Rise up from almost any point on the western coast and you are soon in the Cardamoms, a vast tangle of rainforest, river and mountain that forms one of the largest and most important wild areas left in mainland Southeast Asia. It is the green engine behind the coast, and increasingly a destination in its own right.
A last great forest
The Cardamom range covers a huge sweep of the southwest, much of it now under some form of protection. It shelters an extraordinary roll-call of wildlife, elephants, sun bears, gibbons, pangolins and hornbills, and the memory of the tigers that once ranged these hills. For birdwatchers, botanists and anyone who simply likes their nature big and intact, it is one of the richest corners of the country.
Travel that helps
The forest has been under real pressure from logging and poaching, and the most hopeful response has been community ecotourism. At places like Chi Phat, a former logging and hunting village turned ecotourism hub, former hunters now guide treks, run homestays and paddle visitors up jungle rivers, giving the forest a living value standing up rather than cut down. Choosing these trips is one of the rare times a traveller's money does direct good.
Into the green
What you actually do here is wonderfully simple, trek to waterfalls and swimming holes, camp in the forest, cycle red-dirt trails, listen for gibbons at dawn, and paddle silent rivers past walls of green. It is hot, wet, muddy work at times, and all the better for it. This is the coast's wild twin, and a powerful reminder of what the whole region looked like not so long ago.
How to be here
Book through a community ecotourism project such as Chi Phat, go with a local guide, and come prepared for heat, leeches and genuine wilderness. Pair a few days in the forest with time on the coast, and you will have seen both halves of what makes this corner of Cambodia special.