Elephant adventure across central Laos

Nick visited Thailand and Laos with wife Gaby and friends Ben and Lorna. After visiting his old haunts on the island of Koh Phan Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand, they all headed north to Chiang Rai and crossed into Laos for a rather special adventure composing of Mekong River cruises and a three day elephant caravan across an area of Laos that see’s few western faces.

From Thailand with love

Departing Chiang Rai at 6.30am is not exactly everybody’s dream start to a day; however as we drove east towards Chiang Khong the dawn soon began to lift unveiling some of the wonderful green valleys that we had seen from the air the previous day as we flew into the city.
Our final destination of the day was to be Pakbeng in Laos; before then we had a border crossing and many miles of river cruising to enjoy. Crossing the Mekong River between Chiang Khong and Huay Xai is certainly the finest border crossing I have ever has the pleasure of completing - Heathrow at 7 am this is not. You fill in one set of documents before crossing the river by a six-seat wooden ferry to complete another set.
We came ashore in Laos to be met by the welcoming smile of Chong Lien our guide. Chong Lien has worked with Selective Asia's clients for the past four years and has travelled this section of the Mekong River over twenty times – we were confident of a very special day. Having obtained our Laos visa (standard price $35, with an additional $1 added as it was a Sunday!) our bags were loaded into a Lao style tuk-tuk and we made the short journey to our awaiting boat.
There are two types of craft that navigate these sections of the Mekong River – one is small, noisy, very fast and in my mind dangerous, the other is extremely long (at times 65 foot +), stable and every comfortable with a sundeck, lavatory and eating area. We had opted for the later of course.

Cruising the Mekong

To say the days cruise was a pleasure would be an understatement – it was truly wonderful. The scenery as you slowly meander down this upper stretch of river is mesmerising and when the morning haze cleared to reveal clear blue skies the perfect picture was complete. I have sailed many sections of river both in Laos and all over Asia and this is equal to any others – even the particularly recommended stretch of the Nam Ou north of Pak Ou and Luang Prabang. The Mekong cuts through a landscape of green hills and mountains and we passed countless villages of various minority tribes, one of which we stopped at so that Chong Lien could take us into the village and teach us about their way of life. We spent a very enjoyable hour with the villagers and it was a great opportunity to stretch our legs and break the journey. We truly felt like we were getting beneath the skin of this mesmerising country and we had only been in Laos a matter of hours. Throughout the afternoon the ever changing scenery and distractions to be seen on every bank ensured that the journey passed quickly – far too quickly in fact.
We approached Pakbeng an hour from sunset and moored up at the foot of the Pakbeng Lodge. All rooms at the lodge have perfect river views however we chose the terrace bar for our viewing…Beer Lao in hand of course!
We were actually parting from Chong Lien for a few days, meeting him again in Luang Prabang, being guided instead by a specialist guide for the task ahead. Mr Bang dropped in to introduce himself and arrange a suitable departure time for the following day.

It was time

At this altitude the mornings are far from the balmy-Asia we usually picture. Any boat journey is certainly a time for fleeces and socks! The 7am journey from Pakbeng to Tha Souang was however short and we were soon on dry land again being welcomed by Mr Ping, the head mahout - more about this shortly but first we had to drive over a 1500 metre pass to our final destination of Hongsa. If any of us weren’t fully awake yet we were just about to be. As we reached the top of the pass the valleys in all directions were filled with clouds and with nothing but clear blue skies above all we could see was the white clouds and the tips of mountains for miles in all directions.
Despite this our minds were elsewhere and you could almost taste the anticipation…the girls had actually gone quiet and Ben and I kept catching each others excited smiles. Before long we had made our first sighting – two wonderful creatures stomping across a field in the distance. There were squeals of excitement (from the girls I should add) and plenty of fidgeting. Palms were becoming sweaty and thoughts unclear. This was it; this is what we had been talking about for months….and I for one wasn’t going to miss a second of it. The truck pulled up and there they were – four beauties, munching away whilst their howdah’s (the seat on their back) were loaded onto their backs by their mahouts.
A mahout is an elephant’s keeper and trainer, often devoting their entire life to just one elephant. Extremely skilled, agile and intuitive - we were also soon to discover that they are very similar to a typical British cab driver –they love to chat constantly and, despite not speaking a word of English, to have a laugh at our expense!
I looked across at my wife who now resembled something similar to a six year old on Christmas morning; she had lost all control and was doing a strange standing-skipping-type-dance. Our bags were loaded onto the support truck and then it was our turn, stepping off the platform onto the elephant’s mighty neck before stumbling back into the chair – a movement we were to improve considerably in the coming days. Being 6’6” it was deemed appropriate that I should take the only bull of the four – Chantpheng - and I was welcomed ‘onboard’ by Xieng My - a mahout who had spent 40 of his 52 years alongside this huge fella.

...and we were not to be disappointed

As we exited the village, locals came out of their homes to watch – this was unexpected but something that we were to see time and again. At first it was hard to know whether they had come to stare at us or the elephants but I was later assured by Bang it was the elephants – very much a revered animal across rural Laos, the older generations will remember fondly the large caravans that used to travel the country.
I suspect it was actually a bit of both – western visitors to this region are few and far between.
I could write all day about the following five hours as we climbed into the foothills and back down into another valley - it will undoubtedly remain one of the most memorable days of my life. Whilst you lollop along at a seemingly sedate pace, you can’t help but be surprised at the distance you’ve covered upon looking back to monitor your progress. We covered around 20km’s of very unforgiving terrain, getting used to the elephants and watching our mahouts every move – they control the elephants through verbal commands and by using their feet behind the ears, at times steering them through seemingly impossible gaps.
We enjoyed a rural picnic whilst the elephants continued to eat in the forest close-by (they hadn’t stopped all morning, grabbing anything within range as they walked).
Mounting up again, this time using Chantpheng’s front knee as a stepping post, we continued our journey across this mesmerising landscape. I could count on one hand the number of people we came across all day until getting closer to our nights camp. Being as high as we were, the views were as mesmerising as the elephants themselves.
We arrived at the village of Sibounheuang in the late afternoon; weary after a hard days trekking (and we were sat on their backs!) but utterly, utterly satisfied. We took a walk through the village with Bang telling us about the local people’s way of life. Being as far off the beaten track as we were we were undoubtedly being observed with an equal amount of interest. After setting camp and bathing in the nearby river we settled down for supper of rice and a few simple and rural dishes.…four beers even materialised from the village shop; never has an out of date, sun warmed lager tasted so good.
As with the mornings it gets cold as soon as the sun is down and a wet mist settles so it wasn’t long before we were in our tents listening to frogs natter in the nearby paddy fields and the elephants continue to tear into supper in the far distance.

Surely it can't get any better?

Awaking early I joined the mahouts and support team round a small fire, showing them photos of the previous day. I love the early mornings in Asia, as the darkness turns to day, listening to the multitude of animals coming to life. The elephants were brought back to camp, content after just 20 minutes of sleep and a night of feeding.
After a camp breakfast we went about packing and getting ready for the day ahead. I clearly recall agreeing with Ben when he suggested it would simply be impossible for the previous day to be surpassed...how wrong we were.
As we passed through Sibounheuang the villagers once again came to see us depart, this time the entire school was peeking out of various doors with arms flapping in our direction and excited faces fighting for a view. We were soon back into the motion and the previous night’s saddle soreness long forgotten. We were now considered ready to take the helm and one by one we swapped places with our mahouts, most of whom walked alongside – it was only Gaby’s that decided he needed a few extra hours sleep and tucked himself into the howdah!
It’s a truly enthralling, perhaps belittling experience to drape your legs over the neck of these giants, tucking your feet in behind their ears. They know immediately that it’s a new set of legs and Chantpheng took the opportunity to eat more than usual (is that possible?!) and basically do as HE chose, much to the delight of Xieng My!
Having done all the climbing and descending the previous day we stayed in the valleys today, following the Nam Thap River throughout. We spent much of the day crossing streams and taking the course of the shallow waters when the path deserted us. The elephants loved it, drinking to their hearts content and giving us a shower at regular intervals!
Once again we were blessed with clear blue sky’s and the mahouts chatted and laughed endlessly as did we…it was a truly unbelievable experience and just writing these words makes me feel giddy once again. Throughout all my travels around the world I have rarely been this ‘far out’ and on the few occasions we passed a hunter or field worker they greeted us with a combination of bemusement and joy.
Later in the day the lead mahout had to swing the machete continuously in a vain attempt to create a path of some sort, the jungle reclaiming the trail once again as soon as we had past. We knew were getting closer to the Mekong River as the water was running faster on the Nam Thap and we were passing villages more frequently. We had no idea how close until suddenly in front of us was a beach with fresh fruit and a beer on a camp table …..To much sun, a mirage surely…this is a landlocked land…and that’s a beer. I look at the others who all had the same look of amazement on their faces so I began to trust my sight once again.
Chantpheng seemed to sense that his days work was done and couldn’t wait to get me off his back, so it wasn’t long before I was on the ground attending to him – into the water we all went, four elephants and their mahouts and four utterly enthralled Brits, scrubbing away with the largest smiles you have ever seen. A tourist boat was passing down river and before we knew it we were the subject for the tens of cameras that were pocked out of every window. I’d like to say I didn’t love every second but....

Perfection

We had an amazing evening camping on the beach, visiting the nearby village where we were given a Baci by the village elders as a way of blessing our journey. We shared a few too many glasses of rice wine with our mahouts and fell asleep to the noise of Mekong River…..absolute perfection.
Click here for details on Elephant Treks in Laos