Preah Monivong

Preah Monivong National Park (also known as Bokor National Park or Bokor Hill Station) covers 140,000 hectares of coastal mountain forest in Kampot Province, southern Cambodia, rising from the Gulf of Thailand coast to the Cardamom Mountain plateau at 1,079 m (Phnom Bokor). Established in 1993 and named after former King Preah Monivong, the park protects a spectacular diversity of ecosystems from mangrove coast to cloud forest summit. The park is most famous for the atmospheric ruins of the French colonial hill station of Bokor—a casino, hotels, and church abandoned in 1940—which dominate the misty plateau summit.

The park's extensive and varied habitats support significant wildlife. Asian elephants range through the lowland and montane forest—the Cardamom mountain elephant population is critical for regional conservation. Indochinese tigers, leopards, and dholes have been documented. The Siamese crocodile, one of Southeast Asia's most critically endangered reptiles, still exists in remote park waterways. The pileated gibbon inhabits the upper forest. Birdlife is exceptional—the park is within the Cardamom Mountains Endemic Bird Area and supports threatened species including the green peafowl, spotted eagle, and plain-pouched hornbill. Coastal waters support dugongs and Irrawaddy dolphins.

The park's vegetation varies dramatically with altitude and rainfall. The lowland coastal zone supports mangrove forests and beach vegetation. Transitional evergreen forest occupies the lower slopes. The mid-elevation zone supports rich tropical rainforest with spectacular dipterocarp trees. The summit plateau—shrouded in cloud for much of the year—is covered in montane cloud forest and heath forest, with trees heavily draped in mosses, lichens, and epiphytes. Pitcher plants (Nepenthes bokorensis, endemic to Bokor) grow in the plateau bogs. The dramatic habitat diversity produces extraordinary biodiversity over a short distance.

Phnom Bokor is a granitic massif rising steeply from the Gulf of Thailand coastal plain. The granite was emplaced during Mesozoic tectonic activity related to the formation of the Cardamom Mountains. The plateau surface has been eroded to a relatively flat summit, with steep escarpments on all sides. The plateau's position directly in the path of moisture-laden southwest monsoon winds creates the persistent cloud and exceptional rainfall that characterize the summit. The coastal cliffs below the plateau expose the granitic basement. Rivers descending from the plateau form spectacular waterfalls at the plateau edge before reaching the coastal plain.

Preah Monivong has one of the highest rainfall gradients in Southeast Asia, transitioning from the relatively dry Kampot coast (~1,400 mm/year) to the perpetually cloud-covered Bokor summit (~4,000–5,000 mm/year). The summit is frequently shrouded in mist, giving it a spectral atmosphere that inspired the 'Ghost City' nickname for the abandoned French hill station. Temperatures on the summit are significantly cooler than the coast, averaging 15–20°C—dramatically refreshing in a country where lowland temperatures routinely exceed 35°C. The wet season (May–October) brings the heaviest cloud and rainfall.

The Bokor plateau was known to the Khmer people as a sacred mountain. The French colonial administration developed the Bokor Hill Station from 1917–1925 as a retreat from the tropical heat, constructing a casino (Bokor Palace Hotel), church, post office, and royal residence. The hill station was abandoned in 1940 due to Vietnamese resistance activity and later briefly reoccupied. It was abandoned again during Cambodia's civil conflicts and remained a ghost town for decades. The Khmer Rouge made Bokor their final holdout—the last Khmer Rouge commander, Ta Mok, died in 2006 while awaiting trial.

Preah Monivong National Park was established in 1993. The park became internationally controversial in 2008 when the Cambodian government granted a 99-year concession over 70,000 hectares—half the park's area—to the Sokimex company for development of a casino resort complex. The development of roads, hotels, and a large casino on the Bokor plateau, completed in the early 2010s, significantly changed the character of the summit. The French colonial ruins are now surrounded by a new casino resort. Conservation organizations have criticized the concession as incompatible with national park status.

The atmospheric ruins of the French colonial Bokor Hill Station—the ghost casino, church ruins, and royal villa—are the park's most distinctive attraction, set in dramatic cloud-wreathed forest. The Popokvil Waterfall (a double-tier cascade from the plateau edge) is accessible by trail and is a popular attraction. The summit plateau offers panoramic views over the Gulf of Thailand and the Cambodian coast on clear mornings. Wildlife watching in the lowland forest near Kampot town provides elephant and bird opportunities. The coastal mangrove areas offer boat-based wildlife watching.

The park is reached from Kampot town (25 km from the park entrance) via a paved mountain road to the Bokor plateau. Kampot is 3 hours from Phnom Penh by bus. The Sokimex casino resort on the plateau offers luxury accommodation and restaurants. More modest accommodation is available in Kampot town. Day trips to the summit ruins and waterfall can be arranged from Kampot. Tuk-tuk and motorcycle taxi services run to the plateau from Kampot. Entrance fees apply. The summit is most atmospheric and accessible in the dry season (November–April), though the cloud forest character is most dramatic in the wet season.

The casino resort concession is the most significant conservation challenge, having fundamentally changed the summit environment and established a precedent for large-scale commercial development within national parks. Wildlife snaring throughout the park is severe—the Cardamom mountains have been identified as one of Southeast Asia's worst snaring hotspots. Illegal logging and land clearing at park margins continue. The Siamese crocodile reintroduction program operates in the park's remote rivers. International conservation organizations maintain anti-poaching ranger programs in partnership with the Cambodian government in the broader Cardamom Mountains landscape that includes the park.