Rovieng Ranger Station

Another impressive collection of seatless cars and ox carts loaded with illegal wood fills the yard at Rovieng, but the most valuable contraband here is aromatic moras preuv oil, extracted from the roots of the endangered Disoxylon loureiri tree and kept in scores of plastic jerry cans. It has a delightful, sandalwood-like scent and keeps away both mossies and rats but interests smugglers because it can be used to make the drug ecstasy.

Other impounded objects stored here include chainsaws, snares (including some specially designed to catch pangolins) and guns.Bulletin-board photos show clandestine sawmills, stills used to make moras preuv oil, confiscated bush meat and animals observed by rangers while on patrol, including leopards, foxes, crocodiles, monkeys, pangolins, deer, manchettes and wild pigs.

One nearby sight is L'Bak Kamronh Rapids, which on holidays attract Khmers; the river eventually flows into the Tonlé Sap. About 25km west of Rovieng, in Promoui Commune, is the primary Chhrok Preal Forest, which can be visited with a guide.

The land on either side of the road to Rovieng was deforested by the Vietnamese to prevent ambushes and later settled by destitute homesteaders, in some cases before anyone checked for mines. In many areas clear-cut a few years ago but now protected, the forest is growing back - a hopeful sign of regeneration.

By car, Rovieng is an hour from Kravanh and two hours from Pursat. Contact CI (www.conservation.org) to see if it's possible to overnight here.