History of Trapeang Kit, Chi Phat Eco Tourism site, Tmar Bang district, Koh Kong province

(Written by Ty Theavy)

Here is the best place to peek a wild animal. Around here you can see Sambar and Red Muntjac, but especially elephants. Besides, there are many kinds of flora such as the tree of Cardamom and Camphor. Nearby there is a large pond that is about 1 kilometer square in the rainy season. The hunter called this site as” Trapeang Kit”. Trapeang Kit is the name of the pond, which is rich with splendid trees as well as big fish. A tourist trip will be organized to fish there. It has also eels and snake in the pond. The villager said many rarely dare to reach this site, for it is full of fierce wild animals.  The villager also said the pond was the cryptic lake formed by the volcanic eruption about 700 thousand years ago. That lake is about 3 kilometers from here. The legend related to the name of the pond said:

A long time ago lived a couple named Ta Som, a husband and Yeay Kit, a wife. They both are of the Khmer ethnicity called Chorm. This minority still inhabits in the village surround here.  The couple decided to live farming here because they wanted to stay away from crowded areas, like the vilage. They had a Chamkar of Durian here. Therefore, this area was called Kit. In Cambodian culture, most places named to the owners. However the pond there is a school of fish called Kit as well.

Another story said, there was a sandal wood collector who lost his way to reach here. He met a holy village with many villagers. He decided to stay there then he married one of the villagers’ daughters. One year later his wife gave birth. One day his wife went to work outside and let the husband look after the daughter. While his baby cried on and on he could not comfort her, so he said to his daughter that “please don’t cry my dear and stop crying now your mum will buy you a cake from the market.”  In the mean time, his wife came and heard this word from the husband. She could not forgive him because he told their daughter a lie. So the wife did not allow her husband to live here continuously and expelled him to Chi Phat, his own village. This place is the holly site. At that time, the wife ordered the husband to step back a couple of paces, the village changed to the whole forest that he could not see the village any more.

This place was also a pivotal cornerstone of the Khmer Rouge Guerilla’s fight against the Vietnamese troops in the 1980s. It was the place that its trees ware cut down in the debauchery.