Learn more

By Gerald FlynnNehru Pry STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rain poured down in torrential sheets as Ouk Mao guided reporters through the winding dirt tracks that were, in August, rutted with deep trenches of mud and rainwater as Cambodia’s wet season began in earnest. Thunder cracked across the largely flat plains of Stung Treng province, in Cambodia’s northeast, and Mao joked about getting struck by lightning as he led Mongabay to the foot of Phnom Chhngok, a limestone mountain some 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of the provincial capital. Since 2020, the mountain, swaddled in forest and home to a flock…

cuu