Kirirom National Park

Description

Kirirom National Park is a national park in Cambodia. It is located mostly in Phnom Sruoch District, Kampong Speu Province, while a smaller section is in neighboring Koh Kong Province.

The meaning of "Kirirom" is "Happy Mountain". This name was given to the area by King Monivong in the 1930s. The ancient name of the place was Phnom Vorvong Sorvong for the main two hills there were connected with the Cambodian popular legend about two heroic princely brothers, Vorvong and Sorvong.

The park extends over the eastern part of the Cardamom Mountains. It is located 112 km from Phnom Penh off National Highway 4 on the road to Sihanoukville.

Lying at 675m (2,215 ft) above sea level, Kirirom was Cambodia's first officially designated national park.

It contains many footpaths through the forests with a number of small lakes and waterfalls and was once used as a refuge by the Khmer Rouge.

Among the animals in the park, the following deserve mention: Asian elephant, deer, Gaur, Banteng, leopard, Spotted Linsang, Pileated Gibbon and tiger.

Kirirom is now a popular recreation site. Within driving distance of Phnom Penh, on weekends a significant number of people travel to the park. Many vendors sell various types of food, though some visitors prefer to bring picnic lunches.