Chi Phat

After Pol Pot's regime collapsed in 1979, fighters fled into the Cardamom Mountains and spent decades surviving on illegal logging, hunting and wildlife trafficking. In 2007 the NGO Wildlife Alliance worked with villager Leeheng and the wider community to build an alternative: a 20-strong Community Anti-Poaching Unit staffed by former hunters, and a network of homestays, guesthouses and trekking routes run by the village. And what a transformation. Forest burning in the area has dropped to zero, hunting by around 80 per cent, and elephants that fled into Thailand during the worst of the poaching years have started returning.

More than 200km of marked trails lead through the largest contiguous rainforest left in mainland Southeast Asia, past waterfalls, a bat cave and burial jar sites left over from the post-Angkorian period, with treks ranging from one day to a week sleeping in hammocks strung between trees. Guests can also join a ranger patrol directly, walking several days with the anti-poaching unit. Accommodation is either in a village homestay or custom-built guesthouse.