A Day of Discovery and Conservation on Koh Ach Seh, MCC's Marine Sanctuary Off Kep
- Editorial team
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
A few dozen minutes off the coast of Kep, a former wartime outpost is being reborn as a sanctuary for Cambodia's marine life. Marine Conservation Cambodia, a partner of Kep West's Art for Kep programme, runs its research base here — and Kep West organises trips out to the island for guests curious to see the work firsthand.
For my final outing with the Kep West team, I set a course for Koh Ach Seh — an uninhabited speck of land barely visible from the mainland, reachable by boat in well under an hour. It's here, on this quiet island ringed with turquoise shallows, that Marine Conservation Cambodia has planted one of its research bases. MCC is a longstanding partner of Art for Kep, Kep West's artist-residency programme, and Kep West regularly organises trips out to the island for guests who want to see the conservation work up close. I board early, chasing the cool of the morning and, if I'm honest, more than a little curious about what I'll find.
The island announces itself gently: the hush of waves against limestone, a scatter of thatched roofs through the trees, the easy smiles of the MCC team waiting on the sand. Tanguy Frénéat, the project's manager, meets me at the water's edge. Within minutes he's walking me through the organisation's work in the region, his voice carrying the particular conviction of someone who believes, completely, in what he's building.
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