The scenery, fauna and climate of Laos
Laos extends 1,000 km from the mountainous regions in the north to the low-lying river areas in the south. Much of the mountainous and plateau areas of Laos are covered in undisturbed rainforest, and the main agricultural area is along the banks of the Mekong river in the south. Laos has a very variable climate. The northern regions are cool, while the southern regions enjoy a tropical climate. The monsoon lasts from May to October, and there is a lot of rainfall in this period. The dry season is from November to April. Towards the end of the dry season, temperatures reach 40°C, while the coldest period is in December and January, when temperatures often drop below freezing in the mountains. Ancient jungle covers more than half of Laos, providing a favourable habitat for unique species such as the Indochinese tiger, the Asian elephant, the giant gaur and the very rare saola ox.
The history of Laos
For many centuries, the area occupied by present-day Laos comprised a number of small, competing kingdoms, the most powerful of which was Lang Xang, which means ‘Land of a Million Elephants’. Laos was briefly conquered by Thailand, which was forced to hand it over to France and French Indochina at the end of the 19th century. Around the time of the Second World War, Japan took charge for a short time, before Laos finally gained independence from France in 1954. Subsequently, there was internal strife between communists, monarchists and the right. The communists won and have ruled Laos since 1975. However, this has not brought peace to the people of Laos. In the 1980s, Laos was occupied by neighbouring Vietnam, and during the Vietnam War the country was bombed so intensely by the Americans that it went down in history as the most-bombed country in the world. Most Laotians make their living from agriculture, cultivating rice, coffee and tobacco in particular. The main religion is Buddhism, but the mountain tribes are still animists, as they have been for centuries.
Travelling in Laos
Travelling in Laos is rendered somewhat difficult – or exotic – by the fact that Laos has no railways at all, and only some parts of the road infrastructure are passable all year round. The Mekong river and its tributaries are the most important transportation routes in Laos, so a cruise on the Mekong is an obvious way for tourists to get to see much of the country. It is also possible, of course, to use the highways, and there are lots of fascinating places to visit. Many of the most important temples of Laos are situated in the sleepy capital Vientiane, one of the smallest capitals in the world. Until the early 1990s, motorised vehicles were a rare sight in the streets, and cyclists and pedestrians still set the agenda in the streets of the little capital. A must-see on any holiday in Laos is the mystical Plain of Jars. No one has yet been able to explain why several hundred giant jars sculpted in solid stone are spread over a high, distant plain east of Luang Prabang. The jars weigh up to 6 tons each and are thought to be 2,000 years old. Luang Prabang is an old royal town surrounded by mountains with beautiful waterfalls. UNESCO has included the town on its World Heritage list because of its superb old buildings from colonial times and its many Buddhist temples. In the Pak Ou grottos 25 km from Luang Prabang are some of Laos’ most precious cultural treasures. Thousands of antique Buddha figures from all over the country have been collected over the centuries and placed in the deep grottos by the banks of the Mekong. There is also plenty of scope for discovering spectacular scenery in Laos, for example by Southeast Asia’s biggest waterfall, the Khone Phapheng waterfall, where rare Irrawaddy dolphins can be found.