I spent all morning today at the Kep National Park and I must say I had a really great experience. The Squirrel Association/Led Zep Cafe have really, really done a superb job of making every trail and spectacle easily navigate-able. I must confess though I was absolutely dripping in sweat whilst climbing up to the peak; Phnom Kep, I started the short yet steep climb shortly after 09:00 and the humidity was phenomenal.
Wildlife-wise I saw plenty of monkeys, quite a few of the dark red squirrels. I also encountered a brown snake, about 750cm long, unknown species but am intrigued as to what it could have been. I also found a huge brown and mottle banded feather, it's around 25cm long; a tail feather? Saw loads of Cambodian Skinks, a couple of Reams, even a Racket Tailed Drongo swooped across the path after kilometre #13! As for insect life, I glimpsed plenty of the huge black and yellow butterflies I have no idea what genus. But, aside from the snake, the most spectacular fauna that I encountered jumped from a tree I batted with my walking stick and two Pyrops Candelaria jumped onto a branch right in front of me, amazing!
So yes, the wildlife is good, the trails east to navigate and I felt as though I had the whole park to myself. I barely saw another person and although on occasion you can hear the shrieks of children from the beachfront and the sonorous chanting of a monk, there was pretty much the sound of my footfalls and nature.
Oh, there were many of this dark green bird with a crested head, about the size of a great tit, but I can't find it on the internet; any suggestions? There were many of them.
