Welcome to the first blog on my ecological study of white-cheeked crested gibbons in Laos. Crested gibbons are critically endangered and remain in only a few areas in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. The areas where they remain are relatively inaccessible. What I mean by inaccessible is that there are no roads to get to the areas where gibbons are found. In general, Laos has extremely poor infrastructure for building and maintaining roads, especially in areas where seasonal flooding occurs. The places where there are good roads have led to development, logging, hunting, and subsequently loss of gibbons. Since gibbons are found in only the most remote areas it is quite an undertaking to even get to the areas where they remain. I will now explain the journey to my field site in Nam Kading National Protected Area, Laos.

We start off in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. It is not so much a city as a town. I believe at one time it was reported to have the fewest stoplights in the world for a capital.

In 2010, to coincide with the 450th Anniversary of Vientiane, the Lao government created the Chao Anouvong Park, complete with a large bronze statue of a historically significant King from battles with Thailand in the 1800s.

One of the many vendors along the Mekong

From Vientiane we drive 3 hours south to Paksan a town that borders the protected area and the location of the Integrated Ecosystems and Wildlife Management Projects (IEWMP) Office. IEWMP is sponsored in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) an NGO that I work with in Laos. After a long meeting where we discuss the project plan and I offer a large bottle of whiskey to the park director (gifts such as these go a long way in Laos!), it is time to depart. The next part of the journey is a 5 hour drive to a town called ViengThong.   The research area is not that far from Paksan on a map but there is not a direct road. We are driving around the protected area not through it so it takes a long time. The road to ViengThong is beautiful as the road traverses through many small villages with views of craggy karst limestone mountains.

The view from the District office in ViengThong

The countryside villages are quaint. Most have electricity and cell phones, but not internet. The road is paved in some areas but in other areas it is just dirt (or mud). Large chunks of the road have fallen into rivers below so what remains is a single lane hanging over a cliff in some areas. As I mentioned, the infrastructure in Laos is very poor so it will be a long time until the road is repaired. In general it seems construction is done cheaply without much foresight so that things tend to deteriorate much sooner than they should. From ViengThong the road gets much worse as it is all dirt. The only vehicles that can continue on the road must be four-wheel drive. The drive is two hours to the next village ChomThom. At this point we can drive no further so we leave the truck and cross a foot bridge over a stream. At ChomThom village we hire a boat to get to Khontao village where we set out for the field site. The ride in the long boats is another two hours which is a nice ride as long as it is not pouring rain!

The longboats are used to transport everything, even motorbikes!

Khontao village is home to around 200 people who live in houses on stilts to prevent flooding. The houses in the villages typically have no furniture except a plastic chair or two. They sleep on the floor on mats, they eat while seated on the floor and they cook while squatting around a fire. Lao people are very good at squatting! They must have strong calf muscles! There are no beds, desks, tables, or couches.  The best area for gibbons (and the location of the field site) is a two hour hike from Khontao. Most of the trail is through a stream (more like a river in the rainy season!).

Field assistants on the "trail"

From our campsite we can hear gibbons singing directly overhead which is a wonderful sound! I can understand why the Khontao villagers view the gibbons as spirits because the song seems to come from the mist above you. It starts off quiet and high pitched as the male begins his part of the duet. It gets louder and louder as the female chimes in and the male follows her with a coda.

More to come soon!