Forest Trek Nam Ha Wilderness

Khmu Woman at Work

After shopping at a few trekking agencies, chose a forest trek from an agency operated by a New Zealand couple.  This trek involved heading into the jungle about an hour tuk tuk ride south of town in the Nam Ha protected area.  The Laotian government has done a great job setting aside large areas for National Parkland.  I was fortunate to be able to team up with Monika from Munich (the cost of treks here decreases exponentially based on the number of trekkers in a group) and after the tuk tuk ride to the forest with our guide, Noi, we were joined by another local guide.  The idea is to share the costs of the trek with local villages and local guides  While the treks are a bit pricey at $40+ per day, at least most of the money goes back into the local economy.  The first part of the trek involved visiting a Khmu village.  The Khmu practice an animistic religion and derive their income from a large rubber plantation (owned by the Chinese) as well as subsistence agriculture and forest gathering.  Because it was a workday, the only folks in the village were elderly or very young.

The guide, Noi, spoke excellent English and pointed our various plants and provided samples.  Who ever thought anyone ate rattan?  Also enjoyed samples of wild galangal root (used in Thai and Lao soups) and bamboo shoots.  Because of a bit of a late rainy season, the trails were very slippery and full of leeches.  I saw numerous leeches crawl right through my leather boots (how do they do that?), but they turned out to be neat, responsible wildlife, leaving neither marks nor blood.  If I hadn't seen them, would have never known they enjoyed old white man blood.  The trek was arduous and lasted roughly six hours, with a lot of uphill.  I was completed exhausted and having trouble keeping my balance on the downhill, falling several times.  To add insult to injury, on one of the falls my trekking pole slipped out of my hand and thwacked me across the eye.  I'm sporting a bit of a shiner today.  We barely got out of the forest before nightfall and had to endure a rain shower which made the descent to the river even more dangerous.

Trekking Guides

Back to town dead on my feet, but managed a couple of beers and some superb Laotian pork belly at the night market before collapsing into sleep.