An hour or so east of Koh Kong, the Tatai river slides out of the Cardamom Mountains in a broad, tea-dark ribbon, and the forest leans in close on either side. It is one of the loveliest stretches of river in the country, and a handful of low-impact lodges have made it possible to sleep right out on the water, with nothing but jungle for a view.
The lodges on the water
The Tatai's lodges are deliberately gentle on the place, timber and canvas rooms on stilts or pontoons, running on solar power and reached only by boat. You wake to mist on the river and the calls of the forest, swim off your deck into the warm dark water, and watch the light change over the trees. There is no road noise because there is no road. There is barely any noise at all.
The waterfall
Upstream, the Tatai waterfall spills over a wide shelf of rock, a broad, powerful curtain in the wet season and a run of clear pools and ledges in the dry. You can swim in the pools, clamber on the rocks, and have the whole thing nearly to yourself on a weekday. It is a short boat ride and a world away from anything built.
After dark
The river saves one of its best tricks for night. Slip out in a kayak once the sun is down and the banks light up with fireflies, whole trees of them pulsing in the dark, while the water carries the reflection of the stars. It is quiet, strange and genuinely magical, and nobody has to sell it to you.
How to be here
Stay at least two nights, because the river works on you slowly. Bring a dry bag, a swimsuit and a tolerance for being unreachable. Tatai is for travellers who count a kayak at dusk and a swim under a waterfall as a day well spent.