Cardamom Tented Camp reports strong conservation gains

Nature-based tour­ism mod­el in Cam­bod­ia pro­tects over 18,000 hec­tares while advan­cing com­munity engage­ment and sus­tain­able operations.

‘2025 Impact Report’ released

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp has released its 2025 Impact Report, high­light­ing meas­ur­able pro­gress in rain­forest pro­tec­tion, wild­life mon­it­or­ing, and com­munity engage­ment through its travel & tour­ism-led con­ser­va­tion model.

Estab­lished through a part­ner­ship between camp oper­at­or YAANA Ven­tures, Minor Group, and Wild­life Alli­ance, the 12-tent, award-win­ning eco-retreat con­tin­ues to pro­tect an 18,073-hectare con­ces­sion with­in Botum Sakor Nation­al Park in south­w­est Cam­bod­ia.

Its mod­el chan­nels a per­cent­age of guest stays dir­ectly into con­ser­va­tion activ­it­ies, rein­for­cing its found­ing prin­ciple: ‘Your stay keeps the forest standing’.

In 2025, the camp sup­por­ted 620 ranger patrols, includ­ing more than 7,700 kilo­metres on foot through low­land indi­gen­ous forest.

These efforts led to the remov­al of 819 snares, 15 illeg­al incur­sion camps, and the con­fis­ca­tion of 22 chain­saws. Two endangered Sunda pan­golins were res­cued dur­ing the year.

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Wildlife monitoring

Wild­life mon­it­or­ing by Car­damom Ten­ted Camp has increased.

With 72 cam­era traps deployed, includ­ing 25 newly installed units, the camp recor­ded sev­er­al sig­ni­fic­ant sight­ings, includ­ing the rare marbled cat and the crit­ic­ally endangered white-eared night her­on.

These find­ings indic­ate con­tin­ued wild­life recov­ery in the pro­tec­ted area.

The report reflects the camp’s adop­tion of the 4Cs frame­work of The Long Run; con­ser­va­tion, com­munity, cul­ture, and commerce.

Con­ser­va­tion remains the camp’s rais­on d’être, sup­por­ted by com­munity engage­ment, cul­tur­al respect, and fin­an­cial sustainability.

On sus­tain­able oper­a­tions, Car­damom Ten­ted Camp gen­er­ated 13,816 kilo­watt-hours (kWh) of sol­ar energy in 2025, up from 9,960 kWh in 2024. This con­trib­uted to a 35% reduc­tion in dies­el use, fall­ing from 1,400 litres to 915 litres year-on-year.

Waste man­age­ment ini­ti­at­ives pro­gressed, with 882 kilo­grams of recyc­lable mater­i­als pro­cessed, and a staff incent­ive scheme gen­er­at­ing addi­tion­al income.

Com­munity ini­ti­at­ives expan­ded bey­ond the camp. A pilot waste man­age­ment pro­gramme launched in Chi Phat, and sup­por­ted by Car­damom Ten­ted Camp, engaged 20 house­holds in waste sep­ar­a­tion prac­tices and redu­cing land­fill impact.

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Artist-in-residence plans

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp plans to enhance its com­munity and cul­tur­al com­mit­ments via an artist-in-res­id­ence pro­gramme inspired by Cam­bod­i­an cul­ture and traditions.

Camp man­ager Allan Michaud, who is also a con­ser­va­tion­ist and wild­life pho­to­graph­er, said: “While we are proud of the meas­ur­able pro­gress made in pro­tect­ing the forest, we aim to embrace the loc­al com­munity more in the camp’s oper­a­tions and out­reach. We want con­ser­va­tion and loc­al well­being to grow together.”

The camp’s 18 staff mem­bers mostly come from nearby vil­lages and townships.

The latest full impact report for Car­damom Ten­ted Camp can be down­loaded here.

Inform­a­tion on the mul­tiple award-win­ning camp, its accom­mod­a­tion pack­ages, and eco­tour­ism activ­it­ies is avail­able at CardamomTentedCamp.com.

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About Cardamom Tented Camp

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp is an eco­lodge loc­ated in the foot­hills of the Car­damom Moun­tains in Cam­bod­ia. There is no road access. The camp is access­ible only by river­boat or forest hike.

The 12-unit ten­ted camp — with a res­taur­ant pavil­ion, staff dorm­it­ory, eco­tour­ism equip­ment, and boat pier — uses sol­ar power to run lodge amen­it­ies. The camp has its own wastewa­ter fil­tra­tion process. 

The lodge aims to min­im­ise the human foot­print on the nat­ur­al world, and serve as a role mod­el in pro­mot­ing sus­tain­able eco­tour­ism prac­tices with­in the nation­al park and Cambodia.

Loc­ated on an 18,000-hectare (180-square-kilo­metre) con­ces­sion, the lodge and its sur­round­ings are home to pristine low­land and coastal hab­it­ats link­ing wild­life cor­ridors to the Car­damom Mountains.

Eco-friendly trekking and kayak­ing pack­ages are avail­able for adven­ture enthu­si­asts who are keen to be a part of real con­ser­va­tion work.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp is a three-way ini­ti­at­ive between Minor Group, YAANA Ven­tures, and Wild­life Alli­ance to ensure the land and its biod­iversity do not fall into the hands of log­gers, poach­ers, and sand dredging operations.

Income from the camp’s oper­a­tions helps fund Wild­life Alli­ance forest patrols. The camp’s slo­gan is: ‘Your stay keeps the forest standing’.

Awards and accolades for Cardamom Tented Camp

• Nov 2025 – Inter­na­tion­al Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism (ICRT) Glob­al Respons­ible Tour­ism Awards (Final­ist)
• Nov 2025 – World Lux­ury Travel Awards (Win­ner — Ten­ted Camps)
• June 2025 – Travel + Leis­ure Awards for Asia Pacific (List­ing)
• June 2025 – ICRT SE Asia Nature Pos­it­ive Gold Award (Win­ner)
• June 2023 – Travel + Leis­ure Awards for Asia Pacific (List­ing)
• Oct 2022 – Hotel Invest­ment Con­fer­ence Asia Pacific (HICAP) Sus­tain­able Award for Cli­mate Action (Win­ner)
• Oct 2021 – Green Des­tin­a­tions Top 100 Des­tin­a­tion Stor­ies in the World (List­ing)
• Aug 2019 – UK Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Trav­el­ler ‘Earth Col­lec­tion’ (List­ing)
• July 2019 – Pacific Asia Travel Asso­ci­ation (PATA) Gold Award for Eco­tour­ism (Win­ner)
• April 2019 – World Travel & Tour­ism Coun­cil (WTTC) Tour­ism for Tomor­row Change­maker (Final­ist)

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