Nam Ha Challenge Trek 3 Days / 2 Nights
Start-Finish: Phou Iu Travel and Eco-tourism Office or Manichan Restaurant
Duration: 3 days / 2 nights,
Departure: 08:30 am daily
Difficulty: Moderate and some difficulty, short hill climbs and descents
Trip Overview
A challenging trek with a Khmu guide who will teach us about forest products used for food, medicine, materials and religious ceremonies. First night’s accommodation is in a Khmu lodge at Ban Nalan. Rise early to spot spectacular bird life and trek through jungle to the simple bamboo forest camp built by villagers, -a relaxing place deep inside the beautiful jungle.
Itinerary
Itinerary
Day 1: Ban Chalernsouk-Ban Nalan. Approx. 5-6 hours
The trail begins Ban Chalernsouk, a Khmu village approximately 20 km from Luang Namtha. From here the trail ascends through 10-20 year old secondary forest until emerging into the upland rice fields. The path offers great views as it levels out along a ridge until re-entering forest. The trees here are much older having long been a major part of the natural history of the area you are trekking through.
A tasty Lao-style picnic lunch is enjoyed in the cool upland forest or in the shade of a thatched farmer’s hut. Early afternoon, will find the trekkers in the Ban Nalan community forest. As the trail begins its descent down to the village, you pass a small clearing which served as a gunnery emplacement in the early 1960s during the civil war when Pathet Lao revolutionaries and Royalist Lao forces struggled for supremacy
But down by the calm Nam Ha River you overnight, dining on local food after a refreshing shower and rest, ready to settle in for a well deserved sleep.
[Meals: Lunch and Dinner]
Day 2: Ban Nalan-Deep Forest Camp. Approx. 6-7 hours
Day 2: Ban Nalan-Deep Forest Camp. Approx. 6-7 hours
The second morning is a pleasant walk following the Nam Ha River. After breakfast the local guide from Ban Nalan will join your tour, before climbing up the mountain for a couple of hours. This is the most challenging section of the trail, but also the most beautiful, as it passes through stands of ancient trees, some five hundred years old, that create a high dense canopy, rich in birdlife. We need only pause quietly to hear the forest come alive with a mixed chorus of birds and insects.
Now you will be in the centre of Nam Ha NPA, to enjoy a traditional lunch on the trail, in a pristine forest surrounding you are unlikely to forget. After lunch the trek continues for 3 hours until we arrive at our forest camp. You can help your guide prepare and cook evening’s meal, or just absorb the ambience deep inside this beautiful jungle.
[Meals: Lunch and Dinner]
Day 3: Deep Forest Camp-Ban Sinh Oudom-Luang Namtha. Approx. 6-7 hours
Day 3: Deep Forest Camp-Ban Sinh Oudom-Luang Namtha. Approx. 6-7 hours
In the early morning you are likely to hear many kinds of animals communicating such as bear, monkey, barking dear, gibbon, wild pigs and jungle fowl from the higher mountain tops or if you are especially fortunate you may see them moving through the forest.
Before breakfast, early risers are free to take a walk around the camp. After a breakfast prepared by our Khmu guide, you cross the Nam Ha River and hike uphill through forest. Lunch will be prepared in the traditional way along the forest path. The guides can boil water and make soup in bamboo cooking vessels. They will encourage you to take part in the preparation of the meal, showing you how to construct simple spoons and chopsticks from bamboo and leaves. They will also brew a medicinal tea from wild plants collected along the way.
After lunch, you will have a good two hour hike down the mountain until you cross the Nam Tha River and arrive at Ban Sinh Oudom. Here the trek concludes and a driver will be waiting to transport you back to Luang Namtha.
[Meals: Breakfast, Lunch]
- End of tour-
More info: http://www.phouiu-ecotourism-laos.com/
