Song Saa Was Built on Two Uninhabited Islets and Became Cambodia's First Private Island

Song Saa sits on two adjoining islets, Koh Ouen and Koh Bong, in the Koh Rong Archipelago off Sihanoukville on Cambodia's southern coast. Its name means 'the sweethearts' in Khmer, a reference to the pair of islets themselves, joined by a wooden footbridge that guests cross between the resort's two halves. It opened in 2012 as Cambodia's first private island resort, developed by the Australian couple Rory and Melita Hunter after they came across the then-uninhabited islands and bought the lease over roughly two decades ago.

Built from what was already there

The resort's villas, split between overwater structures on stilts and jungle villas set into the islets' forest, were built largely with reclaimed timber and materials sourced from demolished traditional Khmer houses elsewhere in Cambodia, a deliberate choice by the Hunters to avoid clearing further forest for new-cut wood. The result is a small, low-rise property rather than a large resort complex, with the two islets' combined size keeping guest numbers modest by design.

View on Google Maps →

A marine reserve that predates the resort's growth

The Hunters also founded the Song Saa Foundation, which worked with Cambodian authorities to help establish the Koh Rong Marine National Park, one of the country's first marine protected areas, covering the reefs and seagrass beds around the archipelago. The foundation continues to run coral restoration and community fisheries programmes in the surrounding villages, work that predates most of the archipelago's later resort development on neighbouring islands.

Reached only by boat

There is no airstrip on the islets; access is by private boat transfer, arranged through the resort, from Sihanoukville, itself connected to Phnom Penh by road or a short domestic flight. That approach, rather than any single amenity, is what keeps Song Saa feeling separate from the backpacker beaches that have grown up elsewhere in the archipelago over the past decade.

Traveller tips

• Sihanoukville is the mainland gateway, reachable by road from Phnom Penh or by domestic flight; Song Saa arranges its own boat transfer from there.
• Cambodia's dry season, roughly November to April, offers the calmest seas for the boat crossing.
• Cambodia uses the US dollar alongside the riel for most tourist transactions.
• The surrounding waters are a protected marine park; snorkelling and diving trips are typically arranged directly through the resort.