Pakse is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Located at the confluence of the Xe Don and Mekong Rivers, it has a population of about 95,000. Pakse was the capital of the Kingdom of Champasak until it was unified with the rest of Laos in 1946.
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately 1,100 km (680 mi) through Laos, Vietnam, and a small area in northeast Cambodia. The mountain range is also referred to variously as Annamese Range, Annamese Mountains, Annamese Cordillera, Annamite Mountains and Annamite Cordillera. The name "Annam" is the Vietnamese pronunciation and terminology of Chinese: 安南, meaning "to pacify the south" referring to Vietnam. The French adopted the word and used "Annamese" or "Annamite" to refer to the Vietnamese.
The name Bolaven has been used for four tropical cyclones in the western Pacific Ocean. The name, contributed by Laos, refers to the Bolaven Plateau, located in the southern part of the country.
Schistura is a genus of fish in the stone loach family Nemacheilidae native to the streams and rivers of the southern and eastern Asia. Some of these species are troglobitic.
Odorrana bolavensis is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is endemic to the Bolaven Plateau, Laos. Its natural habitats are wet evergreen forest. It can be found at night on rocks and vegetation along rocky streams, occasionally on leaf-litter or tree branches away from streams.
The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in southern Laos. Most of the plateau is located within Champasak Province of Laos, though the edges of the plateau are also located in Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu Provinces. It is located between the Annamite Mountain Range, along which runs Laos' eastern border with Vietnam, and the Mekong River to the west, at about 15°N106°E. The plateau's elevation ranges approximately from 1,000 to 1,350 metres above sea level. The plateau is crossed by several rivers and has many scenic waterfalls. The name Bolaven makes reference to the Laven ethnic group which has historically dominated the region. However, domestic migrations by the Lao ethnic group has resulted in widespread interethnic marriage, thus modifying the ethnic composition of the region.
Oi is an Austroasiatic dialect cluster of Attapeu Province, southern Laos. The dominant variety is Oy proper, with 11,000 speakers who are 80% monolinguals. The Jeng (Cheng) speak the same language but are ethnically distinct. Speakers follow traditional religions.
Poropuntius solitus is a species of freshwater, ray-finned fish in the genus Poropuntius. It was first described by Maurice Kottelat in 2000. This species is found in tributaries to the Xe Kong River on the eastern half of the Bolaven Plateau in Laos. Its population is decreasing due to overfishing, and proposed efforts to dam the river and its tributaries further threaten the species. The Poropuntius solitus is currently considered an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Schistura bolavenensis is a species of ray-finned fish in the stone leach genus Schistura. It is found in the Bolaven Plateau in Laos where it occurs in clear rocky streams at altitudes of 800–1,200 m which form tributaries of the Xe Kong and Xe Don rivers were it feeds on insects. It is threatened by proposals to construct dams and from the mining of bauxite on the Bolovan Plateau.
Schistura khamtanhi is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus most speciose genus in the stone loach family, Schistura. It is found in the Kong River basin in Laos and in the main Mekong river in Cambodia and Laos where it is abundant, being an important quarry species for the fish traps at Kohne Falls. It inhabits rapids and Sony bottomed stretches of the main Mekong and its tributaries and it migrates past the Kohne Falls in January and February annually. It is the only member of the genus Schistura which is known to be migratory. The specific name honours Khamtanh Vatthanatham, a Fisheries Programme Officer of the Mekong River Commission who was very helpful to the Maurice Kottelat during his 1999 survey, in which this species was discovered.
Schistura kloetzliae is a species of ray-finned fish, it is a stone loach in the most speciose genus in that family, Schistura. It has been recorded from the Mengla drainage in Yunnan and its tributary Nam Youan in Luang Namtha province in Laos. It occurs in medium fast currents in streams with gravel or stony bottoms. The specific name honours Antoinette Kottelat-Kloetzli, for her help and support of Maurice Kottelat during his work in Laos, among other things.
Schistura nomi is a species of ray-finned fish, a stone loach, in the genus Schistura. This species is found in streams which have a moderate to fast current, in riffles, where the bed consists of gravel to stone in the Kong River in Laos. The specific name honours a Mr Nom who was the describer, Maurice Kottelat's, driver in Laos.
Laos produces two main types of coffee: Robusta and Arabica. Robusta is mainly used for regular coffee as well as a typical coffee drink in Laos where it is sweetened with condensed milk. The latter, Arabica, is of a higher quality due to its mild taste, and it is used for espresso. For the 20,000 tons of coffee that Laos produces a year, 5,000 tons are Arabica beans and 15,000 tons are Robusta.
Sekong is a province of Laos in the southeast of the country.
Salavan is a province of Laos, located in the south of the country. Its earlier name was Saravan which was changed by Thai to Salavan in 1828. It was part of the Champasak Kingdom in an area known as Muang Mang inhabited by minorities of Mon-Khymer groups.
Champasak is a province in southwestern Laos, near the borders with Thailand and Cambodia. It is one of the three principalities that succeeded the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. As of the 2015 census, it had a population of 694,023. The capital is Pakse, but the province takes its name from Champasak, the former capital of the Kingdom of Champasak.
Dong Hua Sao National Protected Area is a national protected area in Champasak Province in southern Laos. This forested park rises from the Mekong river lowlands eastwards into the Bolaven Plateau. It is an ecotourism destination.
Schistura epixenos is a species of stone loach in the genus Schistura from the Nakai Plateau in Laos. It was described by the Belgian ichthyologist Maurice Kottelat in 2017 and does not feature in Fishbase yet.
Schistura colossa is a species of stone loach in the genus Schistura which has been recorded from the Xe Pian, Xe Set and Houay Champi rivers on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos. It was described by the Belgian ichthyologist Maurice Kottelat in 2017 and does not feature in Fishbase yet. The specific name colossa means giant, this species is one of the largest species of southeast Asian stone loaches.
The Southern Annamites montane rain forests ecoregion covers a region of high biodiversity in the central and southern mountains of the Annamite Range in Vietnam. Terrain ranges from wet lowland forest to evergreen hardwood and conifer montane rain forest. There is a short dry season centered on January–February, but fog and dew are common throughout the year and support a lush forest character.
