Explore: The Green Triangle

The Green Triangle – a rarely visited world where Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia converge – a natural canvas painted with pre-Angkor ruins, densely forested mountains, volcano crater lakes, crashing waterfalls and rivers carving through the wilderness – an isolated region where ethnic minority communities live alongside pockets of protected wildlife.

The roads linking Pakse in Laos, Vietnam’s Pleiku city and Stung Treng in Cambodia create a compact geographic triangle that traverses three borders. Easy to reach yet challenging to penetrate, the Green Triangle rewards its visitors with a seldom-seen landscape brimming with untouched nature.

South of Pakse, the Vat Phou Temple Complex and surrounding Champasak UNESCO World Heritage Landscape along the Mekong present classical Khmer architecture dating from the 5th century. Just off the banks on Don Daeng Island, visitors can walk or cruise in a boat to visit cultural sites and quiet villages with overnight stays in a community lodge or with a local family.

A short drive east delivers travellers to Xe Pian National Protected Area (NPA), which can be explored by foot, canoe and elephant. A village stay at Kiat Ngong takes in archaeological ruins atop Phou Asa Mountain, and trekkers can journey through Xe Pian’s remote forests, paddle up the Ta’ Euang River and stay in the ethnic Lavae village of Ban Ta Ong.

Close to the Cambodian border, visitors can view the Mekong’s Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) and the massive Khone Phapeng Waterfalls, cycle among laidback villages with colonial era architecture on Don Khong, catch a glimpse of the rare Irrawaddy dolphins, and retrace an aborted French railway on Don Khon to the discarded rusting locomotive that drove it.
Tucked away in southeast Laos, Attapeu province has been labelled, “rugged, wild and very scenic.” A cruise along the Xe Kong, which follows the border with Cambodia, meets with the Xe Pian River leading west. Attapeu also gushes with waterfalls including the 120-metre-wide Tad Saephe and Tad Phaphong with its colourful rocks on the Xe Xou River

Dong Amphan NPA abuts Attapeu’s border with Vietnam in the Annamite Mountains, and its steep terrain, numerous streams and rivers and a range of habitats create a rich wildlife biodiversity that includes 280 bird species. Also within Dong Amphan is Nong Fa, a large and little known crater lake that takes a dedicated three-day trek to reach.

The road from Attapeu to south-central Vietnam crosses the Ho Chi Minh Trail near the Green Triangle’s three-country hub at the Bo Y border checkpoint. This region of lush rolling mountains and plateaus is known to the Vietnamese as Tay Nguyen, and travellers from Laos enter amidst the granite peaks and tumbling rivers of Kontum province.

The road passes Dak To Hot Springs before reaching Kontum town, site of a prison built by the French to detain Vietnamese revolutionaries. Visitors to the province can also explore sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Tan Canh Battlefield.

Kontum’s population is dominated by ethnic minorities including the Ba Na, who were among the first in the region to write and domesticate buffalo centuries ago, and their lives have changed little since. They remain skilled hunters living in houses on stilts with stairs chiselled from tree trunks and indoor fires for cooking and gathering to socialise.

Travellers to villages in Kontum and its southern neighbour, Gia Lai province, will find large community Rong houses that host meetings, weddings and rituals. Architectural designs and decorations reflect specific ethnic groups, though most have rafters depicting scenes of legendary heroes and village life.

Just outside the villages, ornate Tay Nguyen grave houses shelter the deceased and their belongings. The makeshift though highly decorated huts contain altars and wooden statues enclosed in fences. During the Le Bo Ma (Leaving the Grave) ritual, villagers gather for a feast to remove the temporary grave house.

In Kontum’s south, Chumon Ray National Park follows the border across from Cambodia’s Virachey National Park to Vietnam’s scenic Gia Lai province, also home to the Kon Ka Kinh National Park and Bird Sanctuary Project.

Just 10 kilometres from Pleiku, the provincial capital, To Nung Lake displays clear emerald waters on the top of an extinct volcano. Southwest of the city, the Xung Khoeng Waterfall drops 40 metres between towering trees into a rock-walled lake.

Travellers can also explore Kon Cha Rang Forest, the Phu Cuong Waterfall, Mo Springs and Ayaun Ha Lake. Historic sites include King Quang Trung’s guerrilla base; the Pleime, Cheo Leo and La Rang battlefields; and An Khe, a focal point of the 18th century Tay Son Dynasty and centre of resistance during the war for independence.
At Le Tranh, the Green Triangle crosses from Gia Lai into Cambodia’s picturesque Ratanakiri province in the country’s far northeast. Though remote, many of its natural attractions are easily accessed from the provincial capital, Banlung.

The 800-metre-wide Yeak Loam Lake sits on an inactive volcano just west of town, and attracts tourists who swim in the clear waters and hike the surrounding forest trails. Nearby, Eisey Patamak Mountain offers views over Banlung, and the waters cascading down its slope create the Cha Ong Waterfall.

East of Banlung, the Ou Kan Teung stream drops 12 metres at the Kachagn Waterfall, named for the nearby Kreung minority village. Another Kreung village sits further downstream at the 10-metre Katieng Waterfall. Just north, Viel Rum Plong presents a rocky plain surrounded by a lush forest, and to the south, Ou’Sensranoh Waterfall plummets 18 metres.

In the far northeast, Virachey National Park offers three multi-day wilderness adventures. Travellers can trek to waterfalls, camp in the forest, kayak down the O’Tabok River, spend the night in an ethnic village and spot birds and wildlife in a journey led by a knowledgeable park ranger and local guide.

The road from Banlung leads to Stung Treng, Cambodia’s northernmost Mekong River port at the confluence of the Sekong River. Travellers heading north along the Mekong Discovery Trail to Laos can explore the Ramsar International Wetlands that stretch along the river to the Dong Calor border checkpoint, a trip that is possible by boat.

South of Stung Treng on the Mekong Discovery Trail, Thala Barivat presents the red brick ruins of several temples including Preah Ko Temple, built during the 7th and 8th centuries by Jayavarman I. Further along the road towards Kratie, the O’Russey Kendal community offers an information centre for its streamside trails to a waterfall, with kiosks for resting, picnicking or swimming along the way.