Ream National Park

Ream National Park tickets and tours: which one to book

Ream, officially Preah Sihanouk Ream National Park, lies on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in south-western Cambodia, about eighteen to twenty-five kilometres, forty minutes by road, east of the port city of Sihanoukville, close to that city's airport and some four hours from Phnom Penh by the new expressway. It is the nearest piece of nature to a city that has been transformed within a decade into a forest of casino towers, and it has long been visited on a simple day excursion, sold by guesthouses and agencies in Sihanoukville and on the beach of Otres, which includes transport, a guide, the boat and a lunch of grilled fish. The excursion is always built round the same elements.

From the rangers' station, beside the main road near the airport, or from a jetty a little further on, a long wooden boat with an outboard motor sets off down the Prek Toeuk Sap, a broad tidal river, for a journey of two hours or so through the mangroves to the estuary, with the guide pointing out eagles, kingfishers and herons, and, with luck and in the right season, a dolphin at the river mouth. The boat lands at a deserted beach, Koh Sampoch, for a swim and lunch, after which the group walks for an hour along a forest path, through a fishing village of wooden houses on stilts, to be collected by the boat or the vehicle. Rangers can also be engaged at the station, for a modest fee, to lead walks of two or three hours in the forest behind it. Independent travellers reach the station and Ream beach, a long strand on the park's southern side with a few seafood shacks, by tuk-tuk or motorbike. The two large islands of the park, Koh Thmei and Koh Ses, are reached by boat from the fishing village of Koh Kchhang, and Koh Thmei has had a small eco-resort.

Visiting Ream National Park: what you will see

Ream was one of the first seven national parks created by royal decree in 1993, as Cambodia emerged from two decades of war, and was given 210 square kilometres, of which 150 are land and 60 sea. It was conceived as a sample of all the coastal habitats of the country in a small compass: the estuary of the Prek Toeuk Sap, lined with some of the best mangrove forest remaining on the Cambodian coast, of several species, with their stilt roots and breathing roots; mudflats and seagrass beds; freshwater swamp forest of paperbark, the melaleuca, whose white trunks stand in dark water; lowland evergreen forest on two ranges of low hills; sandy beaches, rocky headlands, the two islands and fringing coral reefs. More than 150 species of birds were recorded by the first surveys, among them the brahminy kite, the white-bellied sea eagle, the grey-headed fish eagle, the lesser adjutant, a tall, bald stork, the woolly-necked stork, several kingfishers, hornbills and, on passage, waders in numbers, and the mammals included long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, the sambar, the barking deer, the mouse deer, wild boar, the pangolin, the fishing cat, otters, and, in the sea, the Irrawaddy dolphin and, more rarely, the dugong, with green and hawksbill turtles.

Several thousand people, fishermen and farmers, many of them settled here before the park existed, live in villages within its boundaries, and the early management, supported by foreign donors, tried with some success to involve them as rangers, boatmen and guides. It must be said plainly, however, that Ream today is a much diminished place, and a visitor should know what to expect. Since about 2019 very large tracts of the park, including most of its coastline and hills, have been excised or leased by government decree to private companies for the construction of resort cities, marinas, golf courses and housing, broad roads have been driven through the forest, hills have been levelled and mangroves filled, and the forest cover has fallen sharply; at the park's western edge, the Ream naval base has been rebuilt and enlarged with Chinese assistance, a matter of international controversy, and the waters near it are closed. Conservation organisations regard the park as one of the most seriously compromised protected areas in the region. The river trip through the mangroves remains a pleasant and worthwhile half-day, the birds along it are still there, and the income that visitors bring to the rangers and boatmen is one of the few arguments locally for keeping what is left; but those who come expecting wilderness will be disappointed.

Ream National Park: best time to go, seasons and hours

The park can be visited all year. The dry season, from November to May, is the time to come: from November to February the weather is sunny, relatively cool and breezy, the sea calm, and dolphins are most often seen at the river mouth between about December and April; March to May are very hot and humid. The south-west monsoon, from June to October, brings heavy rain, rough water in the estuary, muddy and leech-ridden paths, clouds of mosquitoes and the frequent cancellation of boat trips, though the forest is green and there is nobody about.

Boats leave in the morning, and the tide governs how far up the creeks they can go. Bring a hat, sunscreen, repellent, water, swimming things and shoes that can get wet. Agree clearly beforehand what a tour includes. Allow a day. Sihanoukville and the ferries to the islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem are forty minutes away, Kampot and Bokor mountain an hour and a half to the east.