Botum Sakor National Park, National park in Koh Kong Province, Cambodia.
Botum Sakor National Park is Cambodia's largest national park, covering 1,825.85 km2 across Kiri Sakor, Botum Sakor and Koh Kong districts in Koh Kong Province. Most of the peninsula projecting southwest from the Cardamom Mountains is gently sloping lowland of evergreen woods and grasslands, giving way to floodplains, mangrove forests and freshwater swamp forests along the Gulf of Thailand coast. Tides rise about 1.5 m twice a day.
King Norodom Sihanouk designated Botum Sakor a national park on 1 November 1993. The protected area covers 1,825.85 km2 across the districts of Kiri Sakor, Botum Sakor and Koh Kong in Koh Kong Province, administered by the Ministry of Environment. A small part of the park falls within the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project. Between 1997 and 2002 an estimated 229 km2 of evergreen forest was lost to illegal logging, roughly 30 km2 a year.
Fishing villages such as Preak Khsach demonstrate how people have adapted their lives to this environment for generations. Residents navigate mangrove waterways in their daily routines, maintaining longstanding relationships with the natural surroundings.
Boat transportation from Andong Tuek offers the most practical way to explore the mangrove sections of the park. Local guides can assist with navigation and point out areas of interest along the waterways.
A conservation organization operates a tented camp in a portion of the park and actively protects endangered species including sun bears and pangolins found in the region. This approach merges tourism with on-the-ground wildlife preservation efforts.
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