Encompassing the largest tract of unbroken rain forest in Southeast Asia, Cambodiaâs Cardamom Mountains have long been plagued by rampant deforestation and poaching. But a new generation of dedicated conservationists is helping to protect this vast wilderness, backed by ecotourism initiatives that are only now beginning to put down roots. Guests of the new Cardamom Tented Camp kayaking on the Preak Tachan in Botum Sakor National Park. For hundreds of years, the misty, mysterious jungles of Cambodia have enticed intrepid adventurers. In the 19th century, French explorer Henri Mouhot was the first European to stumble upon the overgrown ruins of ancient Angkor. The forested plateau of Phnom Kulen, once a Khmer Rouge stronghold, is now known to harbor âlostâ temple-cities too. And in the countryâs southwest, the wild Cardamom Mountains have in recent times divulged secrets of their own, including hoards of burial jars belonging to some long-forgotten tribe and a growing number of new species, among them a previously unrecorded legless amphibian and a carnivorous plant dubbed Nepenthes holdenii.