Into the Cloud Forest: A Laos Trekking Expedition

Welcome to Laos. Arrive at Luang Prabang International Airport, where your guide will meet you for a short tour of the town's historic old quarter before checking in to your hotel. Freshen up, then head to a restaurant overlooking the Mekong for your first taste of Laotian cuisine. Overnight in Luang Prabang.

After breakfast, set off for the secluded Houaphan region, once home to Indochina's last wild tigers, on a long but scenic drive through some of Laos's most striking countryside, with stops along the way to stretch your legs and take photos. Break for lunch in the quiet riverside town of Nong Khiaw before continuing on, arriving in Muang Hiam in the late afternoon. Settle in, then head to a local restaurant along the river for dinner, including the chance to try Sindat, a Laotian hotpot favourite. Overnight in Muang Hiam.

Meet your trekking guides from the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area after breakfast, among the most experienced guides working in Laos's dense and remote forests. Stop first at the NEPL Visitor Centre to learn about the organisation's conservation work, then drive around ninety minutes through mountainous terrain to Ban Nam Soy, where a village guide briefs you on the trek ahead. Walk a five-kilometre trail through local villages and farmland to Ban Navene, a remote Khmu village, for a late lunch hosted by the village visitor centre. In the afternoon, meet your homestay family and spend time exploring the village or helping with daily tasks, before an evening shared with the family, a quiet immersion into village life. Overnight with a homestay family in the village.

Say goodbye to your host family after an early breakfast and begin the two-day ascent toward the summit of Phou Louey, Laos's third-highest peak and the only one of its scale accessible on foot. The trail climbs five kilometres through farmland before entering the forest and the boundary of the protected area, continuing another 6.5 kilometres to a park substation, where rangers explain their conservation work over lunch. Continue trekking through forest to Tad Ang Waterfall, its unusual bowl-shaped pool inviting a refreshing dip, before a gradual climb to a forest campsite for the night. Along the way, stop to check a motion-triggered camera trap used to photograph the area's wildlife. Dinner is a traditional Khmu meal by the campfire, followed by a chance to help sort through the previous night's camera trap photos. Overnight in a bamboo hut, two people per hut.

Before breakfast, walk down to a nearby waterfall to spot local bird species, then set off on the final climb to the summit of Phou Louey, seven kilometres through forest usually wrapped in cloud, giving the mountain its nickname of the Forever Mountain. On a clear day, the summit rewards you with sweeping views over endless forest. Descend around 6.5 kilometres to the next campsite, helping to check camera traps and swap memory cards along the way. Arrive in the late afternoon with time to relax and bathe at a nearby waterfall before another traditional Khmu dinner around the campfire, with local folktales about dragons, wildlife and spirits shared long into the evening. Overnight in a bamboo hut, two people per hut.

Rise before breakfast for a walk to listen for the calls of the rare white-cheeked crested gibbon, then trek around twelve kilometres along the foothills of Phou Louey, crossing rugged, mountainous terrain to a campsite near one of the protected area's largest salt licks, with a picnic lunch along the trail. Your accommodation for the night is a suspended, spherical nest camp, one of the more unusual places to sleep in Laos. Dinner is served early, to minimise cooking smells ahead of the evening's main event: a visit to a wildlife observation platform overlooking the salt lick. Under carefully regulated spotlights, watch for sambar and barking deer and various civet species, with a chance, on a lucky night, of spotting bears, wild dogs or wild cats. Warm clothing is recommended for the cooler evening air. Overnight at the nest camp.

Return to the salt lick before breakfast to look for wildlife tracks and spend an hour on the observation platform watching the morning's birdlife, helping to swap memory cards on the camera traps along the way. After breakfast and a review of the previous night's photos, set out on your final day of trekking, a six-kilometre forest trail built and maintained by the local village, where your guide points out medicinal plants and animal tracks. After a picnic lunch in a farmer's hut at the edge of the forest, transfer by vehicle to Ban Nam Poung, an ethnic Khmu village on the boundary of the protected area, where your trekking guides bid you farewell before the final transfer to Nong Khiaw. Check in to a riverside stay facing Nong Khiaw's dramatic karst mountains, and take in the sunset from your balcony before a local dinner in the village. The fees from this trek support a village development fund across twelve surrounding communities, based on the wildlife recorded by the camera traps. Overnight in Nong Khiaw.

Enjoy a local breakfast along the Nam Ou River before driving back to Luang Prabang, stopping at the Pak Ou Caves, two temple caves set at the confluence of the Nam Ou and Mekong rivers, with lunch nearby overlooking the caves. Check in to your hotel in Luang Prabang, with free time before an evening spent trying your hand at petanque, a French colonial-era pastime still hugely popular in Laos, over a few bottles of Beerlao. Round off the day with a farewell dinner at Khai Phaen, a restaurant run by Peuan Mit, an organisation founded by Friends-International in Vientiane in 2004 to train under-privileged children and young people in hospitality and other trades. Overnight in Luang Prabang.

Spend the morning on a half-day walking tour through Luang Prabang's rich cultural heritage, taking in French Indochinese architecture and centuries-old Buddhist temples. Begin at the former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, then continue to Wat Mai, known for its golden bas-relief, and Wat Sensoukharam, with its dazzling golden facade. Visit Wat Xieng Thong, the most revered temple in Luang Prabang, before finishing at the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, a museum dedicated to the country's diverse ethnic minorities. Walk back to the hotel, with the rest of the evening free at leisure. Overnight in Luang Prabang.

Check out and transfer to the airport for your onward flight, bringing your trekking expedition through Laos to a close.