Chi Phat Ecotourism Community

Chi Phat is a pioneering community-based ecotourism project in the Cardamom Mountains of Koh Kong province, established by the Wildlife Alliance conservation organization in partnership with former poachers and illegal loggers from the local Chong indigenous community who now work as guides and rangers protecting the very forest they once exploited. The project offers multi-day trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, and wildlife spotting expeditions deep into one of the largest intact rainforest blocks in Southeast Asia, home to elephants, gibbons, sun bears, pileated gibbons, and hundreds of bird species. Visitors stay in community guesthouses and all revenue is distributed among participating families, making Chi Phat one of the most successful examples of conservation-through-tourism in the Mekong region.