Ratanakiri is sparsely populated; its 150,000 residents make up just over 1% of the country's total population. Residents generally live in villages of 20 to 60 families and engage in subsistence shifting agriculture. Ratanakiri is among the least developed provinces of Cambodia. Its infrastructure is poor, and the local government is weak. Health indicators in Ratanakiri are extremely poor, and almost one in four children die before reaching the age of five. Education levels are also low; three quarters of the population is illiterate.
Though the official language of Ratanakiri (like all of Cambodia) is Khmer, each indigenous group speaks its own language. Less than 10% of Ratanakiri's indigenous population can speak Khmer fluently. The Kreung minority makes up 16.3% of Ratanakiri`s population. (source: Wikipedia)
The following pictures were taken in the Kreung hill tribe villages Kameng, Poy, Krase and Nong Leg.
In Kameng people were just celebrating the beginning of the rice harvest. Women were dancing and singing and men were playing the gongs. After that every family brought a big jar of rice wine to the community house. One member was sitting behind each jar and said a short prayer by touching the mouth of the jar with a small stick. Then the villagers went from jar to jar, sipped some rice wine and told the owners whether they liked or disliked their rice wine.