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Asia » Laos » West » Bokèo Nature Reserve
October 23rd 2007
Published: October 23rd 2007
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Since leaving Luang Nam Tha, in the far north western tip of Laos, Ashlee and I have been doing much to account for our previous time spent relaxing in Laos. This past week has been the ultimate in ecotourism adventures. The country, especially in the north is made up of mountainous jungles with white water rivers winding their ways through the valley bottoms. There is also an incredible diversity of flora and fauna even despite the increasing pressures of poaching and slash and burn agriculture practices. In addition, the population in Laos is relatively small compared to the surrounding population giants of Vietnam, Thailand and China. According to a man we met yesterday, there is an average of 7 people per square km in Laos, in Vietnam this figure is 268. As a result, the number of companies offering to guide you through these wild areas seems to be increasing exponetially. According to the Lonely Planet Guide book, half of the revenue from tourism in Laos now comes from ecotourism.

We started out our adventures with a two day kayak trip down the Nam Ha river which runs through the heart of the Nam Ha National Protected Area. The area
Lunch Time on Banana Leaf TableLunch Time on Banana Leaf TableLunch Time on Banana Leaf Table

Eating BBQ Fish, Jaow (chili dipping sauce), ferns, and sticky rice
is almost entirely jungle with the exception of three small villages (each less than 100 people). Ashlee and I were the only ones on the trip apart from our guide, Sai. Sai was definitely the most capable and friendly of all the guides we have had yet and really made the trip for us. He had been an ecotoursim guide in the area for four years and it was easy to see his excitement as he told us that kayaking was his favourite activity to guide tourists on. On our first day, we launched our inflatable tandem kayaks from a small village on the edge of the reserve and within minutes were into untouched old growth jungle. The river was quite small, only about 5 meters across but provided quite a bit of white water excitement in the form of class 1 and 2 rapids. Within minutes we were both thoroughly soaked from waves (and for me, from the fact that my the kayak could have used a bit more air pressure and so the weight of me sitting in the back filled my end of the kayak with water. I am quite certain that my posterior looked indistinguishable from a giant prune by the end of the trip). The surrounding jungle was made up of magestic trees reaching up over a hundred feet with vines hanging off them over the river. In sections, trunk bamboo (because it bends and hangs over the river like an elephant trunk) grew so think that it seemed like we were in a giant game of pick up sticks. From these stands Sai would stop off and collect young shoots which he later cooked up for our dinner. He also stopped to collect ferns which he fried up in oil and garlic and we ate with sticky rice using our hands. It is incredible how good you can make a meal of bamboo and ferns taste. We didn't see any large wild life but as we floated down the river we spotted king fishers, herons, birds called boo boos and more butterflies than I ever thought imaginable. The sound of the jungle was at times almost deafening; we heard inumerable insects that sounded like sirens and buzz saws. At one point, Sai pointed out some bamboo that was moving at the side of the river. I asked him if it was a monkey and he said maybe in a doubtful voice. I told myself that if it wasn't a monkey, that it must have been a tiger. We stopped off at the side of the river to eat lunch. Sai chopped down a large bannana leaf from the forest and used it as a table cloth. All the food was laid out directly on the leaf and we ate the meal with our hands, with lots of sticky rice, of course.

We spent the night in one of the three villages in the protected area. The local Khamu villagers had built a hut for kayakers to stay in. The hut was made on stilts to protect it against floods and the floor and walls were made of bamboo weaved together. The trecking company had provided mattresses, blankets, and mosquito nets for us to sleep under. We learnt that the village was only accessible by kayak, which the villagers did not use, and by walking for 3 hours on a dirt track though the jungle. We were greeted by the village headman who told us, using Sai as a translator, that the village had 98 people and that the people earned their living from harvesting rice in the nearby hills, fishing, farming animals, and from tourism. We learned that roughly one third of the money we paid to go on the trip was given to the village to pay for them to host us. They proved to be exceptional hosts and the entire village joined in the activity. We were first given a tour of the village by a gaggle of very eager children (as usual, some wearing pants others not). They took us to their school and showed us the desks they sit in and the black board with the day's lesson still written on it. We were pleased to see that the math they were learning was much the same as what we had learned in their grades. They then toured us through the main village which consisted of a dozen or so huts similar to ours with families living in them. The people in this village looked much healthier than any of the other villages we have seen so far in Laos.

There were animals all over the village: chickens, pigs, pigglets, dogs, cats, ducks, and goats. It was truly a highlight for Ashlee who especially liked the piglets, puppies, and the two goat kids who must not have been more than 2 weeks old - very cute. At one point a large momma pig waddled over to us and stuck its back bristles out. Ashlee couldn't help but pet them and from then on we were followed around by a very friendly pig. In the village we were shown how they separate the rice grains from their husks and afterwards were allowed to try it ourselves. It is incredible how much work goes into preparing a single bowl of rice.

At dinner time a man from the village arrived with a freshly butchered chicken and proceeded to pluck it and make chicken soup over the fire. We ate dinner in our hut with a handful of villagers looking on. The villagers had brought us a case of Beerlao which they had carried in to sell to us. Amazingly, the price was still only $1.20 as opposed to $1 in the cities. We sat around drinking Beerlao and laolao (Lao whiskey, much like moonshine) and talking with the villagers (via Sai), especially the teacher. It was probably our best experience with the local people in Laos yet. It was
Purchasing local handicraftsPurchasing local handicraftsPurchasing local handicrafts

This is in a Tan village - an ethnic minority originaly from China
really great to see how much they enjoyed having us in their village. Unfortunately, our dinner was rudely interrupted by a couple hundred ants who had decided to join us for dinner. The villagers went into a frenzy of cleaning up and proceeded to light torches and burn the ants off of the floor as well as lighting a fire around the post they were crawing up to get in. It was a bit unnerving since the whole structure was made up of bamboo, however, luckily it did not catch fire. We spent the rest of the evening playing cards with Sai, neither of us have ever seen anyone pick up cribbage in so short a time. In the middle of the night the ants decided to make an appearance again, notifying us to their presence with painful bites. As earlier in the evening, we reinacted the whole burning routine and remade our beds using new linens before going back to sleep. Our mosquito repellant has seemed to come in most handy, not with mosquitos, but with repelling ants and leeches. Who knew!

As we were leaving the village the next morning, Sai explained to us how tourism has
Jungle Suspension BridgeJungle Suspension BridgeJungle Suspension Bridge

This is how the villagers cross the river every day. It is extremely shakey and feels like it might break at any moment but we made it across safely.
helped the village. He says that the government is really promoting tourism to the protected area and the village since it provides the villagers with steady income so they dont have to cut down more of the forest to farm. It also discourages them from poaching since they see the tourists want to see wild animals. He says that the income they recieve from tourism is far greater than what they would receive if they were logging and poaching. Another positive thing about the protected area is that the villagers didn't harrass us to buy articles from them; instead, they would lay down their wares in baskets and let us look at them at our leisure. This made for a much more enjoyable experience and the monetary transaction turned out to be pleasing to both parties.

Following our kayak adventure, we took the bus south to Huay Xai where we had planned to take a boat the next day back to Luang Prabang. However, we had heard about a project called the Gibbon Experience in which tourists get the chance to stay in tree houses in the jungle and tour around the area on zip lines. We had enquired
Village dinnerVillage dinnerVillage dinner

From left to right - Sai. a local man who helped prepare dinner, the local teacher, Patrick
a few days earlier but were told it was all booked up. On a whim we decided to check in at the office anyway. We were rewarded by being given two spots for the next day since some people had not shown up. It would take me way too long to explain all about the Gibbon Experience here so please check out their web site (www.gibbonx.org). In short, it is a project designed to use tourism to pay for a nature reserve. Tourists spend three days living in the tree houses and experiencing the jungle. The villagers in the surrounding area provide all the food, guides, forest guards and construction of the infrastructure. The idea is to employ them in a positive manner while preventing them from logging and poaching in the area.

Our trip to the area was an experience in itself. We packed 14 people into an old toyota land cruiser and two locals jumped on the roof with the bags and we set off cross country. Starting with a river crossing which in much of the year is not possible, we continued on the most bumpy narrow road I have ever seen. Needless to say, it was a hot, cramped, and for me, nautious experience. We then hiked for an hour through the jungle to get to the tree houses. It really was phenominal what they have built. Our tree house consisted of 3 levels, complete with running water, a squat toilet that emptied into 100 feet of air and a shower with the best view of any I have used. Our entrance and exit were by zip lines, high above the jungle. We accessed the other tree houses (4 in all) by swinging for a few km by zip lines. An entirely thrilling experience. It is hard to beat the view of the expanse of jungle than that when you are dangling in a harness way above the forest canopy below. Our guides would swing in from time to time and deliver food and take us on hikes through the forest, although their punctuality was a bit hit and miss. For the most part though, they left us to explore on our own, a lawyers worst nightmare. I guess this is why we had to sign away all our rights prior to departure.

One of the highlights of the experience is the chance to see the rare endangered black gibbons. The guides offer to take you out early in the morning to go find them. We were told that the guides would arrive at 5:30 or 6 in the morning. However, our guide didnt show up until 6:10 and apperantly some of the other tree houses waited until 7:30. We tried valiantly to find the gibbons, but by 6:15 they had stopped their singing and we had no chance of finding them. We asked our guide if he would take us out again the next morning and he agreed, this time saying that he would arrive at 5 so we could find them while they were still singing. We spent the rest of the day swinging through the forest seeing the other tree houses and hiking through the forest. Unfortunately, when it was time for dinner, we realised that the guide had mistakenly taken our dinner instead of our empty lunch container when he had returned to the kitchen in the evening. It was already too dark to venture out on the lines to get it back (why he didnt realise his mistake when he reached the kitchen we dont know). As a result we ate a dinner of rice with our snack peanuts and bananas and condensed milk. It left a little to be desired, but made for a delightful picnic.

The next morning we awoke at 5 and waited for our guide. As time went by we realised that once again he was going to arrive too late for us to see any gibbons. We decided that it would be better if we headed out on the lines to see if we could find the gibbons ourselves. The other three people staying with us in our tree house headed out first and Ashlee and I told them we would catch up with them. But as we were on our way to find them we heard the gibbons start to sing quite nearby in the forest. The sound gibbons make when they sing is something otherworldly. Someone in the group said it sounded a bit like the lazer guns from Star Wars and I would have to agree with that. With just the two of us, we made better time and more importantly managed to be quite quiet as we tracked the gibbons. Our path led us straight down a very steep hill which reqired us to hang on to bamboo trees to keep us from falling all the way down. At the bottom of the hill we could hear the gibbons from very close and after a few minutes of peering through the foliage saw them. There were two, one sitting high on a branch singing, and another dangling with one arm and swinging back and forth. We watched them like this for a few minutes before they both dropped down and we saw and heard nothing more from them. When we got back to the top of the hill, we found our guide and the rest of our group. He had only just arrived and had chased them down. He was very surprised that we had seen gibbons and couldnt figure out why we hadnt waited for him. We told them where we had seen the gibbons and he led them off in search but it was in vain since once again the gibbons had already stopped their singing. The rest of the morning we spent zipping and waiting for our incredibly late breakfast before heading back to town over the bumpy road. The Gibbon Experience indeed was a wonderful
View from the Zip LineView from the Zip LineView from the Zip Line

Looking out on the Bokeo Nature Reserve
experience, but we are still intending to send them a polite e-mail with a few complaints and suggestions. Perhaps it will help enhance other's enjoyment in the future.

As we had previously intended, the day after returning to Huay Xai, we took the slow boat back to Luang Prabang. It took two days and was quite enjoyable but not much to write about especially after the previous adventures.

Unfortunately, the photos from the kayaking were taken with our small camera which we dont have a cable for so we are not able to load them up. We will see if we can fix this in the next few days.



Additional photos below
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Zipping ByZipping By
Zipping By

Leaving our treehouse
Ashlee in Treehouse 5Ashlee in Treehouse 5
Ashlee in Treehouse 5

at the most remote treehouse
One of our guides One of our guides
One of our guides

on the zip line to Treehouse 5 - a very long zip!
Treehouse 1 GatheringTreehouse 1 Gathering
Treehouse 1 Gathering

taking a break from all the monkey behaviour
Bokeo at DuskBokeo at Dusk
Bokeo at Dusk

Returning from an evening romp to find Gibbons


24th October 2007

fantastic!
I hope you are keeping good notes on your route, since I'm hoping you will take me on it in a few years! I must swing on a zip line above singing monkeys before I die... and pet piggies in the jungle... xo michelle
27th October 2007

oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ee-ee-ee!!!!
Wat dat? Tree! Tree! Hakik! (Translation: What's that? A tree, a tree! It's Patrick!") Keep sending pictures - we have to make sure the girls don't forget what you look like. I'm so envious - zip lines through tree tops would be my idea of paradise! Love, N.
29th October 2007

WOW!!!
Hey guys, I just am blown away everytime i open your blog and see what you two are up to. It defiantley looks like you are making the MOST of your time there. You both look so happy! I am soo proud of you. I am so envious too....love you both xoxox
29th October 2007

Wow
Patrick you are a great scribe to your adventures. We want to go tree house visiting and site seeing also. I did a little tree top tight wire walking at Malibu camp four years ago which I found awesome but your adventure is amazing. I can see you Ashlee loving the petting zoo ? you found and being a pied piper to a piggy. Keep having fun. Darlene and Gerry

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