Shinta Mani Wild , Camp style Luxury top resort in Nature , Bokor National Park / Cambodia

Shina Mani Wild's state-of-the-art kitchen

Inspired by permaculture, our green-fingered chef Kian is on a mission to protect indigenous herbs and plants from disappearing from their forests. Restaurant ingredients are plucked from our wild paradise garden, where guests can sample native nuts, juicy jungle fruit such as kuy and rice paddy herb, which has a distinctive citrus-cumin flavour. Our food is fresh and healthy, applying ancient Khmer medicinal approaches to cuisine; expect superfoods a-go-go, kombucha and pickles. Dishes pay tribute to ancient Khmer cuisine, which champions vibrant sweet-and-sour flavours in broths, curries, relishes, roast meats and dipping sauces. Kian riffs on this rich legacy; don't miss his prahok – traditional fermented fish paste – which adds a salty kick to pork and seafood dishes. Instead of limiting guests to restrictive set menus, Kian makes suggestions suited and adapted to your personal tastes.

Foraging

Our friendly, passionate chef is determined to reintroduce ancient herbs and plants to modern Cambodian menus; he's currently cataloguing a library of native ingredients, inspired by El Bulli's 'Bullipedia'. Keen cooks can join Chef Kian on one of his daily foraging expeditions. Back at boutique basecamp, you'll cook up your finds (with Kian's expert help) in Shina Mani Wild's state-of-the-art kitchen, before sitting down and enjoying your meal with fellow guests. Kian will also teach you some pillars of Cambodian cookery: how to make Khmer curry paste, perhaps, or how to rustle up a rice wine-infused dressing… Guests can also sign up for a private cookery class, or arrange for a bespoke culinary experience of their own making.

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!

Landing Zone Bar with jaw-dropping views

Toast your dramatic surroundings at the open-air Landing Zone Bar, which lords it over the camp's biggest waterfall. Expect jaw-dropping views – and a tempting drinks list. Settle into plush leather seats and order tropical cocktails showcasing native herbs, fruit and spices, plucked from the camp's backyard – enhanced with Shinta Mani Wild's house-made, apothecary-style bitters. Pair your cocktails with flavour-matched bar snacks – rice crackers with smoked chilli powder, or green mango with chilli salt. Should walking to the bar seem a little… pedestrian… you could always zipline here instead.

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!

Waterfall Restaurant

The Waterfall Restaurant earns its name thanks to its dramatic setting: like the Landing Zone Bar, it hovers above the camp's most spectacular waterfall. Divide your admiration between the cascades and Chef Kian's health-boosting creations, which shine a spotlight on medicinal native herbs and plants. Start each day at the restaurant's breakfast trolleys: pick from an abundance of seasonal local fruit, raid the granola trolley for spirulina- and chia-seed-topped treats, or try a traditional Cambodian option such as broken rice with crispy, caramelised pork. (Lunch and dinner are served here, too.) You can also arrange for a butler-served meal in your favourite part of the camp.

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!

Land Rover Bar

Fancy a mobile cocktail party? Shinta Mani Wild's playful side is apparent in its Land Rover Bar: a WW2 vehicle, brilliantly reimagined as a portable, slightly bonkers bar. Once guests arrive at the agreed location, they'll be treated to the sight of the vehicle ingeniously unfolding into a one-off bar — followed by a tipple or two, naturally.

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!

Experiences

Inspired by permaculture, our green-fingered chef Kian is on a mission to protect indigenous herbs and plants from disappearing from their forests. Restaurant ingredients are plucked from our wild paradise garden, where guests can sample native nuts, juicy jungle fruit such as kuy and rice paddy herb, which has a distinctive citrus-cumin flavour. Our food is fresh and healthy, applying ancient Khmer medicinal approaches to cuisine; expect superfoods a-go-go, kombucha and pickles. Dishes pay tribute to ancient Khmer cuisine, which champions vibrant sweet-and-sour flavours in broths, curries, relishes, roast meats and dipping sauces. Kian riffs on this rich legacy; don't miss his prahok – traditional fermented fish paste – which adds a salty kick to pork and seafood dishes. Instead of limiting guests to restrictive set menus, Kian makes suggestions suited and adapted to your personal tastes.

BENSLEY BUTLERS

Great guests deserve great butlers — and you'll find both here. Part guide, part friend, part valet, part mindreader: Shinta Mani Wild's Bensley Butlers will anticipate your needs before you do. They'll suggest unforgettable bespoke activities to suit your tastes and fitness — and they'll even accompany you on your adventures, from motorbike rides to boat trips, to help you get maximise each experience. Of course, they'll also play the classic role of butler with aplomb, too, spoiling you by unpacking and packing your luggage, serving drinks and food, and fulfilling your ad-hoc requests. Fitness fans, take note: Shinta Mani Wild is building a jungle gym for its staff; join your butler on the monkey bars if muscles permit. Please note: guests are not allowed to take their butler home with them. (We understand the temptation to though.)

EXPEDITION BOATS

Traverse wild waterways and waterfalls aboard one of Shinta Mani Wild's seven luxury boats, designed by Bill Bensley himself. Crafted from wood and metal, each vessel has a fully-equipped bar and a top deck with a daybed, a sunroof and sun loungers. Go kayaking in the upper reaches of the estuary, seeking prawns and giant crabs, while your butler fires up the barbecue.

ANTI-POACHING PATROL

Shinta Mani Wild works closely with the Wildlife Alliance: the non-profit organisation helps catch poachers and illegal loggers. The camp funds an on-site ranger station; adventurous guests can head out with the rangers on motorbikes, spending a day with them as they clear the forests of snares and mines. You might even be invited to a midnight mining raid! Guests seeking a more mild experience can set off on shorter Jeep safaris, snare-viewings and trips to the ranger station

CAMERA TRAPPING

Join Shinta Mani Wild's resident naturalists – graduates from the Royal University of Phnom Penh – as they check their camera traps to monitor local wildlife. Findings are recorded at the research centre within the Wildlife Alliance's ranger station, which guests can visit.

FORAGING COOKING CLASS

Join Shinta Mani Wild's resident chef, Kian, on one of his daily foraging expeditions for traditional herbs and produce. Back at boutique basecamp, you'll cook up your finds (with Kian's help) in Shina Mani Wild's state-of-the-art kitchen, before sitting down and enjoying your meal with fellow guests. Guests can also sign up for a private cookery class with Kian, or arrange a bespoke culinary experience.

HIKES

Explorers, rejoice: Shinta Mani Wild has hundreds of acres of unspoiled, off-the-beaten-track terrain that's begging to be explored on foot. You can set the pace: from short or long walks, leisurely strolls or something more challenging. Let us take you to secret trails by Jeep or motorbike – or even by chopper to headwaters, so you can walk and then kayak back.

PICNICS UNDER WATERFALLS

The Landing Zone Bar and Waterfall Restaurant are spectacularly perched on the edge of the biggest waterfall of the sanctuary. If you want to get even closer to majestic Mother Nature, chef Kian can rustle up a tailor-made hamper for you to enjoy amid the wilderness

COCKTAIL PARTIES

Let Shina Mani Wild throw you an impromptu soirée: cue the Land Rover Bar and its mobile array of spirits, apothecary-style bitters and tonics and associated cocktail exotica. This ingeniously converted WW2 vehicle doubles up as a deliciously bonkers bar; guests arrive at a mystery location and watch the bar unfold.

Mission Statement

The Shinta Mani Foundation seeks to be a leader in responsible tourism. The goal of the Shinta Mani Foundation (SMF) is to enhance the lives of the individuals in the local communities where we operate – by increasing their human capital and providing them the tools to overcome the constraints of poverty.

THE ORIGIN

Founded by Mr. Sokoun Chanpreda, a Cambodian businessman who returned from overseas to invest in the future of his country, the Shinta Mani Foundation is guided by his philosophy of Open Doors, Open Hearts.

Shinta Mani’s community activities began in 2004 with the opening of the Shinta Mani Hotel and Institute of Hospitality on the grounds of Shinta Mani Angkor, a boutique hotel owned by Mr. Sokoun. This innovative program, which received international recognition for its efforts, trained underprivileged Cambodians in aspects of world-class hotel operations on a free of charge basis-providing them the skills to secure employment and a brighter future.

Since 2004, more than 245 Khmer students have graduated from the Shinta Mani School of Hospitality and still enjoy employment in the immediate township and local countryside.

This successful blending of non-profit work alongside the hotel’s award-winning for-profit operations attracted such interest and support that by 2006; Shinta Mani began to explore other ways to give back to the community. They did this by engaging in community development programs targeting rural families. Shinta Mani sought to empower these families through basic assistance in education and livelihood assistance such as home building, water wells and toilets. These efforts resulted in meaningful change in the lives of individual families and for the community. These accomplishments led the founders to explore new ways to ensure that the efforts and support generated thus far would continue far into the future.

In 2011, all such community projects were unified under an independent and locally registered (Cambodian) not-for-profit organization known as the Shinta Mani Foundation. The Foundation operates today in the core areas of education, micro-finance, healthcare and direct assistance.

EDUCATION

Cambodia has one of the largest populations of unskilled youth in all of South East Asia. To address this situation, The Shinta Mani Foundation assists young people in the Siem Reap community by providing them with the skills to obtain meaningful employment to support themselves and their families. Students generally come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and all students are selected based on their desire to learn and improve their skills.

The Development Center educates students for ten months. During this time, they receive free tuition, uniforms and materials, as well as two meals a day. They also receive a small stipend of rice and money to help support their families. Housing is provided to students on a limited basis and all students are supported through generous donations from guests at Shinta Mani and other supporters. All students learn English as well as general life skills. Students specialize in one of the departments of the hotel, including culinary, front office, housekeeping, maintenance, restaurant, and spa therapy.

SMALL BUSINESS START-UP

The Shinta Mani Foundation provides interest-free, small-business loans to local entrepreneurs so they may start a business. Recipients of “start-up” sponsorship do not receive money from SMF. They receive the materials needed to start their business.

They also attend basic business classes in order to manage and grow their business. Repayments of loans are then utilized by the Shinta Mani Foundation to fund future borrowers. In this way the Foundation is able to continue the cycle of development with the goal of establishing a network of micro-enterprises within the community.

HEALTHCARE

The Shinta Mani Foundation supports Cambodian doctors and visiting medical professionals to provide medical and dental check-ups in rural areas. We also conduct education on proper health practices such as healthy eating, proper exercise, brushing of teeth and hand-washing.

As medical costs are some of the most debilitating expenses for families in Cambodia, many do not receive adequate care and attention.

We believe that promoting preventive health measures as well as supporting those who have immediate medical issues, is necessary to ensure the entire community’s long-term well-being and development.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

The Shinta Mani believes in food safety and seeks to establish a model farming practice. Through a partnership with the World Vegetable Center and USAID we have established an experimental farm to test more hardy varieties of traditional Khmer crops. We are growing vegetables that grow better, are more pest resistant, and do better in extreme weather conditions. But, we are doing so, without the aid of pesticides and an excess of fertilizers. Instead we are using age old practices of specific seed selection combined with crop rotation and natural pest repellants like planting Marigolds, Lemongrass or using Citronella extracts to ward off pests.

We hope that by modeling sustainable and ethical farming practices (that we also teach to local families through our Home Garden project), we can change the growing culture and inspire people to eat healthier sustainable produce.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Want to know how you can help people in the communities around Siem Reap?

Please contact us at foundation@shintamani.comfor more information about ways to help.

Shinta Mani Foundation is supported by the Shinta Mani Hotels. All of our running costs are covered completely by the hotels and the owners. What this means is that 100% of every donation received from donors goes directly to people in need.

Current and former guests of Shinta Mani Hotels represent the primary source of support for our work in the villages. And enable us to contribute to our community and all of our families that we support. We welcome you to visit with us in the villages and see the work being done to transform lives and build a future for the villagers.

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!

Wellness

Indulge in pampering treatments starring house-made Khmer tonics at the Boulder Spa. The clue's in the name: the spa's two treatment rooms are nestled amid giant natural rocks. Sensibly, the design takes its cues from the forest, with plenty of wood and stone. The river takes centre stage, too: have a river-stone foot massage while soaking in a waterfall pool. Yoga and meditation can be arranged; there are even plans to offer guests a Cambodian take on meditative Japanese fishing

For more information please contact our concierge@above-5.com or concierge@above5stars.com or chat with us via our website chat !!!