“We hope that more visitors will come here for river boat trips after our advertisements spread on social media as well as through leaflets and brochures that are being distributed by the district and provincial tourism authorities,” Chiengkham Philavanh, a boat ser vice manager in Hangkone village told Vientiane Times recently.

At present, 2 6 families offer boat trips from Hangkhone village. They each have a boat ready and take it in turns to run a trip on the river. This brings them in at least 2 million kip a year.

“It’s not a large sum of money, but people can also earn more from selling goods, food and drinks,” Chiengkham said.

The people of Hangkhone village are not heavily dependent on the money they earn from boat trips because they mainly rely on fishing and the cultivation of rice and other crops.

“If one person wants to take a boat to see the dolphins, he or she will also be charged 70,000 kip because our group agreed to run the service on a chartered basis,” he added.

Boat trip operators charge according to a chartered rate, with five people in one boat paying 70,000 kip. The fee is the same for both Lao and foreign customers.

Every day the group has about 50 customers, who go on trips that take them close to the Cambodian border where dolphins swim in a protected area. The visitors come from all over the world, mainly Europe, Asia and America.

Another group of villagers also offers boat trips in the area. They operate out of Donsadam village where a large number of people turn up every day because this village has better road access than Hangkhone.

People who have already made it to Don Det islands can take a truck to Hangkhone village, which is close to the Cambodian border.

Cambodians also provide similar services, with most of their clients coming from the Cambodian side of the Mekong.

Now part of the Asean Community, the people of the two countries on either side of the MekongRiver share their water resources and jointly benefit from tourism, fishing and water transportation.