Newborn elephants and endangered dholes thrive in Minor Hotels’ protected Cardamom Forest

A landmark two-month camera-trap survey has revealed that the endangered dhole (Asiatic wild dog) still roams, and that a breeding herd of Asian elephants now finds safe haven inside Cardamom Forest.

Minor Hotels has leased and protected the 18, 000-hectare forest concession in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains since 2014.

Conducted by Wildlife Alliance and sponsored by the Dhole Conservation Fund, the study deployed 60 motion-sensitive cameras in a grid pattern from February through March this year.

Cardamom Forest inhabitants

Dholes appeared on seven cameras, prompting rangers to focus the full array on that hotspot in May to refine data on pack size and behaviour.

The dhole is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with fewer than 2,500 mature animals left worldwide. The species has vanished from much of Cambodia, and reliable national population data are lacking. Although no more than two dholes appeared in any single frame, the latest images verify the species’ presence. An expanded camera grid equipped with advanced recognition software will now gauge pack dynamics and habitat use more accurately.

The survey also captured female and juvenile elephants in the concession for the first time. Cambodia is believed to have only three remaining breeding elephant populations, underscoring the Minor‑backed concession’s role as a critical nursery.

Other images documented a mother sun bear with her cub, Sunda pangolin, clouded leopards; marbled, fishing and leopard cats, silvered langurs, pig-tailed macaques and sambar deer. There is also a robust prey base of small deer, birds and rodents.

Cardamom Tented Camp

The concession, once earmarked for clear-felling, forms the core protection zone surrounding Cardamom Tented Camp. This is a partnership between Minor Hotels, Wildlife Alliance and YAANA Ventures that channels eco-tourism revenue – alongside donations from the Minor Hotels-run Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) – directly into forest law-enforcement.

“I’m thrilled to see evidence of young and female elephants using the forest that we have been protecting for over ten years now as a nursery,” said John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability & Conservation at Minor Hotels. “These results are a direct pay-off for thousands of kilometres patrolled by rangers and every snare they pull. They also remind us we must keep this forest standing and poacher-free for the next sixty years to protect these young animals through adulthood.”

In 2024 alone, camp-supported rangers completed 486 foot, bike and river patrols covering more than 27,000 kilometres. They also removed 1,175 snares and traps, creating the safe conditions now attracting breeding herds of elephants and sustaining endangered predators like the dhole.

Wildlife Alliance founder & CEO Suwanna Gauntlett said, “This camera-trap survey proves the presence of newborn elephant calves and dholes and shows what happens when the private sector truly steps up. This land once slated for clear-cutting has been turned into a living sanctuary that now funds rangers, empowers REDD+ community projects and shelters everything from Asiatic wild dogs to one of Cambodia’s last breeding elephant herds. That transformation is exactly what public-private conservation should look like across Southeast Asia.”

Cardamom Tented Camp is one of several flagship conservation programmes spearheaded by Minor Hotels worldwide. In parallel with field projects from Thailand’s Golden Triangle to Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Game Reserve, the group has committed to becoming a net-zero organisation by 2050.