A guide here in Luang Nan Tha told me that the Phongsali district has better jungle, more rugged mountains and more interesting hill tribes than around Luang Nan Tha. This is a glowing report considering that he makes his money out of the Luang Nan Tha district.
So has been to Phongsali and what did you think?
man_from_oz
1
somsai
I too was recomended Phongsali by a guide in another place. It's all true... but. There has been regular tourism there for quite a number of years. If you ask you can find out just how many times a year and for how many years people have been visiting a paticular village. The forests have been cut a lot less, just about no timber cut once away from the road and the rivers. Didn't notice the mountains being any higher or more rugged, but then we were covering fifteen kilometers a day rather than the twenty or more out of Muang Long.
Out of Luang nam tha itself threre has been a lot of treking and there are few peoples left higher up in the mountains. The Laotian goverment in it's efforts to "modernise" hill tribes has kind of forced them down to the lowlands. In either place after you go away from the roads there is no cutting, no way to get the wood to market. Traditional slash and burn doesn't burn old growth, only the same cut over land on a rotational basis of five to twenty years, so in either place there is a lot of pristine forest left. The things that kills forests are illegal logging concesions and rubber plantations.
In the province of Luang Nam Tha there has been little treking activity in the area betwen Viengphouka, Muang long and Xiengkok. Also that whole mountainous area between Muang Nam Tha and Muang Sing sees very little traffic, the guides in Muang Sing seemed to indicate not treks on that side of the road. Basically the whole Nam Ha NBCA remains untouched as there are few villages left to stay in, and also most peole aren't up for a long hike, they just want to go to some hilltribe village take some picture souveniers and go home. If you look on a map, the places treking is done remains very close to town in most instances.
I think the part the guide liked, and I do too, is that Phongsali sees maybe twenty tourists in total amongst the whole province at one time, and most of them are in the town of Phongsali. Luang Nam Tha is turning into a little destination in itself with maybe a hundred in town? and another thirty of forty in Muang Sing? Big road to China, casino up by the border, you get the picture. In many parts of Phongsali you are the only English speaker in town.
2
weilong
What Somsai says is true. The whole time I was in Phongsali I only saw two other tourists, a French couple. I have great memories of trekking around Phongsali, will certainly go back.
WeiLong in Phongsali
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