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Cambodia & Tourism: Serenity and tropical charm on the beaches and islands of Ream - Koh Sampouch

Aug 9, 20243 min read

Located 18km east of Sihanoukville, Ream National Park covers 210 square kilometres of jungle, rivers, mangroves and splendid lush tropical beaches and islands. Long undeveloped and sparsely populated, the area is now home to several hotels and resorts.

Koh Sampouch, a popular location for photo shoots

About Ream

Ream National Park (ឧទ្យានជាតិរាម) was created in 1993, when the Cambodian government began taking steps to protect the country's threatened natural resources. The biological value of the national park is essentially defined by its combination of forests, mangroves, beaches and coral reefs.

Sérénité et charme tropical sur les plages et îles de Ream - Koh Sampouch — Ream - Koh Sampouch

The park is also home to an astonishing array of wildlife and marine life, including several species of birds, bears, monkeys, pangolins, turtles, dolphins and even dugongs.

History

Created by King Norodom Sihanouk in 1993, Cambodia's first official peacetime national park is also said to be one of the most historically significant. Its sandy shores and wooded peaks provided the ideal location for the Vietnamese insurrection against the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Ream has changed little since then, except that the region is increasingly open to tourism.

Opening up to tourism

In 2011, the Cambodian government published an update to the law on protected areas, allowing land titles to be issued subject to prior approval from the Ministry of the Environment.

In 2016, Yeejia Tourism Development Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese company Unite International Investment Group Co Ltd, was granted permission to develop its Golden Silver Gulf resort project.

A total of 3,300 hectares of land were granted to implement several tourism projects. After some difficult beginnings, the group now offers several hotels to the public in a rather enchanting, very exotic setting and above all benefiting from exceptional calm.

Golden Silver Gulf International Tourism Resort

If the name of one of the Yeejia group resorts in Ream seems rather off-putting and quite heavy, the hotel located on the beach and on the hillside has nothing to do with the image that one could have of 'an establishment built quickly and intended for these first hordes of low-end tourists who had invaded Sihanoukville before a ban on casinos in the provincial capital.

The wide access to the beach, very wooded

The hotel complex offers around twenty bungalows on stilts overlooking a very wooded park overlooking a beautiful beach which itself offers access to the island of Koh Sampouch.

The bungalows offer unadorned and completely honorable comfort with a very pleasant terrace and prices ranging from 60 to 170 dollars per night.

Along the vast path giving access to the beach, several small stalls selling Cambodian dishes, drinks and souvenirs were allowed to sell to tourists and hotel guests. Below, a large room without walls with a traditional appearance serves as a restaurant where seafood and Cambodian dishes are served for customers and visitors.

Leisure

The beach is vast and encourages walking but the whole perhaps lacks distractions and those who like sporting activities will have to make do with swimming or walks on the white sand or towards the small island of Koh Sampouch located about a hundred meters from the shore and accessible through a wooden pier.

However, the hotel manager explains that, although the establishment has been operational since 2015, the reopening is recent and his team will set up excursions in the surrounding forest and the beach will be equipped with leisure facilities, nets of volleyball and boats for rent.

In reality, Koh Sampouch, probably a former atoll if you see the arrangement of the rocks and their erosion, has become a fairly popular site for local visitors who like to walk there on weekends to indulge in a hobby that has become very fashionable: The selfie.

On the footbridge which goes around the island, we meet young couples taking photos of each other, more professional photographers or simply young Cambodians clicking and clicking on their smartphones in order to stock up on photos to send to their Facebook accounts.

On the reservations side, apparently there is no rush, the hotel does not offer a site, only a fairly rudimentary Facebook page which nevertheless allows reservations to be made.

Contact 097 711 8688