Song Saa

On Song Saa, a private island formed from two connected islets in Cambodia’s Koh Rong Archipelago, Song Saa Private Island occupies a position within one of the few remaining relatively intact coral reef systems in the Gulf of Thailand, accessible by speedboat from the mainland and from the developing resort island of Koh Rong. The 27 villas — overwater, beachfront, jungle, and underwater glass-floored studio types — are designed using salvaged woods, traditional materials, and upcycled objects that give the property a character of refined impermanence appropriate to its position in a post-conflict country whose luxury tourism infrastructure is still in an early stage of development. The surrounding marine protected zone, established by the resort founders in cooperation with the Cambodian government, protects the reefs, mangroves, and sea grass beds adjacent to the island.

The marine environment of the Koh Rong Archipelago — whose comparative isolation from Thailand’s more heavily visited island clusters has preserved its reef health and the diversity of species it supports — is the primary activity focus, with diving, snorkelling, kayaking through the mangrove channels, and night tours to observe the phosphorescent plankton in the lagoon providing direct engagement with the ecological systems the marine protected zone maintains. The restaurant’s menus draw on Cambodian seafood traditions and the Khmer culinary heritage of lemongrass, galangal, and fish paste preparations. The spa’s programme draws on Khmer healing traditions alongside contemporary holistic approaches.

Song Saa’s foundation provides educational and health support to the communities of the surrounding fishing islands, and the management’s relationships with the Cambodian Ministry of Environment and the fishing communities of the Koh Rong Archipelago have given the marine protected zone a governance legitimacy that privately established marine reserves in Southeast Asia do not always achieve.