Way Off the Beaten Path:
Trekking in Khammouane

Khammouane sits wedged between Nakorn Phanom Province in Thailand and Quang Binh and Ha Tinh Provinces in Vietnam. This unique location guarantees its future importance in the growth of cross-Indochinese trade. But, for now, it is a haven for nature lovers, spelunkers and adventure seekers.

The province boasts some spectacular limestone karst formations and thriving wildlife in the National Biodiversity Conservation Areas. Cruise up lazy rivers and find villages that time seems to have forgotten. The Lost City of Aran remains largely unexplored and undocumented. Only last year, in Khammouane, a cave was discovered - full of Buddhas, hidden for centuries.

Looking Over the Mekong to Central Laos

SNV is a Dutch NGO dedicated to improving the sustainable tourism infrastructure in Laos. Their goals are to work with the villagers and initiate sustainable ecotourism projects on a grassroots level. Thus far they have trained 25 English speaking guides in trekking and ways to handle and plan for the needs of Western guests effectively.

Trekking in Central Laos

One of SNV's most recent accomplishments is the advent of a new 2 day/1 night trek routing through the Phou Hin Poun area. On the first day, guests leave Tha Khek and visit Tha Falang. Tha Falang is a scenic wooded spot in which French Colonial administrators used to picnic. Now, following the Nam Don river, trekkers will visit caves, sustaining their own fragile ecosystems. In the Nam Don Resurgence – a beautiful lagoon is created where the Nam Don River emerges from a cave below a large cliff 300m tall. Guests can swim into the cave for about 20m then the river disappears below extensive underground tunnels (surveyed by a French team in February 1998). The cave continues for 3 km underground; the survey team discovered a new genus of blind cave fish 150m from the cave entrance, at a depth of 23m. In the evening, trekkers stay in the home of a local villager, eat local food and relax in simple village life.

A View into the Nam Don Resurgence

On the second day, guests will trek through a mountain pass and bamboo forests to pristine Kuhn Kong Leng Lake to swim and relax. Then travel to the Khon Keo Rapids. The main pool is around 7m deep and is ideal for swimming. Local villagers report that French officials once fished the river. The trek now finishes and guests climb up the river bank where transportation will be waiting to transport to Thakhek.

A Tuk-Tuk, or Skylab, one of the local forms of transport available

If you are interested in sustainable tourism or the trekking options available in Laos, please let us know.