Phou Khao Khouay National Park

Phou Khao Khouay begins about ninety minutes from Vientiane, which makes it the only large protected area in the country most people reach on a day trip. The name means buffalo horn mountain, and the ground is sandstone rather than limestone: flat-topped hills, pine and dipterocarp forest, and rivers that step down over ledges instead of cutting gorges. Wild elephants use the eastern side, and the village of Ban Na runs an observation tower over a salt lick where they sometimes come at night.

What you actually see

• Tad Leuk - a wide, low fall with a pool and a picnic area, the easiest thing in the park to reach.
• Tad Xay - a stepped fall further in, on a rougher track.
• The plateau - sandstone tops with pine and open forest, unlike the karst most visitors picture in Laos.
• The Ban Na tower - a village-run platform above a salt lick used by wild elephants.

When to go

November to April keeps the tracks passable and the pools clear. The falls carry far more water at the end of the wet season in September and October, which is when they look best but the roads are worst. Elephant sightings at Ban Na are seasonal and never guaranteed.

Honest expectations

The park is under-resourced and signage is thin, so a guide makes the difference between a walk and a wander. Tad Leuk gets busy with weekend picnickers from the capital and is not a wilderness experience. Elephants at the tower are a matter of luck across several nights, not one.

Nearby

Vientiane is ninety minutes west, and the Nam Ngum reservoir is on the other side of the main road north.