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By Stan Sesser

Currents
Travel -- Laos: Real Lives In the Hills --- An ecotourism project in northern Laos brings visitors up close but not too personal with the area's array of ethnically diverse hill tribes

02/14/2002

Far Eastern Economic Review

50

(Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

FIVE TREKKERS and their three guides are eating lunch on top of a steep hill, sitting on a bamboo platform slung out over the jungle. As the meal ends, the guides -- all from local hill tribe villages -- fashion banana leaves into a broom and carefully sweep the crumbs off the platform. Then they wrap the chicken bones in another banana leaf and put them in a backpack so they can be carried out. The idea of packing up chicken bones, rather than tossing them away into the thick underbrush, would strike local hill tribe villagers as something approaching the bizarre. But this is no ordinary trek; it's one that operates under the strictest rules designed to minimize the intrusion of tourism.

Across Southeast Asia, the traditional cultures of hill tribe villages are under tremendous pressure from the modern world: New roads bring the market economy from Westernized cities. Population pressure and diminishing land resources make traditional forms of farming unfeasible. Expanding education systems are unable to cope with little known local languages.

And then there's tourism. "Northern Thailand is a case in point," says Steven Schipani, who is the chief technical adviser for the effort to save this remote region of northern Laos from the calamities he saw as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. "First a few backpackers go," he states." They're giving out T-shirts and smoking opium. From there, bigger tour groups start to come in. The villagers see that they can sell trinkets to tourists, and they abandon their farming. Then they put on their traditional clothes and perform dances for money. It's all contrived. That's why a lot of tourists now want to come to Laos instead."

If they visit Luang Namtha, they're certain to see something strikingly different. The province, which borders China, is Laos's most ethnically diverse, with 20 different hill tribe groups, ranging from the Akha, who migrated through Burma in the last century, to the Khmu, who are believed to be the original inhabitants of Laos. The hill tribe villages are so numerous here that at least a dozen of them can be toured by bicycle starting from Luang Namtha city. And, in a world of rapid change, the villages are remarkably unaltered.

The Nam Ha Ecotourism Project, which was started two years ago under the auspices of the United Nations cultural organization, Unesco, is determined to keep it that way. Nam Ha is the name of the government-designated protected area in Luang Namtha, comprising 222,000 hectares and 25 hill tribe villages. The project runs all the treks and imposes strict guidelines: Trekkers can't set off on their own; they have to use local guides. Tourists are asked not to give presents to individuals or sweets to children. The rules against litter include a ban on plastic water bottles; instead, boiled water is drunk from canteens. The villagers can't offer antiques for sale or put on any performances.

It works remarkably well. My overnight trek to the Khmu village of Ban Nalan kept us close enough to the people to be able to see their lives, but far enough away to avoid doing damage. No one begged; no one tried to sell us anything. We slept in a simple bamboo lodge on the banks of a river and ate in an abandoned house. But the food, prepared by village families who alternate at the task, was exactly what the villagers eat: bony fish, stewed green vegetables and sticky rice. After dinner, the village headman and two of his friends joined us and talked to us about village life. And that evening and the following morning, we were free to walk around the dusty, impoverished-looking village, to watch the women pounding rice and the men lighting fires to grill the small animals caught during the day.

"It's good for the village," says the headman, Kam Inn, referring to the trekking. "People can have much more income for their daily needs. They don't have to travel to sell their rice and other food." We were each paying just $27 for the entire trek, including all meals, which seemed like a pittance when divided among the village families and the guides, but to them it was badly needed income.

Still, the project is filled with potential pitfalls. Trekkers in other areas have managed to spread their interest in drugs to young hilltribe villagers. Previously, opium had been smoked only by a few of the older men. There's dangers for trekkers, too: The hike, in a malarial area, is steep and sometimes difficult, but there's no competent medical care even in Luang Namtha town.

And for this part of northern Laos, there's no guarantee that keeping an area relatively unspoiled will draw year after year a steady stream of trekkers, who always seem to want to move on to the latest new place. Already in Luang Namtha town, at the one restaurant specializing in Western food, I heard young tourists talking excitedly about the hill tribe villages of Phongsaly province, which is even more remote.

DETAILS: The Nam Ha Ecotourism Project (tel: (86) 312 150) offers day, overnight and two-night treks several days a week. The cost is $27 each for groups of five or more; individuals or smaller groups must pay extra for their own personal treks.

GETTING THERE: Luang Namtha town can be reached by flights from Vientiane on Lao Aviation, but note that some foreign diplomats in Laos have raised questions about the adequacy of the airline's maintenance of the Chinese-built aircraft that fly to Luang Namtha. Alternatively, the city is a nine-hour drive from Luang Prabang, by "bus" (sitting on benches in the back of pickup trucks) or by vans that can be booked through travel agencies.

WHERE TO STAY: Luang Namtha's main street is lined with small, inexpensive guest houses. But much better is the six-room Boat Landing (tel: (86) 312398; Web site: www.theboatlanding.laopdr.com), built in traditional Lao style on the banks of the Namtha River. In high season, a double room is $15a night, and the food is excellent.

Copyright © 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Send comments to stan.sesser@awsj.com

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Revised: June 01, 2009 .