Virachey National Park - Camera traps and trekking info.

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:54 pm

Hope and Horror in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park

Rare wildlife — and the poachers who target it — caught on camera.
By Greg McCann
May 13, 2016
Article and photos: http://thediplomat.com/2016/05/hope-and ... onal-park/

Anyone wanting to do an ethical trek with professionals and support the Virachey National Park should go to the rangers' office in Banlung. I haven't been with them myself, but I've only heard good reports of treks that they have organized. Some outside trekking companies have permission to go inside the park, but not all, in fact most of them do not and you should normally be required to pay an extra fee for this. You must have a ranger with you. If your trek is too cheap, it is almost sure that you will not enter the park, no matter what the tour operator tells you. Any one-night trek will not take you to the VNP either because it's too far.

These are two places I would recommend apart from the VNP office. They are both good experienced teams and are run by nice people : DutchCo http://www.trekkingcambodia.com/ and Parrot Tour http://jungletrek.wix.com/parrot-tours#!
Map of Banlung
The Virachey NP office is on the right hand side of the map. Parrot is still where it is marked, but DutchCo is now at Cafe Alee, toward Tree Top.
http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//f/ ... ownMap.png

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 11:04 pm

Welcome to the jungle: A guide to hiking in the Kingdom.

Further north, Ratanakkiri is home to the Virachey National Park, as well as the Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area, both accessed by the Sesan River, a stretch of water whose stunning approaches make a trip up here worthwhile in its own right.

Most tour operators in the provincial capital Banlung claim to bring trekkers into Virachey, but only the Forestry Administration actually has the right to do so (two-day trips start at $90, depending on the number of people).

Trekking through vast bamboo forests, as well as gently dispersed deciduous dipterocarp forest, you can overnight on an elevation that affords views across a seemingly endless land.

Heading west to Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area, you’ll find an interesting project that’s really about protecting a group of northern yellow-cheeked gibbons, whose presence was only formally described five years ago.

However, to get there, you’ll need to journey up the Sesan, hike to the rangers station, and get up long before dawn for another hike to the forest where the gibbons hang out – one of the most exciting adventures I’ve ever had in Cambodia.

Originally created by Conservation International in partnership with Gibbon Spotting Cambodia, this project aims to protect the forest from loggers, and poachers, and through protecting the forest also protecting the creatures that depend upon it.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... ng-kingdom

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:22 pm

Good news !

Rare mammal species found in Virachey
18 June 2018

The stripe-backed weasel, a rare carnivorous species, has been discovered in Virachey National Park in Ratanakkiri province, bordering the forested regions of Laos and Vietnam.

Writing about the discovery in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Small Carnivore Specialist Group’s latest biannual journal titled “Small Carnivore Conservation”, researchers Greg McCann, from Taiwan’s Chang Gung University, and Keith Pawlowski, from State University of New York, said that the images of the stripe-backed weasel were discovered by them as they were going through digital photos of a three-year camera-trapping survey in Virachey National Park carried out by Habitat ID and Virachey National Park staff.

“On February 14, 2015, a camera-trap photographed two images of a stripe-backed weasel – Mustela strigidorsa – along the O’Gan-Yu stream. Identification of the species was based on the whitish dorsal stripe clearly visible in the photograph that begins near the back of the head and continues in a straight line along the animal’s spine terminating at the base of the tail,” the researchers wrote.

“Confirmation of the species was made with the help small carnivore specialists and this record represents the first record of stripe-backed weasel in Cambodia.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50501831/r ... -virachey/

hanno · Post by **hanno** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:36 pm

That is cool.

bolueeleh · Post by **bolueeleh** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:59 pm

with the available technology now, i wld expect a much clearer photo

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:12 pm

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:19 pm

Ratanakkiri, Cambodia News: Camera traps placed near a waterhole in Virachey National Park have revealed that a wide variety of wildlife are still present. A number of photos have been published recently in the local media, together with the usual promises of preserving nature and species in Cambodia.

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:33 pm

And now for the bad news.

‘Empty Forest Syndrome’ Creeps into Northeastern Cambodia
January 21, 2019
By: Gregory McCann

The roar of the tiger has been replaced by the growl of the chain saw in Northeastern Cambodia’s Virachey National Park, along with the honking of great hornbills, which has been supplanted by the chirping of crickets. Once-majestic stands of old-growth forest are now vast fields of bamboo, which is actually just grass. This is what empty forest syndrome looks like.

We set camera traps in some of the most remote, most inaccessible corners of the park, near the Lao border—confirming my fears that the dreaded syndrome is slowly but surely migrating across the Vietnamese and Laos borders into this beautiful but long-embattled national park. Just two years ago we were “trapping” gaur (the world’s largest wild bovine) in families, clouded leopards, golden cats, and marbled cats put in regular appearances, and we even found elephants, otters, and dholes, an Asian wild dog. Things have changed.

Our most commonly “trapped” species are now bamboo rats, field mice, brush-tailed porcupines and ground-dwelling birds...
Full article: https://www.asiasentinel.com/society/em ... onal-park/

Post by **Username Taken** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:31 pm

^^^ Why don't they just pave paradise and put in a parking lot?

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:42 pm

Username Taken wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:31 pm ^^^ Why don't they just pave paradise and put in a parking lot?

I think that has been arranged:
the-road/building-road-through-virachey ... hey%20road

Virachey National Park - Camera traps and trekking info.

Virachey National Park - Camera traps and trekking info.

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