[2] The range is a southern offshoot of the Krâvanh or Cardamom Mountains, occupying a much smaller area.

Located close to the shores of the Gulf of Siam, the densely wooded hills receive some of the heaviest rainfall in Cambodia, averaging 150–200 inches (3,800–5,000 mm) annually on their western slopes (which are subject to southwest monsoons) but only 40–60 inches (1,020–1,520 mm) on their eastern slopes, because of the rain shadow.

After the intervening years of civil war and upheavals pepper-growing has revived slowly beginning from the late 1990s.

[4][5][6][7] Phnom Bokor National Park occupies most of the highland plateaus and summits of the Dâmrei Mountains.

[citation needed] Both sites are now becoming tourist attractions, and the road to reach them, originally built in 1907 at the cost of many human lives, has recently been modernised.