What To Expect
In 3 days travel along Mekong River, you will visit villages of ethnic minorities, stop at waterfalls for relax and picnic meals, ride an elephant to visit the temple on top of a huge cliff and take a boat to the area of the almost extinct Irrawaddy Dolphin. Regret is not necessary in a tour with full of amazing activities!Description
Day 01: Pakse – Bolaven Plateau – Champassak
At 8:30am, we pick you up at our appointment in Pakse and depart to Bolaven Plateau. Stopping at Tad Phaseeuam Waterfall, we enjoy a trek to villages of ethnic minorities such as Laven, Alak, Taoy and so on. Then we continue to Tad Lo Waterfall and have a picnic lunch here. After lunch, we drive up to Ban Thatang through banana and coffee farms and stop to visit a coffee fair trade farmers’ co-op in Ban Ka Toth (village). You will have the chance to observe the process producing coffee from plating to roasting to the final product in your cup. Then we stop at Tad Fan Waterfall for a short rest before head to Champassak town and spend one night there.
Day 02: Champassak – Wat Phou – 4000 Islands – Don Khone
In the morning, we will wake up early in order to visit the Khmer temple ruins and World Heritage Site “Wat Phou”. After that, we go back to the guesthouse for breakfast. Thereafter, we take a long tail boat downstream on the Mekong to see the wonderful scenery of Si Pan Done – the famous 4000 islands. On the way you can see numerous water birds such as kingfisher and green shanks, plovers or thick-knees. End of boat trip, we reach Don Khone Island. We will stay overnight here.
Day 03: Don Khone – Irrawaddy Dolphin – Khone Phapheng – Phou Asa – Pakse
After breakfast, we start visiting around the island by walking or cycling. We will visit the old colonial French bridge and the gorgeous Phili Waterfall. We then embark on a boat for a 20 minutes ride to the dolphin area right at the Lao – Cambodia border. This is one of the last though threatened sanctuaries in the world of the almost extinct Irrawaddy Dolphin. You will have one hour for spotting and taking photos of these extremely rare and endangered freshwater mammals. After that, we take another boat ride and reach Veun Kham at the Lao – Cambodia border, where our van will wait for us to take us to Khone Phapheng – the breathtaking and biggest waterfall in South East Asia. Here we also enjoy our lunch before driving to Ban Kiet Ngong for an elephant trek to the ancient Phou Asa temple on top of a huge cliff. From this temple, you can enjoy wonderful far-reaching views over the Xepian National Protected Area, which is well-known for its extensive wetlands and diversity of water birds. In the late afternoon, we drive back to Pakse and arrive at approximately 6:00pm. End trip.
Highlights
- Bolaven Plateau
- Ethnic minority villages
- Khone Phapheng Waterfall
- Irrawaddy Dolphin Area
- Xepian National Protected Area
- Si Pan Done
Schedule
- Duration : 3 days
- Departure – meeting point : our appointment in Pakse
- Return point : departure point
Include
- Transfer service
- Meals/ Water
- English speaking guide
- Bike rental
- Accommodation – 2 nights in hotel/eco-lodge
- Government taxes
- All entrance fees
- Travel permits