We were sitting near a river and eating lunch in the Southern Cardamom Mountains when a text message came in saying someone had passed along the location of a camp.
Within minutes, the entire group, including Darian Thackwell, the head Ranger, and four of his armed team members, was rushing upstream. We hid our boat between a maze of mangroves and walked silently through the thick vegetation.
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The most diverse and least developed lowland forests in mainland Southeast Asia are in southwest Cambodia.
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The hornbill was recovered from the illegal wildlife trade and was going to be released back into the wild.
I had been following a group of men who patrol a region of the Cambodian rainforest to protect it from illegal loggers and traffickers. We waded through rivers, got bogged down in the jungle, and battled both the leeches and the unbearable humidity in the remote southwestern province of Koh Kong.
The team of men employed by the Wildlife Alliance were closing in on the criminals.
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A ranger on the lookout for illegal loggers logs an early morning report before returning to the station.
Several homemade snares were found as we moved through the jungle. Darian thought the people might not be too far away. There were hammocks, canned food, clothes, and even two homemade guns left behind at what looked like a camp abandoned in haste. The weapons and snares were taken away by the rangers while I took the photographs.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia for a long time, and the area was once a stronghold. The region had little contact with the outside world for a long time. Local villagers and guerrillas fought bloody battles. Land mines were used a lot. One of the most pristine expanses of wilderness in Southeast Asia is the surrounding rainforest.
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Cambodia lost 6 million acres of tree cover between 2001 and 2020, according to a program for the World Resources Institute.
The rainforest was left vulnerable to illegal logging and slash-and-burn farmers as conflict lessened.
For the last two decades, a number of environmental organizations have been racing against the clock to protect the area's forests.
The Wildlife Alliance is at the forefront. The organization provides hands-on protection to 3 million acres of the Cardamom Mountains rainforest. It also wants to create eco-friendly job alternatives for locals who were previously involved in illegal trades, such as education, reforestation and wildlife rehabilitation.
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A ranger takes a netful of illegally captured frog.
The base camp for me during my weeklong visit was in the village of Chi Phat, which is home to the Wildlife Alliance.
A three-hour bus ride and a two-hour boat ride on the Preak Piphot River are required to reach Chi Phat. I was greeted with a flurry of residents on bicycles, an improvised game of volleyball, and an unpaved road. Farmers with motorbikes, women with produce, children in their school uniform, and other people wereferried from shore to shore on a motorized raft anchored on the river bank.
The present-day rosiness is only recent history. Slash-and-burn farming and illegal logging were some of the activities that a majority of the people in this marginalized community did.
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A farmer sorts rice.
The Wildlife Alliance started working with locals to create alternative sources of income in the mid-2000s, and Chi Phat began reversing those trends.
Farmers were told to use more sustainable farming techniques. Community members were encouraged to replant lost forestland by rebuilding the soil and planting indigenous tree species. 840,000 trees have been planted.
The onetime poachers were recruited, trained and equipped to become protective rangers. They patrol the area on foot, by motorbike, by boat, and by air to protect the environment from illegal activity.
There is still a threat of corruption and the financial lure of illegal trades. Saving the forest is no longer a lost cause because of the increasing number of locals working with the conservationists.
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The wildlife release station is located in Kong. The animals have suffered from habitat loss and are often caught in the wildlife trade.
A binturong is at the wildlife release station. The animals are often caught in the wildlife trade.
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A pangolin has been rescued. The novel coronaviruses were initially proposed as a possible host of the pangolins, which are among the world's most trafficked animals.
The foot of the Cardamom Mountains is where Chi Phat is located. A number of traditional Cambodian homes have been turned into guesthouses, and English-speaking trail guides lead hikers on trails that cut through emerald hills, mountain streams, rapids and waterfalls. Travelers can visit a few rural communities and ancient Khmer archaeological sites.
The area was hard hit by the Pandemic. Visitor numbers dropped by more than 80 percent in 2020 undercutting one of Wildlife Alliance's major fund-raising sources.
The illegal wildlife trade is known to harbor pathogens that can jump to humans, and the Pandemic has underscored the importance of stemming it.
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Rangers question a suspected logger as he leaves the forest.
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The Wildlife Alliance has planted 99 indigenous tree species.
Many of the animals found here, including Binturong, sun bears, clouded leopards, pangolins, civets, macaques and a vast array of birds, were found at a wildlife release station tucked away in the middle of the forest. Animals that have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade are rehabilitated and released at the station.
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At sunset.
I went on several walks with Soeun, the facility's caretakers, after I spent two days at the release station. He introduced me to the animals as if they were family, one by one, and with profound grace and care. He lived with them.
Soeun, who grew up in an impoverished farming community, once participated in illegal hunting to provide for his family. He began caring for and releasing the animals after the Wildlife Alliance set up the release station. He has worked for the organization ever since.
On a walk with Soeun, we passed a small grove of trees. Two sun bears climbed one of the trees in search of a hive.
Soeun was familiar with the animals. He explained that he helped to rehabilitate and release the bears after they arrived at the station injured.
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A sun bear is looking for a hive.
