Tek tek, the yeti of Cambodia

“My friend was zipped up in his hammock and beginning to doze off, when he noticed that all of the insects had stopped making sounds: the jungle went completely silent,” said Greg McCann, a field coordinator for HabitatID, a conservation group working in Virachey National Park, where the trekkers were camping.

A few moments later, a horrid smell engulfed the camp – the trekkers all emerged from their tents to find its source. A minute after that, the smell had gone and the insects and frogs returned.

“The next morning the rangers refused to discuss the issue and wanted out of the park ASAP,” retold McCann. “My friend assumed they thought it was a ghost.”

All over the globe, stories abound about mysterious creatures that live in remote, often mountainous areas. The legendary Himalayan Yeti, North America’s Sasquatch, the Vietnamese nguoi ung, Australian yowie and Indonesian batatut have intrigued explorers and terrified children for generations.

It was Cambodia’s answer to the myth, the tek tek, that the rangers believed was lurking that night in Virachey, which covers Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng provinces.