Qualla: Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: Introduction

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Rain that lands on the ridge of Phnom Tbeng has a long journey ahead of it. It drains off the mountain's flanks into the headwaters of the Stung Sen, a river that runs some 520 kilometres south and west through Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom before delivering its water to the Tonlé Sap. The mountain itself is unassuming — roughly 600 metres, rising roughly a dozen kilometres southwest of the provincial capital, the sort of low green massif that a pilot would note and forget. Its importance has nothing to do with its height and everything to do with where its water goes. In September 2016, Cambodia's government put that in writing.

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: The Largest of Eleven

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Eleven main tributaries feed the Tonlé Sap, and the Stung Sen basin is the biggest of them, draining 16,344 square kilometres that collect around 1,500 millimetres of rain a year. Downstream, that water joins the strangest hydrological arrangement in Southeast Asia. For six month...

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: Sub-Decree No. 189

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 13 September 2016, Sub-decree No. 189 established Phnom Tbeng as a natural heritage site — one of eight categories in Cambodia's protected-area framework, which also covers national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, multiple-use management areas, Ramsar sites,...

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: Four Days in December

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In December 2017 a team spread out across the park with 24 camera traps and a map of pre-selected locations. The deployment took four days. "With good collaboration between stakeholders, we completed the camera trap deployment in PTNHP over four days," said Mao Khean, wildlife re...

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: The Company It Keeps

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Phnom Tbeng does not stand alone. It belongs to Cambodia's Northern Plains Landscape, more than half a million hectares of Ministry of Environment protected areas that also take in the Kulen Promtep, Prey Preah Roka and Chhep wildlife sanctuaries. Between them these reserves hold...

Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park: A Nomination and a Town

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Cambodia has weighed Phnom Tbeng against four other candidates for World Heritage nomination — the Mekong's Prek Kampi dolphin area, Phnom Nam Lear Rock inside Phnom Nam Lyr Wildlife Sanctuary, Prek Prasab Wildlife Sanctuary, and Southern Cardamom National Park. The Ministry of E...