Shinta Mani Wild

BENSLEY
Cambodia

World renowned resort designer and owner of Shinta Mani Wild, Bill Bensley purchased the river valley of 350 hectares which Shinta Mani Wild now sits on as part of a government sale of logging land. In order to protect this corridor of rainforest – the biggest and last in Southeast Asia – he decided to open a high yield low impact camp, with the main mission being a sustainable way to support the policing of the forest via Wildlife Alliance, and preserving the forest. Shinta Mani Wild is a radical new concept for a luxury camp experience in Cambodia, combining world class design, hospitality and conservation to create a new model for public/private partnerships that will not only conserve and protect threatened wildlands, but will also create new and sustainable opportunities for the people that traditionally call these lands home.

Set along 1.5 kilometers of river and waterfalls, Bensley has set out to create his most ambitious luxury camp project to date: fourteen custom designed tents placed on the edge of a river in Kirirom National Park – an experience unlike any other. This resort is, in many ways, a culmination of all that Bensley has learnt over 35 years of making hotels.

Shinta Mani Wild is a new model of resort, which conserves and protects threatened wildlands through its minimal architecture, but also through the social outreach it allows. Wild provides long-term employment opportunities to the inhabitants of this region, where there is little infrastructure and fewer opportunities to work. Through its properties and hospitality school in Siem Reap, Shinta Mani provides opportunities for education and training so the camp’s neighbours can become well paid hospitality professionals, should they choose to.

Furniture: BENSLEY. Lighting: BENSLEY. Finishes: repurposed/upcycled. Fittings & Fixtures: Underwood Phuket.

Photography: Krishna Aditya