Tadlo - Don Khong
Waterfalls and Dolphins
08.02.2012 - 08.02.2012
38 °C
View
Footloose in Laos
on Grete Howard's travel map.
Before breakfast we wandered down to the river to see the elephants being bathed. The lodge is recognised by ElefantAsia (an international NGO for the conservation of elephants) for their work with rescued elephants, eco-tourism and breeding program. That's good enough for me.
Paxuam Waterfall
Entrance to the waterfall is across a bamboo suspension bridge and through a beautiful eco-resort – I am not sure if it was the swinging of the bridge or the amount of BeerLao I had last night that was making me feel dizzy.
Khone Phapheng
The largest waterfall by volume in South East Asia, on the Lao-Cambodian border, Khone Papheng is colloquially known as the Niagara of Laos. The name means 'Sinking of the Song' in the Lao language – a reference to the sound the water used to make when hitting the sandstone at the bottom of the falls. The highest fall here is 21m and the falls stretch 9.7 km along the river, with an average discharge of 11,000m3 per second. That's a lot of water. The whole area is geared to tourism, with souvenir shops and restaurants lining the walk from the car park. The falls are certainly spectacular.
After a light lunch overlooking the falls, we took a long tailed speed boat out on the Mekong River near the Cambodian border, looking for the rare and endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins. On the brink of extinction, there are only 20 animals left in this area. Having read many reports of sightings on the internet and in guide books, we were expecting to merely glimpse the dolphins briefly in the distance – which is what we did. Until two of them made a quick appearance almost by the boat. If you'd blinked you'd missed them!
A very traditional ferry consisting of a flat drive-on-drive-off barge powered sideways by a tug took us across from the mainland to Don Khong Island for our overnight stay.
Posted by Grete Howard 08.02.2012 03:50 Archived in Laos
Wow, fortunate to have seen them and you had your camera at the ready! Good girl!
08.02.2012 by Homer