The dense rainforests of this 1581-sq-km park shelter an incredible array of wildlife, including the Asiatic black bear, Malayan sun bear, clouded leopard, pileated gibbon, pig-tailed macaque, slow loris and pangolin. Elephants and tigers once roamed here, but the tigers were driven out long ago and the elephants are thought to have migrated north. Trekking trips up to the hill station used to be very popular, but these days most people arrive by vehicle on new roads.
More than 300 species of bird, including several types of hornbill, also live here. Don't expect to see much terrestrial wildlife – most of the animals are nocturnal and survive by staying in more remote parts of the park. Long kept off the tourist map due to Khmer Rouge activity, Bokor today is still threatened by poaching, illegal logging and development. The summit of Phnom Bokor, once home only to the abandoned buildings of Bokor Hill Station, is now part of a multimillion-dollar tourism development, while in the southeast the Kamchay hydropower project has flooded a small section of the park.
