trekking rivers, mountains, villages, forests and temples
Experience traditional thailand
At Kanlaya’s the jungle starts literally at the bottom of the garden, and Kanlaya herself grew up in her family’s Hill Tribe village just a few miles upstream. That makes us the perfect starting point to trek the rivers, mountains, villages, forests, temples and caves in the region. There are easy river walks you can follow alone but for the jungle an experienced official guide is required. Depending on your stamina, fitness and wishes there is a wide range of more or less challenging routes. All pass through the mountains, with soaring views to distant peaks, through verdant jungle, alongside teeming rivers and with traditional Hill Tribe villages en route. You will see subsistence farming, maybe river fishing, jungle foraging and local tribespeople wearing traditional home weaved clothes and speaking their own languages. The villages range from truly remote, rudimentary, built of bamboo and thatch, without power and running water to more favoured with road access, new power supplies, piped water, schools and even phone coverage in places. We take a packed lunch or arrange to eat in a village house.
Work up an appetite
Enjoy a tribal bamboo lunch
Routes can be tough and demanding, with big vertical ascents, or gentler and even all down-hill, taking in a variety of features and settlements. Take a simple packed lunch wrapped in banana leaf. Or Kanlaya’s family who live in the Karen village two hours trek away, will cook a traditional Karen Hunters Lunch in green giant fresh-cut Bamboo tubes over an open fire beside a river teeming with fish. Kanlaya’s father is the hereditary keeper of the old Animist religion in his village. Celebrate the ancient Karen Wrist Tying Ceremony in his house, whilst eating sacrificial chicken, drinking home brewed rice whiskey and listening to the Burmese drums.
Preparation
What you'll need
You need good walking shoes, hiking sticks, and a qualified Guide from the village, either Kanlaya herself, or one of her innumerable cousins. Treks are tailored to your wishes, how far you want to walk, what you want to see, jungle, foraging, village weaving and culture. From the Karen village it’s an easy shady trek downriver right to our boundary. Car back up and flexible duration, from 4 to 7 hours as you wish.
