THE LAST GREAT FOREST IN THE NORTH
The trip to Monk Forest Early morning, the sun rises up, the sound of an old motorbike started and the wheel started to move from Siem Reap town to the Northern part of Cambodia where remain some Dry Dipterocarp forest. About 4 hours, I arrived Aonlong Veng district, in Ordor Meanchey province and then I headed to the West of that district about another 30 minutes more where I met an affable monk, or we can say he is an environmental hero. He is Monk Bun Saluth. With his works for more than 10 years to protect the biggest dry forest and wildlife in the Northern part of Cambodia, Monk Bun Saluth was awarded the Equator Prize by the United Nations Development Programme in 2010. The main purpose of this trip to observe a critically endangered (CR) bird. It is Giant Ibis Thaumatibis gigantea, which was recorded in one of the camera traps in 2013 in the pond. This time, a telescope with 22x and other 4 camera traps plus a few more cameras from the Monk will be used to observe tha...