Cambodia adventure vacation, tailor made

Planet

On this comprehensive tour, you will stay in a range of environmentally responsible hotels including the 4 Rivers Floating Eco Lodge in Koh Kong and of course the ultimate in low-impact accommodation, the luxury tent in the temples.

The 4 Rivers Floating Eco Lodge makes many efforts to be environmentally and socially responsible. The Lodge itself is made from modern, composite materials with little wood used, thus protecting the local forests. The Resort has a water treatment plant on site which treats the kitchen water and also the water from guestrooms. The Resort currently uses a low-energy generator for power but is installing a new solar power system in the near future. Also as it is a floating Resort, the Lodge can be dismantled and removed with no impact on the landscape.

The Lodge is staffed by locals, 70% of which are from the nearby village of Tatai. As this is a remote region, families can struggle to maintain a regular income so the Lodge is an important employer. The staff not only helped in the building of the Lodge itself but they are also now part of the front of house team after intensive training, thus giving them a transferrable skill which can be used elsewhere in a country which depends a lot on tourism.

The Lodge also donates part of their profits to the Wildlife Alliance, a major player in the protection of the forests and wildlife of the Cardomam Mountains. Since its inception in 1994 as the Global Survival Network, the organisation now known as Wildlife Alliance has worked with local governments, communities and other like-minded non-governmental organizations to implement cutting edge programs in Southeast Asia, Russia, South America, and the Western Pacific. These programs aim to conserve the environment and stop the illegal wildlife trade by directly protecting wildlife in the field, reducing consumer demand for wildlife and providing alternative livelihoods for local communities.

The luxury camping safari is of course the definition of low-impact - hot water is heated by solar panels and the tents are erected for the clients to stay the night and then dismantled and removed upon departure, leaving no trace of having been there.

People

On the tour you will enjoy an evening under the bigtop in downtown Siem Reap with an evening show at Phare, the Cambodian Circus. Run by the NGO of the same name which supports the futures of Khmer youth with art and performance training and assists poor and disabled children with gaining education and livelihoods.

Phare Ponleu Selpak, (PPSA) is an NGO school and professional arts training center in Battambang, Cambodia. It was founded in 1994 by 9 young Cambodian men returning home from a refugee camp who decided to offer free drawing classes to street children. Soon they opened a school, eventually offering formal K-12 education and professional arts training. Today more than 1,200 pupils attend the public school daily with all the programs offered for free.

From this The Phare Cambodian Circus Opened in February 2013 in Siem Reap with 75% of profit goes directly to PPSA. The circus performers use theatre, music, dance and modern circus arts to tell uniquely Cambodian stories; historical, folk and modern.

Our ground agents only employ local guides and drivers to accompany our clients, which we feel is an important way of keeping money in the country but also in offering our clients a ‘real’ experience of Cambodia. All food in the lodges and hotels is sourced locally, helping the local rural communities wherever possible.