on river conditions. We will have lunch overlooking the falls then visit the laos border town of Hang Khone. Then we board the boat again and return to either your homestay or guesthouse.

Day 5) The Flooded Forest

Breakfast again with your host family, or at the guesthouse then we board a boat for a short trip downriver where we pickup our kayaks to explore the Flooded Forest. This internaionally known Ramsar site is unique, covering more than 14.000 hectares of seasonally changing wetlands. With most of the area only accessible by boat this is a vitally important location for many endangered animals, as well as acting as a large carbon sink. Birdlife is abundant and as Joseph Conrad wrote "Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings." It is a quiet place except when the silence is punctuated by the calls of birds, animals scampering through the trees, or the slap as a fish leaps from the water. After paddling for a few hours we return to O'Svay, and drive to Stung Treng where we check into a guesthouse for the night.

Day 6) Stung Treng

After breakfast we will visit the Stung Treng Women's Development Center. Here disadvantaged people are given training to help better their lives. The facility offers many programs from Silk Weaving to Computers, and provides childcare and health services for students. Their Silk products, sold under the name Mekong Blue are renowned for their excellent quality. This is both are interesting place to visit and a socially responsible one. Here our tour comes to an end and you have a few options for what to do next. We can return you to Phnom Penh, you may stay in Stung Treng, or you may continue on either on your own or with another of our tours to Siem Reap, Rattanakiri, or Mondulkiri.

Included