The Cardamom Mountains are located in southwest Cambodia. The western edge
of the Cardamom region abuts the Thai border, while the easternmost part
ends about sixty miles northwest of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
The region's area is 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares). The highest point in the range (and
in Cambodia) is Mount Aural, at 1,813 meters (5,946 feet). There are five main
rivers that run through the Cardamoms, creating dozens of waterfalls. About
25,000 people live in this region, some of whom are ethnic minorities, such
as the Porr.
There are two wildlife sanctuaries in the Cardamoms, both of which were
decreed by King Norodom Sihanouk in 1993 solely on the basis of aerial
photographs. Mt. Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary is in the western part of the
range, and Mt. Aural Wildlife Sanctuary is in the east. These are "paper"
Cambodian soldier with poached pileated gibbon on a logging road, Central Cardamoms.
© Jenny Daltry / Fauna & Flora International
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parks only: they exist only by law, with none of the active management
necessary for a wildlife preserve.
Khmer Rouge guerrillas retreated to the Cardamoms after losing power in
1979, and for the next twenty years, no one wanted to enter that area for
fear of the KR and the mines they placed in it. As a result, the region remained untouched and undeveloped. Thousands of
Cambodians left the country before and during the KR holocaust by walking
over the Cardamoms into refugee camps in Thailand.
Today, the Cardamom Mountains region is the largest wilderness in mainland
Southeast Asia, preserving a remarkable number of species that are
endangered (and in some cases extinct) elsewhere in the world. However,
without proper conservation and protection, this area and its inhabitants
are now at the mercy of logging interests, as well as poachers.
For a more detailed look at some of the fauna of the Cardamoms, please
click on the following:
Or read Fauna & Flora International's 2000 Interim Report of Flora and Fauna International's
Biological Survey of the Cardamom Mountains, Southwestern Cambodia:
HTML, 100k
PDF, 254 k
