In the beginning of September 2018, the Night Safari ecotourism area was damaged due to extensive flooding that occurred over the last rains on Nam Nern River.

The Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area’s team supported by Wildlife Conservation Society, together with the community presented great collaboration and reconstructed the ecotourism camp in less than a month! The maintenance was accomplished just on time to welcome the first visitors of the season in October.

This tourism season 2018/19, we need to be little patient to allow the full recovery and rehabilitation of the flooded area, however we do not expect this to detract from the Night Safari experience which still features the pristine forest habitat and wildlife along with the cultural elements that have made the tour such a rewarding experience.

Interestingly, since the natural flooding the wildlife sightings on the Nam Nern River Safari tour are higher than average! The top sightings of the same specie per tour include:

• 6 Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) sightings on one tour (Average 2017: 3)
• 5 Muntjac sightings on one tour (Average 2017: 1)
• and the most importantly the Asian Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii)

Travel upstream the Nam Nern river to enter the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area. Spot wildlife guides by the former village hunter. More wildlife you see more money for guides, boatmen and the surrounding 14 villages.

Read more about the wildlife conservation ecotourism model on: https://www.namet.org/wp/namnern/eco-tourism-model/

Thanks to Ben Swanepoel and the protected area’s team for the beautiful pictures!