All the tour books/guides describe how tourism is being developed responsibly and Laos is a good example of how ecotourism can be successful for locals, environment and travellers. I was keen to experience this without paying over the odds! There are 100's of travel agents and tour operators in Luang Prabang (LP) and I spent some time with them understanding tours that include homestays, trekking, cycling, elephant riding and kayaking. I had a feeling that it was either end of high season fatigue or NY holiday fever but there didn't seem to be a hard sell of tours. As I was travelling alone, I needed to join another group to make it affordable!
After 3 days of LP festivities and comfort, I set off with a guide and 2 young frenchmen on a 2 day trek and homestay. We drove an hour out of town and then set off with our overnight gear through teak forests (China Vietnam market), across streams, through bare rice fields (Rainy season coming), bamboo forests (what's left after being used for building houses) and many burnt out hills and plains. Aah so that was why people talked about the smog that can descend over the country, it is the farmers burning fields to plant crops ahead of the rainy season (May) but also to clear land for forestry (China again). So our visions of trekking through lush forests were shattered on the first day....
Our guide was excellent, in telling us about local life and traditions and different hill tribes we came across living in different environments (riverside, hillside and hill tops). There were few people in villages we stopped for rest as the adults were in the fields and children in school. We arrived at the village where we would stay with the chief's family at around 5pm and so had time to stroll around the village, interacting with children and adults. I was invited to sit with an old woman who was making a table, watched some of the older kids who had been out hunting in the forest and were skinning their catch - 2 rather large iguanas and we watched a game of what looked like a mix of volley ball badmington. The smaller kids were really cute and friendly and one offered me a flower and then continued thier game of tag or playing house - their games are universal! We had arrived with all our own food and water (scarce in this area) and our guide cooked us dinner and after gazing at the stars we headed inside to sleep on blankets under mosquito nets alongside the 12 family members.
Our second day was quite entertaining as we walked through some lush forest and bamboo forest with lecherous leeches, targeting our sweet blood and causing us to hop madly and me squealing whenever I found one. It was an exhausting hour of hopping, squealing and every slight feeling resulted in frantic leech search and destroy mission. We passed a few quiet villges and farmland before stopping for lunch at one with a small shop/restaurant and rowdy bar. NY celebrations were continuing throughout Laos and we managed to escape lightly with a small sip of Lao Lao (rice whisky) but our guide was forced to down several glasses by his older relative ...not a great idea in the sweltering heat. We took it slow and rested often where we could find shade and cooled off with a swim in the river. A really enjoyable low impact tourist trek with gresat insight into hill tribe life.
I now wanted to find a trip with mountain biking, so I continued to scout the green tour companies in LP for a trip nearby or in Luang Namtha (base for exploring Nam Ha National Park). After a day or so, I joined 2 American girls on a multi activity trip - mountain biking, visit to elephant camp and kayaking. It was great to be back on bike, good dirt roads but bikes were not in great condition. The elephant camp was one of many that have been set up to rescue elephants that had been used for logging but now a dying business and tourism is bringing an income from rides to help sustain and maintain the lovely old dames (30-60 years old). The kayaking was enjoyable if a little long as the water was low, rapids minor with biggest risk getting stuck on sandy bottom. But a beautiful way to see the riverside - villages, fisherman, farmers and kids playing in the water.
With a few extra days to play with, I opted to go by minivan to Luang Namtha (300kms, 7 ours) well it took 11 hours....stunning scenery rolling hills and hill tribe villages but also a significant amount of burning. On arrival I hope to join a trek/bike for a day but there were none going to I hired a bike for a day and headed off on my own along mostly dirt roads, passing villages, crossing streams, through rice paddy fields and stopping off at a temple or two as well as relaxing at a riverside lodge. I joined a German couple on a day trek to minority village and Nam Ha National Park. After a steep 1 hour drive we headed off with a local guide into forest. It was very humid, thick forest and very steep and we endured a secton of leeches - I was fortunate to have the driver behind me picking them off my trousers. There was no evidence that we were actually in a National park, no control points, no rules, no pamphlets, no birds, no animals and limited information from our guides. At one of our rest stops, I looked out 20m beyond the trees only to discover burnt land - it is sad to think that in a few years time the natural environment would be destroyed and replaced with teak and rubber forests for China !!!! Ecotourism - yes, but not if more money can be made from forestry!
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