Nam Et - Phou Louey National Protected Area: An Innovative Eco-Tourism Model

              Deep in northeastern Laos lies Nam Et - Phou Louey National Protected Area; the largest national park in Laos and one of the most remote primary jungles in all of Southeast Asia.  Due to the near inaccessibility of the park, wildlife is left relatively undisturbed, leading to growing populations of many endangered species like the sambar deer, gaur, white-cheeked gibbon, and even tigers.

Plain of Jars: Secrets of Death

              The Plain of Jars is a mysterious ancient site that has hidden its secrets with time, but also bears the scars of a more recent ‘secret.’  Shrouded in mystery and myth, this bizarre collection of ancient megalithic stone jars is scattered in the hundreds across a war-scarred countryside in northern Laos's Xieng Khuang province.

One of the groups of stone jars and grave markers at Site 1.

              Little is known about the civilization that created these giant jars, but archeologist estimate that they date from the Southeast Asian iron age (500 BC – 200 AD).  It’s believed the jar sites lie on what may have been an ancient trade route that linked the iron ore in the area to the salt supplies in the northeast.