Killing Fields of Cambodia

We visited the so-called Killing Fields on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh - the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre. This was a moving and troubling experience.

Here we looked at the rows upon rows of human skulls stacked high in the Memorial Stupa in the grounds where an estimated 30,000 Cambodians were butchered by Pol Pot's murderous Khmer Rouge regime. The barbarity of that regime was writ large on those skulls: lines and cracks from machete cuts, holes from hammer blows, caved in skulls. The Khmer Rouge did not waste bullets on its victims.

Victims included supporters of the deposed Lon Nol regime, academics, teachers, people who had the misfortune to wear glasses, actors, artists, Vietnamese, Chinese, or anyone suspected of not being totally loyal to the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot had a saying: Better to kill an innocent in error than to let an enemy escape in error. More than 1 million Cambodians were either murdered or died of starvation after being forced from the cities to grow rice in the countryside.

Memorial Stupa

One old man we met in northern Cambodia told us that in his village, there was just enough food to feed the influx of city dwellers, but in many neighbouring areas, food was in short supply and many died.
Victims were trucked daily to the killing fields of Phnom Penh, just one of many slaughtering grounds around the country. Victims were tortured in order to extract confessions of disloyalty before being slain. As many as 300 a day were killed at the Choeung Ek site, their bodies dumped in shallow graves and doused with pesticide to mask the stench of decaying flesh. While executions were underway, so-called patriotic songs were played through loudspeakers to drown out the screams of the dying.

Newly unearthed human teeth we found during our visit

In one of the many mass graves at the site, we found two human teeth on the surface that had been unearthed by recent rain. Bone and cloth fragments from victims are continually being found.

Land mine victim

We met an old soldier begging from outside the barbed wire enclosure fence. His right leg had been blown off by a landmine.

Killing Tree

We saw the so-called Killing Tree, where babies and toddlers were held by the feet as their heads were smashed against the tree trunk.  We saw graves for different victims. One for Chinese. One for naked women  and babies. One for headless corpses. We saw piles of victims' teeth and bone fragments and clothing, much of it clearly worn by young children.

Throughout all of this, almost unbelievably, Australia was among most of the world's countries that continued to recognise the authority of the Pol Pot regime in the face of overwhelming evidence of genocide. The world stood back and did nothing until the butcher was finally deposed by the Vietnamese invasion of 1979.

On a brighter note, some scenes from out and about in Phnom Penh.

Boy in tuk-tuk

Boat on Mekong

Royal Palace

Cambodia's Avian Jewels: Wagtail & Tailorbird

Mekong Wagtail

After visiting Tmatboey (see following post) we headed east on the long drive to the delightful Mekong River town of Kratie for a two-night stay in the Mekong Dolphin Motel. We searched in vain for Asian Golden Weaver at a well-known rice paddy site outside Kratie for this species.

Our boat

Wagtail habitat on Mekong River

We had better luck the next morning when we took to our sheltered long boat for an excursion on the mighty Mekong River.

Mekong River

It wasn't long before we connected with the Mekong Wagtail - a much wanted Mekong River endemic. We saw an unusually large number of 15-20 wagtails, flitting about in pairs and small flocks between the small sandy islands and flooded bushes.

Mekong Wagtail

It seemed that the wagtails were busy establishing breeding territories.

Irrawaddy Dolphin

Irrawaddy Dolphin

Then we had an excellent encounter with the rare Irrawaddy Dolphin,with 10-15 animals, including a couple of females with young, surfacing about the boat. This species has suffered greatly throughout its limited range along the Mekong River due to being caught in gill nets, especially in Laos.

Little Ringed Plover

Other birds seen included Little Ringed Plover, Indian Spot-billed Duck and Grey-throated Martin.

Grey-throated Martin

Indian Spot-billed Duck

The rice paddies remained weaver-free on a second visit later in the day. Locals were busy attending their crops.

Kratie rice paddy

But it was nice to connect with other birds such as Zitting Cisticola.

Zitting Cisticola

And Freckle-breasted Woodpecker and Red Avadavat.

Freckle-breasted Woodpecker

Red Avadavat

Less enchanting were the mist-nets established along the edge of one rice paddy with the remains of 15 birds in various states of decay which must have died in agony. The villagers apparently are trying to protect crops from marauding seed-eaters but the dead birds were the insectivorous reed-warblers, prinias and cisticolas.

Oriental Reed-Warbler caught in mist-net

Unfortunately the opportunity for a second early morning birding session at Kratie - and therefore probably our best shot at the target, Asian Golden Weaver - was squandered due to an entirely avoidable accident caused by the negligence of our otherwise excellent guide, Mardy Sean. Enough said about that particular matter.

We headed south from Kratie to the outskirts of Phnom Penh where we looked without success at the traditional site for the recently discovered Cambodian Tailorbird. Again, the area was extensively flooded with the tail end of the wet season dumping plenty of rain.

Cambodian Tailorbird

Cambodian Tailorbird

We moved on to a second site closer to the capital where we finally had success with a pair of obliging birds.

Helping out the locals... tailorbird site near Phnom Penh

 Plain Prinia was also here.

Plain Prinia

As was Malaysian Pied Fantail.

Malaysian Pied Fantail

Cambodia's Tmatboey Reserve: Giant Ibis and Woodpeckers Galore

Black-headed Woodpecker

Following our stay in Siem Reap and around Angkor Wat (see following post) we headed north with our guide, Mardy Sean, and driver booked through the Sam Vaesna environmental centre to the famed Tmatboey Reserve. This area of dipterocarp woodland on the northern plains of Cambodia is home to several specialties, especially the critically endangered Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis. It is not possible to visit the reserve privately; the Sam Vaesna packages are expensive but money is channelled into community environmental projects, the value of which has been acknowledged internationally.

Rufous-winged Buzzards

We spent the first afternoon wandering through the pleasant though hot woodlands, notching up the first of about 20 Rufous-winged Buzzards seen during our two-day stay. This was a lifer for me but it was the commonest raptor in the area.

Brown Prinia

 Brown Prinia, another localised species, was common in areas of tall grassland.

Tmatboey woodland

Indochinese Bushlark proved to be quite numerous in the woodlands, while Burmese Nuthatch was another on the wish list to be taken care of in short order.

Indochinese Bushlark

Our accommodation was basic but comfortable huts at the reserve centre a short distance from the village of the same name. A huntsman spider preying on a katydid in the room at night was interesting.

Huntsman spider with katydid victim

Tmatboey Reserve Centre

Common about the centre at night were Asian Barred Owlet, Collared Scops-Owl and Spotted Owlet.

Asian Barred Owlet

 Late in the afternoon we wandered around the edge of some rice paddies to wait for the White-shouldered Ibis to fly to their roosting trees. A total of 23 birds flew in and although distant (visitors are not allowed to approach the birds) it was satisfying to catch up with this seriously rare species.

White-shouldered Ibis at roost

A more obliging Woolly-necked Stork was present.

Woolly-necked Stork

We departed at 3.30am the next morning as we had a long walk in the dark through the woodlands to our rendezvous with the other ibis target. On the way were some frogs to entertain us, including one eating a large earthworm (identifications to follow).

Frog

Frog with worm

As we waited for sunrise we were serenaded by several Oriental Scops-owls, one of which we tracked down. A pair of Giant Ibis had been roosting recently at a staked out tree we were watching but with no sign of them as light dawned, the fear of dipping on this mega rarity began to stir. Then we heard the crane-like bugling in the distance. We headed towards the sound through chest-high grass wet with morning dew.

Giant Ibis

It was another 40 minutes before Mardy eventually spotted 2 Giant Ibis perched high in a tree. We had good if somewhat distant scope views, capturing a not so good digital image in misty conditions, before the birds flew away laboriously on huge wings.

Black-headed Woodpeckers

With the two key targets out of the way we took our time enjoying some local birds. This is an excellent site for woodpeckers. Black-headed Woodpecker is one of Asia's trickier species; I had seen it in Vietnam but we had multiple encounters at Tmatboey of this very smart bird.

White-bellied Woodpecker

White-bellied Woodpecker and Greater Yellownape were other good woodpeckers on offer.

Greater Yellownape

Other nice birds included Large Cuckoo-shrike.

Large Cuckoo-shrike

During our trip I asked our local guide, Mr Souen, about the fact that until the 1980s, wild elephants, gaur and tigers frequented the local area; as usual in that situation, the odd villager lost their life to dangerous animals. Did the local communities welcome the removal of this problem? Mr Souen responded that in some ways yes: it was safer and people did not feel the need to move about in groups. On the other hand, he was sad that children and future generations would never get to appreciate the powerful presence that these animals once had in their environment.

A full trip will be published soon.

Cambodia's Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Our latest trip to Asia kicked off with a 5-day stay in the western Cambodian city of Siem Reap, gateway to the famed World Heritage-listed Angkor Wat temple complex. We spent a couple of days wandering around these wonderful ninth-Century ruins, visiting not just Angkor Wat but other temples including Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and Neak Pean.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Not too many bird were about but the highlight was good numbers of Hainan Blue-Flycatcher, a species that had eluded me until now.

Hainan Blue-Flycatcher

Blue Rock-thrush was plentiful.

Blue Rock-thrush

Lineated Barbet was also common.

Lineated Barbet

Another nice find was several Forest Wagtails along the forest paths at Angkor Wat. The huge numbers of tourists here and elsewhere around the ruins are nowhere to be seen on the quiet paths through the forest patches that surround the temples. This image was the best I could manage.

Forest Wagtail

I flushed a bird in the forest at Angkor Wat which could only have been a male White-throated Rock-thrush. My favourite temple was Ta Prohm, where a scene was Raiders of the Lost Ark was filmed. The way the huge figs and other forest trees are reclaiming this site is quite spectacular.

Ta Prohm

The Angkor site is huge and ideally two visits should be allowed.

Little Grebe

This Little Grebe was spotted near Neak Pean Temple, which is surrounded by wetlands. The rainy season ended recently in Cambodia so there is plenty of water about.

Bayon Temple

No shortage of beautifully intricate carvings on temple walls.

Temple carvings

We stayed in a nice boutique hotel in the heart of Siem Reap, with plenty of ambience and good food about.

Siem Reap Hotel

Siem Reap market

Our balcony overlooks a patch of wetland and forest with birds including Grey-eyed Bulbul, Plain-throated Sunbird, Taiga Flycatcher and Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Plain-throated Sunbird

Nearby is a large colony of Lyle's Flying-Foxes in the city centre.

Lyle's Flying-Fox

We visited the Landmine Museum outside Siem Reap. Ex-Khmer Rouge soldier Aki Ra set up this facility. He has personally removed 50,000 land mines, some of the 3-5 million left in a country ravaged by decades of war. Aki Ra explains in this missive about what it was like as a 10-year-old who was forced to join the murderous Khmer Rouge.

Land Mine Museum