JANUARY 2024
 
 
CONTENT
Gibbon
JAHOO GIBBON CAMP
COMMUNITY PROJECT
 
 
Until recently, Mondulkiri (Monthol Khiri, literally the Center of the Mountains) was one of Cambodia's most remote regions.

Located in the southern highlands—a vast area stretching between southern Laos, central Vietnam and eastern Cambodia—Mondulkiri is a wonderland of interweaving basalt plateaus, hills, savannahs, swamps, open forests, and dense jungles on red earth. To the north, Mondulkiri borders Ratanakiri Province; to the west, Kratie and Stung Sen; and to the east and south, the Vietnamese border. The region’s western side features Mekong-bordering peneplains that are often covered by forest-clearings, and its northern side the Srépok valley, an area of savannah and forest clearings. In the center and southeast, the territory rises on the northern flanks of the Yok Laych plateau, where a series of mamelons create a vast, hummocky dome covered with grassland steppes and copses in steep, wooded valleys. According to Mnông legends, the sea once covered this region and the mounds on the plateau are the waves that have remained frozen for eternity. Southern Mondulkiri rises to the north and center of the Yok Laych Plateau, a region formerly known as the Roof of Indochina or the Grass Plateau, which separates the tributaries of the Mekong from those of the great rivers of South Vietnam (Song Be and Dong Nai).

The region's main peaks are Yuk Tou Gourr (932m), Phnum Chrinh (715m), Phnum Goun Djya (727m) and Phnum Lier (1078m). These heights feed a myriad of winding streams cut by waterfalls such as Bou Sraa, the most notable being Dak Dana, Dak Deurr, Prek Chhlong and Dak Lok, which flow either north to the Srepok or west and southwest to the Mekong.

Mondulkiri is the land of the Proto-Indochinese, ethnic minorities of Austronesian or Austroasiatic origin: Mnông, Tampua, Kraol, Cham and Stieng, peasants of the forest, skillful trackers and hunters who live in fear of the forest and its genies. Their lives are organized around agrarian cycles linked to the monsoons, and they practice the technique of essartage (slash-and-burn). During the Khmer Rouge era, they were involved in ethnic cleansing programs and sometimes had to hide in the depths of the jungle to escape Pol Pot’s regime. Nowadays, they live at the edge of the jungle or along the tracks, in Khmerized or traditional dwellings, typically low houses with long thatched roofs. In the region, the Mnông (Phnong, Punong, Pnong or Bunong) are the majority ethnic group, with a population of 41,000 and 200,000 in Vietnam. The center of Mnông country once extended over southeastern Mondulkiri and western south-central Vietnam, and history recorded the great Mnông revolt against the French colonial administration in the early 20th century. During the Vietnam War, Mondulkiri was a Khmer Rouge stronghold, its expanses regularly bombed by B-52s.
yellow-cheeked crested gibbon
To the south of Mondulkiri, not far from Kratie Province, lies the Keo Seima reserve, a biodiversity sanctuary of global importance. Classified in 2002, this area covers almost 3,000 hectares and reaches heights of 60–750m. It features peneplains and hills, small valleys, seasonal marshes with meandering greenish streams, and mixed forests. A total of 959 species of plants and mushrooms, and 356 species of birds—a Cambodian record—discreetly flourish in the sanctuary. There are also seven species of primate found in the protected area, including the black-tailed langur (Pygathrix namaeus), yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Hylobates gabriellae), Eld deer (cervus eldii), sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), banteng (Bos javanicus or tembadau) and gaur (Bos gaurus). Also of note are Titania’s woolly bat (Kerivoula titania), Indochinese thick-legged bat (Glischropus bucephalus), O’Reang’s horned frog (Ophryophryne synoria), Mouhot’s frog (Leptobrachium mouhoti), red-eyed green viper (Trimeresurus rubeus), orange-necked partridge, white-winged duck, great hornbill, vulture, ibis, sarus crane, and the green peacock. The tiger was last spotted here in 2006.

Since 2014, the Keo Seima reserve has housed the Jahoo Gibbon Camp, a project supported by the Cambodian Department of the Environment, World Hope International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Its mission is to offer visitors an incomparable experience of observing endangered specimens—with the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon and the langur douc at the forefront—in order to encourage conservation action and promote Mnông culture. A social initiative dedicated to these marginalized communities provides them with work in harmony (and not in conflict) with the environment, as opposed to logging and hunting protected species—both means of subsistence often chosen for convenience. This alternative reconnects the Mnông to their forest and its wildlife as a source of income and pride.

From November to May, explore this major breeding ground for biodiversity in the company of a zoologist guide directly involved in the training of Mnông forest rangers. This immersive experience invites you to follow the disturbing songs of rare primates and avian species as they move through the canopy, and for the lucky, to observe various Asian elephant footprints and Malay bear scratches. The more adventurous can embark on a night safari by headlamp in search of wild encounters. It is also an opportunity to relax by splendid, secluded waterfalls and to share specialties that channel Khmer and Mnông know-how on a community farm, while listening to the tales and legends that feed local folklore.


© Photo by Joel Sartore, National Geographic.


LEARN MORE
 
 
Jahoo map
THE HOPEA ODORATA
A PERFUMED TREE
 
Hopea Odorata
When strolling through downtown Saigon, especially between the former presidential palace and Notre-Dame Cathedral, passersby will notice rows of century-old, slender, perfumed trees with a majestic allure. They are Hopea odorata, a species of evergreen tree found in Southeast Asia tropics.

Also known as Merbau, Merawan Takhian, Thingan, White Thingan, Meranti or Rosewood, the Hopea odorata grows mainly in lowland rainforests, although it can also appear in swampy or mangrove areas. It develops its upper branches in the canopy, where it competes for light with other trees; with an average height of 40–50 m, the Hopea odorata is able to thrive. Its trunk is straight and slender, sometimes with a massive diameter, and slightly ascending branches that form a pyramidal crown which becomes rounder as the tree ages. The bark is light to dark brown and rough, with vertical cracks and ridges.

Its leaves are evergreen, oval, leathery, and shiny, helping it to withstand the humid conditions of the rainforest. Its flowers are yellow to white, growing in clusters and attracting pollinating insects. Fruits are woody capsules containing seeds. When the capsule ripens, it cracks open to release the seeds—small egg-shaped nuts about one cm long, fitted with a pair of long-bladed wings that detach and float away, spinning elegantly like a helicopter.

Myriad creatures gravitate around the Hopea odorata. Moths of the Sphingidae family feed on the nectar of its flowers, beetles such as the ladybug hide under its bark, and ants sometimes build their nests close to its base and climb up to hunt other insects. Woodpeckers, titmice and flycatchers feed on the insects growing on its trunk and upper reaches, while mammals such as squirrels, monkeys, clouded leopards, rats, and bats find refuge in the tree and feed on its fruit.

After the rain, Hopea odorata releases a sweet vanilla fragrance. This aroma is one of the reasons why the colonial French planted the tree in downtown Saigon; it added a subtle scent to a city that was already exotic.

In Thailand, the tree is linked to the story of the mysterious Nang Tan Khian. According to the chronicle, Nang Tan Khian was a beautiful and charismatic woman who lived in a village near a dense forest. She was loved and admired by all who knew her. She had a special bond with an old Hopea odorata, often spending time with the tree and talking to it. One day, wicked strangers arrived in the area and sought to kidnap the beautiful girl. To escape capture, she hid near the tree. It decided to protect her and changed into a divine entity. Terrified by this supernatural transformation, the strangers fled, and Nang Tan Khian was spared. After this event, the two were reunited, and their love became legendary.

In Southeast Asia, Hopea odorata has an economic importance. Due to its high-quality wood, durability, resistance to moisture, and reddish-brown color, it is prized in the construction of furniture, flooring and joinery. Its resin is harvested, ground into powder, and used in traditional medicine as a styptic to stop bleeding when applied to wounds. The astringent bark is used in the treatment of diarrhea and in a remedy for gum inflammation. It is also used in agroforestry systems, particularly shading coffee crops.

In recent decades, excessive logging has significantly reduced the Hopea odorata population. It is now classified as an endangered species in some areas, and conservation efforts are underway to protect it.

In addition to downtown Saigon, notable specimens of Hopea odorata can be found in the national parks of Cat Tien, Ke Bang-Phong Nha and Pu Mat in Vietnam, Bokor in southern Cambodia, Nam Et in northeastern Laos, Khao Sok in Thailand, and Bako and Taman Negara in Malaysia.

                           
RODIN'S
LAST PASSION
 
Rodin drawing Apsara
On April 25, 1906, the coronation of King Sisovath radically transformed the relations between France and Cambodia. His predecessor, King Norodom I, had reigned from 1860 to 1904 and signed the protectorate contract with France in 1863.

Initially, France was content to play its role of protector without intervening in the internal affairs of the kingdom, which remained the prerogatives of the king. However, everything changed in June 1884, when the French grasped the reality of power (land, taxation system, etc.) and effectively reduced the Cambodian royalty to a purely symbolic role. This coup d’état provoked events, including a real civil war in 1885–1886, that would retrospectively only be considered as insignificant upheavals. Norodom I experienced a miserable end, isolated in his royal palace and abandoned by an elite who were quick to find their place in the new reality created by France.

King Sisovath's Travels to France

Sisovath, the new monarch, had given up on governing very early on. All that mattered to him was the prestige and pageantry of a reign, which the French would help magnify.

Less than two months after his coronation, he left for France on an official visit accompanied by his royal ballet. He arrived on June 10, 1906, in Marseille to visit the colonial exhibition, where the royal ballet would perform as a highlight of the exhibition. The king left Marseille for Paris on June 18, leaving the royal ballet behind.

His departure was a shock. The royal ballet was a strong institution of the kingdom, and its primary function went beyond the entertainment of the king’s guests; ballet played a key role in the sacred ceremonies that punctuated the life of the kingdom. King Norodom would never have let his ballet perform outside of his presence.

With King Sisovath, things had changed considerably.

The success of the dancers in Marseille was such that, against all expectations, the king ordered their departure for Paris on June 27, 1906. The ballet first performed in the gardens of the Élysée. Ten days later, on July 10, it gave a second performance at the Pré-Catelan, with famed sculptor Auguste Rodin in the audience.

“I was considered a great sculptor…”

By 1904, Rodin’s art had begun to run out of steam. Paradoxically, the artist had become a victim of his own worldwide success, which transformed him into a society portraitist. Cambodian dance would once again turn his life upside down.

At the Pré-Catelan on the evening of July 10, Rodin began to feel bored. The Greek dances on the program reflected an academicism that exasperated the artist, who constantly searched for an authenticity that he called “nature.”Apsara dancer

And then the Cambodian dancers took the stage. He later remarked: “…For me, I feel that looking at them, my vision has broadened; I saw higher and further; finally, I learned...”

Rodin was familiar with Asian dances. At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889, he marvelled at Javanese dancers in whom he saw “marvelous princesses.” He also expressed great admiration for the show “The Geisha and the Knight” at the Universal Exhibition of 1900.

The Cambodian dancers unlocked a new passion. “I am certain that these dancers understand and that they are capable of not descending from this superior art,” Rodin wrote, explaining that “there are Greeks and Cambodians…” For Rodin, “this superior art” was the expression of an original vision that had not been polluted by subsequent layers of academicism.

Rodin was able to visit the Cambodian ballet on the afternoon of July 12, an all-too-brief opportunity to draw the dancers: “I contemplated them in ecstasy…What a void they left me! When they left, I was in the shadows and the cold, I believed that they took away all the beauty of the world.”

“I would have followed them to Cairo…”

He did not go to Cairo. From July 14 to 20, Rodin was in Marseille where he spent six days drawing them. Due to the festive period, Rodin was unable to obtain his favorite drawing materials and made his first sketches on wrapping paper that he bought from a baker.

Rodin drew freehand without ever taking his eyes off the models: “Why? Because I wanted to be sure that nothing escaped me. I did not think for a single moment of the technical problem of representation on paper which could prevent the flow of my intuition, from my eye to my hand. The moment my eye stops on the paper, this momentum stops... My goal is to test to what extent my hands already feel what my eyes see.”

His fascination with the expression of movement reached such heights that his representation of the royal ballet costumes was considerably simplified.

Rodin sometimes intervened to ask the dancers to return to a pose and linger there. His relationship with the models was excellent from the beginning; he gave them little gifts, and they called him “Daddy.”

Faithful to his vision, the sculptor wanted to capture intermediate postures that do not appear in successive poses. The writer Rainer Maria Rilke, who was Rodin’s secretary, drew a masterful conclusion whose essence, "power of expression," reveals the profound nature of the artist’s drawings: “Rodin supposed that imperceptible movements that make the model when he does not think he is being observed... can contain a power of expression that we do not suspect... he drew a host of gestures never seen, always neglected; and it appears that the force of expression which emanated from them was immense …”

Between the afternoon of July 12 in Paris and the six days spent in Marseille in the company of the dancers, Rodin left 150 drawings that count among his major works. However, the experience left Rodin physically exhausted, and he was not able to witness the departure of the dancers, to his great regret.
Secret Indochina
        Apsara illustration
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