Rattanak Kiri Province

Rattanak Kiri located far away at the northeastern corner of Cambodia, this mysterious yet intriguing frontier is bordered by Loas across the mountains of the Annamite Range through a hilly plateau between the Se San River and Sreypok River to the north and Vietnam to the east.

The Annamite Range is home to rare creatures such as the recently discovered Annamite Rabbit and the antelope-like  Saola, the large gaur and and the Indochinese Tiger. According to a new report from WWF, in the past decade, more than 1,000 previously unknown species have discovered in the Greater Mekong that includes Cambodia.


Rattanak Kiri has long been occupied by many separate highland Khmer Loeu hill tribes; some of which has little contract with the rest of the world and still maintaining much of their own tradition. Overall, this frontier province is renowned for her unique natural beauty and wealth of natural resources. The physical and environmental characteristics form an impressive range of intriguing destinations for Eco-tourism; they include undulating hills and mountains, a level plateau, watershed lowlands, clear crater lakes, rivers and beautiful waterfalls.


Today, although rapid development in the province has altered some traditional ways of life, this remains a very interesting destination for the adventurous and Eco-tourism travelers.


Yeak Laom Lake is located about 5 kilo-meters southeast of central Banlung. This beautiful lake is basically a volcanic crater formed after a volcanic eruption of 4000 years ago; the diameter of this lake is about 800 meters and it bears about 50 meters of clear water.


At one end, there are two wooden platforms for tourists to view the lake up close, but some people can not resist a dip to feel the warmth of the water for themselves.

A path surround the lake providing a leisurely track for trekking . A walk around the lake takes around 40 minutes. Midway along the track, at the western end of the lake, there is a small visitor center which exhibits and sell local handicrafts such as musical instruments, crossbows, baskets, scarves and handbags made from hand-woven cloth.


Wild pig and rare birds including eagles can be seen around the lake and tourists may also spot rarely seen large brightly colored butterflies; some with wings spans of up to 20 centimeters.

( A journey to exotic destination in Asia) THE 2010 OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM.