CAMBODIA’S WILD RETREAT

12 CAMBODIA’S ULTIMATE WILD RETREAT

Designer Bill Bensley is a born storyteller – I have seen him hold a room full of travel industry insiders enthralled as he described the hotels and resorts he has designed from Luang Prabang to Bali. Indeed, he has said that storytelling in hospitality is his big thing.

This seems obvious when you see the pristine beauty that forms the backdrop for his passion project, Shinta Mani Wild. The camp occupies 350 hectares of land on the southern border of Cambodia’s Cardamom National Forest, bought by Bensley and Cambodian businessman Sokoun Chanpreda (founder of the Shinta Mani Foundation), back in 2010 in order to protect it from the scourge of poaching, mining and logging.

Meticulously planned out (Bensley and architect Prajak Thaijanthararak visited the concession of land over 50 times in seven years), the resulting luxury encampment treads oh-so-lightly on the landscape that it nestles in. The 15 accommodation tents were built around the existing trees; there is a ranger’s station on site, reflecting a partnership with the Wildlife Alliance; a resident naturalist assists the chef with sourcing ingredients; and Chanpreda’s Shinta Mani Foundation oversees the resort’s conservation and community outreach programs. It goes without saying that there are no single-use plastics used and recycling is king.

Beyond its impeccable environmental and social credentials, the other big story at Shinta Mani Wild is the irreverant design, a hallmark of Bensley’s style. Each tent is individually named and decorated around a corresponding theme: the First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s Tent commemorates the former US First Lady’s 1967 visit