Ratanakiri Hotels

Ratanakiri is a province in northeastern Cambodia that borders Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, Mondulkiri Province to the south, and Stung Treng Province to the west. The province extends from the mountains of the Annamite Range in the north, across a hilly plateau between the Tonle San and Tonle Srepok rivers, to tropical deciduous forests in the south. Ratanakiri has long been occupied by the highland Khmer Loeu, who are a minority elsewhere in Cambodia. During the region's early history, its Khmer Loeu inhabitants were exploited as slaves by neighboring empires. The slave trade economy ended during the French colonial era, but a harsh Khmerization campaign after Cambodia's independence again threatened Khmer Loeu ways of life. The Khmer Rouge built its headquarters in the province in the 1960s, and bombing during the Vietnam War devastated the region. Today, rapid development in the province is altering traditional ways of life. Ratanakiri is sparsely populated; its 150,000 residents make up just over 1% of the country's total population. Residents generally live in villages of 100 to 300 people, though the provincial capital of Banlung (by far Ratanakiri's largest settlement) had a population of 17,000 in 2005. Ratanakiri is among the least developed provinces of Cambodia. Its infrastructure is poor, and the local government is weak. The vast majority of Ratanakiri's population engages in subsistence shifting agriculture. Health indicators in Ratanakiri are extremely poor, with nearly one in four children dying before age five. Education levels are also low; three quarters of