Cambodia’s forest guides connect sacred traditions with conservation in the Cardamoms

In a November 2026 travel account, the Guardian described how residents of Chi Phat, in Cambodia’s Koh Kong region, had shifted from logging and hunting to guiding visitors through the Cardamom Mountains. Founded by Wildlife Alliance in 2007, the community ecotourism project offered forest excursions and overnight stays. One participant, a cook known as Mr Crab, previously drove trucks carrying timber for loggers.

The report followed an overnight trek through rainforest and waterways, accompanied by community guides and a tourist board representative. It described local beliefs in protective spirits, known as neak ta, as helping safeguard sacred forest areas alongside government rangers enforcing national park law.

The Cardamoms contain one of mainland south-east Asia’s largest unfragmented rainforest corridors and shelter rare and endangered wildlife, according to the feature. Chi Phat illustrates an effort to link local livelihoods with forest protection. However, the travel account provides no measured assessment of the project’s conservation outcomes or participants’ earnings.