“Our vision for the perfect vacation in unspoiled surroundings is to offer top-of-the-line luxury in harmony with Mother Nature, to give her a chance to impress you with an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and images.” 4 Rivers Floating Lodge
Description
In midst of marvelous untouched nature and only accessible by boat, the luxury tents of 4 Rivers Floating Lodge will take your breath away. Try Glamping - glamorous camping - in the luxurious sustainable floating tents.
The comfortable interior will make it tempting to stay inside all day, however the surroundings of the river villas offer so much to do and see. Right outside the doorstep starts the remarkable protected rainforest eco-region of the Cardamom Mountains, where hundreds of endangered species found a place to live.
Highlights
- Luxury Floating Lodges
- Wildlife Adventures
- Authentic Local Experiences
- Vacation in accordance with nature
- Unspoilt Cambodia
- Retreat for maximum relaxation
- Local fishing and a lot of water sports activities
environmental protection
being local - authentic experiences
giving back
cultural commitment
Rooms & Amenities
- 4 Rivers delights with 12 tented villas with a size of approximately 45 m²
- Double-or twin-beds
- Family tents with additional kids room
- Comfortable furnishings paired with luxury interior (such as flat-screen television, DVD player, Mini-bar, etc.)
- Private extra-large balcony to relax on a sun lounger
History & Philosophy
Valentin Pawlik and his wife Anna welcome you heartily to the relaxing, luxurious and idyllic atmosphere that surrounds 4 Rivers Floating Lodge.
When searching for a new project and beginning, Valentin got the idea for 4 Rivers after meeting the owner of Wildlife Alliance, an NGO that actively protects the forests of the Cardamom Mountains. In collaboration, the project soon became reality to prove that conserving the beautiful area could be an attractive authentic experience for foreign visitors.
Rebuilt after disaster
After particularly heavy rains in July 2018, most of the floating lodges were destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The platform broke into six parts, the tents swam down the river, some up to eight kilometers.
The lodge had to be completely closed and all reservations canceled – instead, a cost-intensive and protracted reconstruction of the hotel waited for owners Valentin and Anna Pawlik and their team. “I built 4 Rivers nine years ago, I cannot describe now my feelings when I saw the damage.“, Valentin told us later.
Green Initiatives
- Architecture and Resources
- Energy
- Environmental Protection
- Flora and Fauna
- Social and Cultural Commitment
- Water and Waste Management
Architecture and Resources
- Conscious choice of eco-friendly construction materials
- Floors are made from modern wood-plastic-composite to protect the forest, wood flooring materials would have to be replaced more often due to heat, humidity and proximity to water, which would have resulted in the expansion and contraction of the wood
- Wood plastic composite flooring is made from 100% recycled plastic materials
- No permanent structures to the tents to avoid permanent imprints on the surrounding nature
- Roof composed of 4 layers, designed for maximum ventilation by specific openings in these layers to allow cool air in and let the warm air out
- Furniture made from the Water Hyacinth plant, carefully chosen for its abundance and availability
- Solely built with man power and small hand tools
Energy
- Started out using diesel-powered generators for electricity source, now shifting to solar power
- Careful in the choice of solar electricity supplier; refused to work with a supplier suggesting to cut some trees to clear the land on the island to set up the solar panels
- Now solar panels are set up on a floating platform and used 12 hours a day
- For the other 12 hours a generator – partially powered by biodiesel – is used
- Send used cooking oil to Naga Biofuels to make biodiesel from it, which is then used to power the property
Environmental Protection
- 4 Rivers causes no footprint on the environment. If the lodges were moved to another location, there would be no sign of its presence
- Committed to find most environmental friendly options for all practices; e.g. for paper bags that are used for the sandwiches to takeaway during excursions, the owners found a supplier that was using an environmentally friendly production process, visited him several times, took the time to befriend him so he would trust them enough to allow them to look into his operations
- Owners see themselves as guardians of the environment – immediately report irregular endangering incidents to Ministry of Tourism, Department of Forestry and to Wildlife Alliance;
e.g. in 2011, large-scale sand dredging operations on the river disturbed the natural activity of the big fish, caused the collapse of the riverbanks; 4 Rivers reported and played a big role in investigation study about the impact and extent of the sand dredging activities - Strict conditions for the boat: Efficient use of fuel, no spillage of oil and petrol in the river, and not make a lot of noise, use only 2 boats per day for guests collectively to minimize fuel use
Flora and Fauna
- Staff policy prohibits killing or eating wildlife that is found in the immediate surroundings of the hotel
- When the resort opened in 2009, there were no birds flying in the area, no wild boars, gibbons, monkeys, pythons etc found. Only from 2012 on, these species return to their natural habitat, which might be, according to researchers at Wildlife Alliance, due to the villagers being employed at the resort are no longer setting traps
Social and Cultural Commitment
- Employment and business partnerships with local people wherever possible, support their business growth
- Trainings in all aspects of running the resort
- Food is culture prepared and cooked with local ingredients
- 4 Rivers encourages guests to spend time with the neighbors and learn about the local simple life, get to know the culture
- Local authentic experiences – opportunity to discover the customs, beliefs and natural cures of the inhabitants; learn about their simple life, fishing techniques etc.
Water and Waste Management
- Sophisticated wastewater treatment system
- Unique waste management system designed to never introduce any kind of pollution to the river and its surrounding areas
- All waste is separated and then collected to be brought to different places according to what can be recycled
- Food waste is gathered by the locals who use it to feed their poultry
- Eco-friendly toiletries ensure to not damage the bacteria in our unique waste management system
- Basic staff policy lists contribution to cleanliness of environment as requirement, polluting the river is considered reason for termination
- The resort aims to reuse as many items as they can – for instance, they upcycle wine bottles to create glasses and vases in the hotel rooms
- During their tours, the resort has eco-friendly packaging for the guests which are made of recycled items, and are entirely biodegradable
- 4 Rivers also has a partnership with CleanBodia, a startup providing innovative solutions to help reduce waste in Cambodia. To replace plastic bags, they produce and sell biodegradable bags, made of cassava starch, a root vegetable grown throughout Southeast Asia