BANGKOK – Khiri Travel has launched small group tours to Cambodia's Cardamom mountains, the largest tropical forest wilderness area in mainland Southeast Asia.

The company says that the township of Chi Phat in the Cardamoms is emerging as Southeast Asia's new adventure destination for mountain biking, trekking, kayaking, wildlife spotting, bird watching and waterfall discoveries. Biologists predict that the area holds unrecorded biodiversity. Trips to Chi Phat reveal hornbills and monkeys, while gibbon calls are commonly heard in the forests surrounding Chi Phat. 

 "The southern Cardamom mountains are an exceptionally beautiful area," says Frans Betgem co-founder of Khiri Travel, which specialises in creating innovative itineraries in Thailand and Indochina. "The locals can see the long-term benefit of turning from logging and hunting to ecotourism. Backpackers are arriving," he said. Although Chi Phat is not an easy proposition at the moment, Khiri Travel has started to include it on specialist tours through Cambodia. 

In April, Khiri Lotus, the division of Khiri Travel that specialises in mid-priced soft adventure travel for small groups, will take a group of Dutch students to visit Chi Phat as part of a two-week Laos-Cambodia overland trip. Khiri Travel is supporting the efforts of the Wildlife Alliance which started the community-based ecotourism (CBET) project in Chi Phat in 2006. Chi Phat comprises four villages on the banks of the Phipot river. The "Friends of Chi Phat", a select circle of travel agents that includes Khiri Travel, was formed to support responsible tourism. The Friends aim is to build programmes of activities in the area for study and adventure groups. For further information visit www.mountainbikingcardamoms.com.