Areng Valley is one of the other rich resources
of ecology and natural view. Areng is located in Thma bang district, Koh kong
province, Kingdom of Cambodia. From Phnom Penh, visitors can travel by bus to
koh kong province and continue about 32km to the district of Thma Bang. From there, visitors must entering the valley
consists of a steep 17-kilometre-long jungle road, mostly downhill to one
commune called Thma Don Pov (Areng).
Appropriately, most action revolved around the
Areng River, whether following it via trails, swimming, kayaking, bathing or
taking a break on its shores. The river is shallow and impressively diverse. It
transitions from clear sandy stretches to pebbled rapids and mossy patches
strewn with trees. The waters teem with soft-shell turtles, Oriental Darter
water birds, Kingfishers, and the endangered green and silver dragonfish.
Gibbons can be heard howling in nearby trees. Areng is a sweet home of elephants
and other rare animal species. 
Kayaking takes you through calm waters surrounded
by trees and sand banks covered with crocodile footprints and tail marks. You
can occasionally spot a “blessed tree,” ordained by monks and wrapped in
saffron-colored material. Visitors can search for the elusive Siamese crocodiles
in Areng’s lake.
But the most spectacular scenery is discovered
while mountain biking. Tight trails scattered with thick branches wind madly through
jungles dense with trees. Narrow, flimsy bridges dot the rides, with one
30-metre-long crossing only three planks wide. Forests give way rutted paths that
lead you across dusty fields of high reeds and past bored buffalo under pale
sunset sky.
Camp is portable and differs each night. When not
set up riverside, we camped at the abandoned village of Sre Khuanh, where
residents were exiled under the Khmer Rouge. Today there is little evidence of
life in the expanse of burnt fields that have replaced the town, but the
surrounding mountains and large watering hole offer a stunning backdrop to the
absence. Evenings were spent under starry skies, eerily quiet aside from the
sounds of crackling fires and – perhaps too stereotypically – a strummed
guitar. Dinners by firelight were accompanied with a hot cup of traditional,
amber-coloured “medicine water” and followed by nights in mosquito-netted
hammocks, with a nearby fire to combat the cold.
Throughout trips, visitors dine at local homes to
make the logistics easier for guides and provide additional income for
community members. All food is locally grown, which results in eclectic dishes
like eel curry and peanut and lobster paste, as well as fish soups and unending
piles of rice. 
