Empowering communities.
Preserving heritage.
Every trek traces the forest’s future.
Each center is staffed by local Community Protected Area (CPA) volunteers who guide, cook, and know these trails better than anyone. When you book a trek, the fee doesn’t just pay for a hike — it becomes household income for a community working to protect this forest, and helps fund children’s education across the mountain.
Visitors in 2025 vs 1,556 in 2024
%
Growth in CBTC revenue, 2025
Year the two centers were founded
See it for yourself
Every trek on this mountain is one more reason for these forests to stay standing.
Browse treks
WHY THIS PROJECT EXISTS
Phnom Kulen’s forest has long been pressured by illegal logging, hunting, and slash-and-burn agriculture. Today, tourism brings visitors to the mountain’s waterfalls and ruins, but historically, most of that revenue bypassed the villagers who have lived here for generations, settled in the more secluded parts of the plateau. Decades of instability during the Khmer Rouge era, followed by a long lack of roads, deepened poverty in the area. Until 2017, poor road conditions meant only Preah Ang Thom and the main waterfall received visitors, leaving the rest of the plateau largely isolated from both tourism income and public services.
A new road authorised by the Royal Government of Cambodia in 2017 changed that, connecting the southern villages and opening the mountain to a broader circuit, while also introducing new pressures: unregulated tourism, waste, and new arrivals in fragile areas. Since 2026, a further road has been connecting the northern villages to this route.
The park’s entrance fee doesn’t benefit villagers directly, many visitors never use community services at all, and the two CBTCs have had no shared structure to coordinate between them — a gap that, as of the project’s most recent review, runs to roughly $10,000 a year in lost revenue between the two centers.
WHAT IS A CBTC, AND WHY IT MATTERS
What is a CBTC,
and why it matters
A Community-Based Tourism Center is a village-run cooperative, including guides, cooks, campsite hosts and moto drivers, that keeps trekking, camping and guiding revenue inside the community instead of flowing to outside operators. It matters because for years, growth in tourism to Phnom Kulen largely bypassed the villages living inside the park. CBTCs are how that income reaches them directly, offering them sustainable livelihoods, and supporting the volunteer members of the Community Protected Area, the very people looking after the forest and heritage sites visitors come to see.
What’s a CPA,
and how does a CBTC support it?
Community Protected Areas (CPAs) are the last remaining forested areas inside Phnom Kulen National Park, kept standing through patrols carried out by community volunteers. CBTCs don’t fund those patrols directly. Instead, they support the livelihoods of the CPA committee members, who are often the same people volunteering to protect the forest. Conservation and income are tied to the same people, even if one doesn’t line-item-fund the other.
|
Goal |
What it means |
|
Reduce poverty |
Turning tourism into direct household income for communities that haven’t shared in Kulen’s tourism growth. |
|
Environmental awareness & preservation |
Creating alternative livelihoods to replace destructive farming, deforestation, and poaching, and safeguarding Khmer archaeological sites as they’re rediscovered. |
|
Structured development & capacity building |
Strengthening the organization and governance of both CBTCs, with training in English, archaeology, IT, marketing, health, hygiene, culinary arts and financial management. |
|
Support education & community health |
Providing essential school supplies and workshops on gender equity and reproductive health for the community centers and local schools. |
IMPACT AT A GLANCE
CBTCs supported
Forest protected
Direct jobs created
People benefiting
%
Of revenue to education
How it’s grown since 2018
|
When |
Milestone |
What happened |
| 2008 |
ADF begins work on Phnom Kulen |
The Archaeology and Development Foundation starts its program on the plateau, focused on protecting Khmer heritage and improving local livelihoods. |
| 2018 |
Anlong Thom and Popel launch as CBTCs |
Working with tour company Terre Cambodge, ADF helps the two communities set up their own tourism centers, so trekking, camping and guiding stay locally run. |
| 2024 |
Sala Baï joins; project manager on the ground |
The hospitality school brings training, marketing support and its travel network. Sreymom Sean joins to restructure CBTC governance with regular committee meetings, clearer roles, updated internal rules. |
|
Dec 2024 – Jul 2025 |
18 training sessions delivered |
Covering archaeological knowledge, sustainable tourism practice, community visioning and budget planning for 77 CBTC participants plus 53 Apsara Authority guards. |
|
2025 (full year) |
Visitor numbers nearly double, revenue grows |
Visitors grow from 1,556 to 3,475; CBTC revenue increases 5.5% . |
|
Ongoing |
Financial systems put in place |
Cashbooks, booking calendars, cash-flow recording, and support opening formal bank accounts for both centers. |
| 2026 |
Cook training planned |
A recent needs assessment flagged further training for cooks as the next priority. |
MEET THE TWO CBTCS
Popel Community-Based
Tourism Center
The largest protected forest
on the mountain.
As one of the densest remaining forest covers on Phnom Kulen, Popel is a sanctuary for biodiversity, waterfalls, and unique natural landmarks. The community-based tourism center offers eco-friendly treks that provide sustainable livelihoods and help preserve the ecosystem around it. Popel CBTC is run by 15 CPA volunteers guarding 798 hectares, the largest protected zone in the park, including 10 local guides, 3 cooks, and 3 moto drivers, across 2 campsites.
- Guided by locals who know the forest best
- Every trek supports alternative, sustainable livelihoods for the communities involved in conservation
- Zero-plastic policy, minimal-impact by design
Trek and camp with Popel
Book directly with the community: your booking funds local guides, cooks, and the livelihoods behind forest protection.
Book your Popel trek
Anlong Thom Community-Based
Tourism Center
A living museum woven in the forest.
The Community Protected Area of Anlong Thom is rich in ancient treasures. Villagers set up a Community-Based Tourism Center to offer guided treks (half or full day) to the park’s hidden historical sites. Anlong Thom CBTC is run by 17 CPA volunteers guarding 365 hectares, including 7 local guides, 3 cooks, and 60 moto drivers who ferry visitors across the plateau’s longer distances. This forest holds hermit caves, ancient carvings, and long-overgrown temple sites — visitors reach the more remote ones by a short motorbike ride.
- Guides trained in both forest conservation and Khmer history
- Moto adventure included: a short, scenic motorbike ride through jungle trails and ancient Angkorian roads, driven by an experienced villager — one of the most fun ways to reach the wilder, more remote sites
- Home to 18 archaeological sites within one protected area
- Zero-plastic policy, minimal-impact by design
- Your visit directly funds local education
Trek and camp with Anlong Thom
Book directly with the community: your booking funds local guides, cooks, and the livelihoods behind forest protection.