Activity: Elephant Adventures
Location: Hongsa District, Sayaboury Province.
Tip: Be prepared to live life as a real Lao mahout
Logging elephants have been retrained to offer a more environmentally and economically sustainable source of income for local Lao mahouts – tourism. 
The experience: Elephant Adventures offers visitors two- to three-day elephant treks through the forests and rice fields of the stunning yet remote province of Sayaboury, Laos. Departing from Luang Prabang or Pak Beng, visitors can experience life as a Lao mahout, learning traditional elephant commands, participating in
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Category: What to Do in Laos
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Pi Mai in Luang Prabang
In Laos, there is a traditional festival or major holiday almost every month. Lao people are fun and easy-going, and will commonly invite you to participate in many of the colourful festivals held throughout the year.
Please feel free to join the fun!
January: Boun Khoun Khao – or the Harvest Festival is celebrated in the countryside after the rice has been harvested. This ceremony is held to give thanks to the spirit of the land and to ensure the
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Akha girl in traditional dress
The first Lao kingdom, Lane Xang was founded in the 14th century by King Fa Ngum after he conquered and unified the lands north of and including Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang and the Khorat Plateau, stretching into what is today Thailand.
Luang Prabang remained the capital of Lane Xang until King Phothisarat moved the Kingdom’s administrative seat to Vientiane in 1545. Even after the capital moved to Vientiane, Luang Prabang remained the country’s spiritual and religious
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Sunset on the Mekong river
Landlocked and dominated by forested mountains and high plateaux Laos stretches for 1,700km from its northern borders with Myanmar and China to Cambodia in the south occupying a land area of 236,000 square km and lying at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula.
A mountainous, densely forested spine known as the Annamite Range runs the eastern length of the country forming the border between Laos and Vietnam. The mountain chain reaches its highest point at 2,800m
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Bird of prey
Eager to position Laos as a top-notch ecotourism destination in South East Asia the Lao National Tourism Administration, related government agencies and the private sector are working hard to develop the tourism industry in a way that ensures the cultural and natural heritage that makes the country so special is protected and visited in a sustainable way.
You can help the government achieve their goal by supporting socially and environmentally responsible tourism initiatives in the country – many
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Activity name: The Gibbon Experience
Location: Bokeo Nature Reserve
Tip: This is a deep forest experience, not to be taken lightly
Sleep in canopy tree houses alongside black gibbons.
A Lar gibbon at home
The experience: The local guides from the Gibbon Experience will take you where no one else can — into the secretive world of the endangered black gibbon. For two days you can live in the tree tops of the Bokeo Nature Reserve and fly through the canopy on a network of ‘zip’ lines, an
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Category: Where to Sleep in Laos
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Activity: Kingfisher Lodge & Kiatngong Elephant Village
Location: 60 kms south of Pakse in Champasak province
Tip: Book a room in the lodge before going there
A family run operator offers mountain biking, bird watching boat trips, organically grown food, elephant riding lessons — and no television.
Riding up Phou Asa
The experience: Kingfisher Lodge, a family-run eco-friendly business, can be found nestled between the rice fields of Kiatngong village and the wetlands and forests of the Xe Pian National Protected Area. The traditionally designed bamboo-wooden bungalows provide
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Activity: Trekking with Savannakhet Eco Guides Service
Location: Various protected areas, Savannakhet province
Tip: On the five-day journey, a good level of fitness is needed. Bring photos of your family and home. Local villagers will love it.
Take short or long guided treks to revered forests and lakes and to see the remains of Muang Kao historical site. Stay with the Katong people or take the challenging five-day expedition.
Beside the Xe Banghieng river
The experience: The Savannakhet Eco Guides Service specialises in ecotourism. They offer a variety of
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Category: What to Do in Laos
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Activity name: Tiger Trail Outdoor Adventures
Location: Luang Prabang province
Tip: Choose an activity that reflects your interest level and standard of fitness
Trek, bike or kayak in the hills of Luang Prabang, help the Hmong in the fields, or care for ageing elephants too old to work.
Interactions in small groups
The experience: Fair Trek is a specialist brand of ecotourism developed by Tiger Trail Outdoor Adventures that is committed to putting something back into the communities and environment that it visits. A wide range of tours are
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Activity: Samlaan Cycling Tours
Location: Oudomxay, northern Laos
Tip: The best season for cycling in Laos is mid-October to mid-February
Low-impact cycling tours in northern Laos provide cultural insights. The operator uses some of the income to build schools and provide clean water to villages.
The experience: Born and raised in Laos, Ken Phetxayphone has always loved to ride bikes. His small, friendly team from Oudomxay will take you by mountain bikes through the back roads, forests and villages of northern Laos on tours ranging from
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Category: What to Do in Laos
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