Cambodia’s Killing Cave with a Side of Bats and Monkeys

The mountain called Phnom Sampov, which stood in front of our little apartment in the village called Phnom Sampov, was a fascinating place to explore – for the bats, the monkeys, the pagodas, the history, and the hiking. It was so intriguing that, having hiked up it once, we repeated the experience the following day. Except it wasn’t really a repeat at all.

Cambodia’s Killing Cave near Battambang

The first difference was that we came upon another of the three caves on the mountain – this one known as the Killing Cave, because that’s what it was used for. The Khmer Rouge, during their murderous reign, were so industrious in their genocide that the 300 or so “killing fields” weren’t enough space for their activity. So they used this mountain as well.

Outside the cave there was an exhibit of life-size figures demonstrating some of the tortures the regime inflicted on its victims: boiling them alive, pouring oil down their throats, yanking out their teeth, and other delights. (Plus a curious statue of two guys with bird heads duking it out.) After the victims were dead, or nearly so, they’d be carried a few yards away to an opening of the cave, into which they would be thrown, some 50 feet below to the floor of the cave.

Today, you can walk over to that opening, and peer down to the floor where the bodies dropped. And if you aren’t careful, you can replicate their plunge, because there’s no guardrail. This kind of hazard would never fly in the States.

On the other side of the cave is another entrance, more sloping, to which stairs have been added. So you can go down into the cave to see where the bodies landed. And you also can see some of their bones on display in a glass case. There’s also a shrine, at which monks are stationed, praying, meditating, and whatevering.

This time we examined the pagodas as before, but we overlooked another hidden gem: a long walkway that goes down into a big grotto, which also has been used for sacred rituals. But that revelation was yet to come.

Charming Monkeys Being Cute and Mischievous

Once again, we encountered the mountaintop’s curious and entertaining residents, the macaque monkeys. This time, not only did we take an interest in them, but they also took an interest in us. Not because of our radiant charm, but because of the snacks we purchased from one of the vendors on the mountain.

The monkeys know the sight of those packages. They know the crinkly sound when those packages are opened. They know the smell of the treats therein. They know that sometimes, the hairless upright primates who purchase those goodies will accidentally drop a morsel or two on the ground – or even, oh joy, deliberately cast one or two in their direction.

No sooner had we begun opening our bag than suddenly, we had company, in the form of about a dozen little furballs. They inched toward us cautiously, then more brazenly and insistently, until they reached a distance of about 10 feet (or to Cambodian monkeys: 3.048 meters), then they apparently decided they’d tested the limits far enough, and stopped to turn on the cute. Ultimately, we relented and threw a couple of chips their way, whereupon they discarded all decorum and scrambled after them like football players. Looks like we made some friends.

From this comic scene, we hiked back down the mountain to get ready for the big show: the magnificent exit of the bats. As on the day before, they began swarming out at 6:00 on the dot – though of course their timing was calibrated to the sunset rather than to the clock.

The Main Attraction: Bats

This time they followed a slightly different route than the night before, but they all still stuck with exactly the same track. It’s as if there are specified roads in the sky that only they can detect.