Kuang Si Waterfall

Just outside of Luang Prabang is a beautiful light baby blue waterfall with numerous swimming holes to enjoy. And as an added bonus in the area, a bear sanctuary!

We got a van to the site for a few hours of fun and relaxation, ready to see a waterfall. I was a bit disappointed, cause even though there was swimming holes here, I couldn’t swim due to doctors orders (toenail nonsense). But I could look at the views and bears, and live through Cam while she took a dip.

The bear sanctuary was quite cool. It was located on the walk to the swimming holes. It turns out, in Laos (as well as China and Vietnam), bear bile farming is a fairly profitable black market. Bear bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine, with claims that it can cure all sorts of ailments. In practice, the active ingredient (ursodiol), is used in modern medicine as an anti-inflammatory, and to help with cholesterol. It can be produced in methods that do not involve animal cruelty.

The bears at the sanctuary are rescued from these bear bile farms. They are rehabilitated here, and if they ever become strong enough, will be reintroduced into the wild. The species of bear kept are the sun bear, and the Asiatic black bear (moon bear). They are named for the colours of their collars. Yellow for sun, and white for moon.

Most of the bears were happy sleeping around, but two got into a fight while we were watching! Just for fun, but they kept wrestling an knocking each other down. At the end, they both stood on their hind legs and swaggered at each other, and then went their own way.

The swimming holes were next. The water was a near opaque light blue, with colour reminiscent of a tropical ocean. Beautiful small falls would cascade into each of these pools. We would observe each one, then move to the next, expecting the falls, only to be greeted by another pool. Eventually we got to one that looked too beautiful.

Attempting to live through Cam, I got her to swim around one pool. I put a plastic bag over my food, and waded into the shallows to get my fix in. It was good fun, but when I got out, my toe was soaked. That’s problematic, because there’s an open wound and potential for infection. But if its already wet…

Without hesitation, down to my boxers and into the drink I went. The pool was fantastic. A multilevel falls about 10ft high fed the swimming hole. You could hide behind the falls swimming, and climb them easy due to the calcium deposits. After 10 minutes or so of total bliss, I got out, got the medical kit, and disinfected everything as best I could.

There was another short walk up to the falls. Ridges we could now identify as calcium pools (from the caves) were what made up these different terraces in the stream. Each one here maybe a foot or so high. The stream then disappeared under the foliage, and we took a couple corners. And the waterfall came into view, framed wonderfully by the jungle foliage around it.

The cave origins of the stream are obvious. Every cave feature that we’ve ever seen is on full display here. Water smattering the calcium growths creates the unique cascade. The angel white water crashing into the blue pond below. The beige-yellow calcium encroached by the green flora around. The holes behind the falls looked great for exploring, but they were inaccessible.

We instead explored above the falls. A path worked its way up the side of the hill. A nice staircase worked its way up, only to disappear halfway up. It’s still under construction.

The colour of the water before the stream was different. More translucent, more green. There was much more vegetation coming out of the stream, but I don’t think that’s the reason. Water is very turbulent after a waterfall. The sediments get all mixed up.

There was a nice little hang out at the top. A couple of hammocks, a bootleg bar. Locals were offing a river trip on a bamboo raft to the source spring of the falls. We unfortunately didn’t have time, our van was leaving soon.

And we began a steep decent away from the stairs. Passing exhausted faces from the heavy incline the other way. We said goodbye to the beautiful waterfall, goodbye to the swimming holes. Goodbye to our bear friends, who were all having a nap, and got in the van to leave. A wonderful little half day trip of exploration.

There’s more exploration ahead. More hiking, more nature, more remote. We will see you there!