Trip to Kuang Si Waterfalls

The road leads south along the Mekong through a typical rural Laotian landscape. The road ends in the village of Thapene with a really gigantic parking lot full of vans. It definitely doesn't look like a quiet place here. The entrance is charged and you can walk a few hundred meters before the first view of the waterfall. Here is a restaurant and the biggest bustle of people.

Maybe the first thing that comes to mind here – it looks a bit like a miniature Plitvice

Right next to the restaurant is a bridge over the lagoon. Fortunately, there are significantly fewer people away.

The surrounding vegetation is beautifully jungle

The trail leading above the waterfall is interesting and almost without people. First of all, an endless staircase awaits you, which will take over in this heat and humidity

We get to the kingdom of water, smaller streams flow everywhere. From the occasional windows you can see the hilly landscape around, but the haze is really terrible. Taking a picture is probably not worth it. We climb the steamy to an unexpected plateau, where the trail becomes indistinct, so we have to improvise a bit. We also have to wade through something between the lake and the river that feeds the waterfall. It's quite refreshing.

The large waterfall actually has a total of three stages and is not completely visible from below

The way back leads along the river with other small waterfalls and picnic areas

The local wooden shelters by the river are 100% suitable for a picnic. Women prepare food and gentlemen check it with Lao Beer in hand :-)

There are other smaller cascades along the way

Perhaps the best on this trip are the swimming lagoons. There are several of them and everything is freely accessible

There is also a bear orphanage, or bear cubs killed by poachers. A little sad look