Laos - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 758

Wildlife
Laos is home to wild elephants, jackals, Asiatic black bears, black-crested gibbons,
langurs, Asian elephants, leopards, tigers, pythons, king cobras, 437 kinds of bird and the
rare Irrawaddy dolphin - to name a few! Thanks to some excellent environmentally re-
sponsible treks run in a number of the 20 National Protected Areas, there's a chance you'll
come into contact with some of Laos' abundant wildlife, be it from the safety of a tree
house or perhaps even closer (though hopefully not with one of its big cats, as was the
case with one of our authors!).
The wildlife trade is flourishing, driven by the country's neighbours, particularly China,
who seek body parts of endangered animals for traditional medicine and aphrodisiac pur-
poses. It's difficult for a father of five living in a forest to turn down a year's wages for
killing a tiger, just as it is difficult to police poachers. In certain circumstances an alto-
gether more revolutionary approach has been taken, as in the case of the Gibbon Experi-
ence ( Click here ) , where former poachers are encouraged to make more money as guides
and forest rangers. However, compared with Vietnam and Thailand - much of which is
now deforested, urbanised and farmed - the wildlife in Laos is a veritable hothouse of
biodiversity.
ASIAN TIGER
Historically, hundreds of thousands of tigers populated Asia, yet today there may be as
few as 3000 left in the entire world, occupying a mere 7% of their original range. The sur-
vivors in Laos face a constant threat of poaching, habitat loss and conflict with humans.
The NPAs in the northeast of Laos, with deep, intractable forest, are thought to harbour
the densest populations. During your trek, look out for tiger scat and deep scratch marks
on the trunks of trees; should you hear one you'll know it - it's louder and more resonant
than a church organ.
MEKONG CATFISH
Growing up to 3m in length and weighing in at 300kg, the world's largest freshwater fish
is unique to the Mekong River. Over the past 10 years or so their numbers have dropped
an astonishing 90% due to overfishing and, more pointedly, the building of hydroelectric
dams that block their migratory paths. There may only be a few hundred left.