Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Pu Luong runs along two parallel limestone ridges with a valley of rice terraces between them, worked by Thai and Muong villages, and one of its more photographed features is functional rather than decorative: bamboo waterwheels several metres across, turned by the stream and lifting water into the irrigation channels above the fields, a technology still doing its job. The reserve protects around seventeen thousand hectares of limestone forest with Delacour's langur among its rarer residents. Trekking between villages with homestays is how most people see it, and development has arrived - resorts with infinity pools now sit above the terraces.

What you actually see

• Bamboo waterwheels - lifting stream water into the field channels.
• Terraces between two ridges - worked by Thai and Muong villages.
• Limestone forest - with Delacour's langur among its species.
• Recent resort building - pools above the terraces.

When to go

May to June for the water and September to October for the harvest. Two to three days.

Honest expectations

Roads in are narrow, steep and slow. Development has changed the valley quickly and some of it sits badly. Trekking is on farm paths, hot and humid. Leeches are a factor in the wet season.

Nearby

Mai Chau is north; Cuc Phuong national park is east.