Krzysztof Filla   Photo Gallery

Photograps 2019

Cambodia, once a mighty empire that left behind the legendary temples and cities. Today one of the poorest nation in the region. In recent history much wounded by US American bombs and then the genocide led by the communist dictator known as Pol Pot. His reign annihilated about 2 millions of its own people, nearly a quarter of its nation. Today about 15 Cambodians are injured or killed every month by land mines. This is a vast improvement on the mid-1990s, when the figure was about 300 people. The Khmers, as the people of Cambodia call themselves, have very strong national identity that is rooted deep into their history. They are very proud of their world known monuments - the Angkor Wat, which depiction flutters on every Cambodian flag. The ruins are visited by millions of tourist every year and for many who go to Cambodia it's the absolute must.
I had a glimpse of some of the ruins, which made a great impression on me. But the purpose of my visit was to see the forest known to me only from war movies like "platoon" or other documentaries. Unfortunately the natural "primary forest" in recent decades has been greatly reduced from 70% to less than 3% just from 1970. The secondary forest (mostly plantations) covers less than 30% of the country. After a couple of attempts to visit the jungle, I managed to spend there only one and half day because I was detained by guards for lack of permits, which I hadn't known I needed. After this incident, I entered the path of Cambodian bureaucratic red tape to arrange the permit which due to its chaos shortened my stay in the country. A handful of nature picture I've included into one section.