Tad Champi and Tad Pasuam, the Quiet Falls

A hidden pool where you can swim behind a curtain of water, and a garden-like park with a falls, closer to Pakse than the famous names.

Area

Bolaven Plateau

Start from

Pakse

Distance

about 30 km

Time needed

half a day

Best season

November – May for swimming

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Motorbike or car with driver along Route 16

Tickets & rules

Small entry fees

Why go

Before the big famous waterfalls, on the lower slopes of the plateau, there are two quieter spots that many people race past. Tad Champi is my favourite: a short dirt track leads to a small but perfectly formed falls dropping into a round pool, and in the dry season you can swim right up to it and sit on a ledge behind the water.

Tad Pasuam, a little further, is different again. The falls sit inside a landscaped park with paths, bridges, wooden houses and a small display of traditional village architecture. It is popular with Lao families at weekends and pleasantly empty on weekdays.

Together they make a gentle half-day, or the first stops on the first day of the loop. I like to arrive at Tad Champi around nine, when the sun has just reached the pool and the water turns from black to a deep olive green, and to leave before the weekend crowds roll in with their coolers and speakers.

The story

Tad Champi takes its name from the Champi stream, which also feeds Tad Fane further up. Its pool is a favourite swimming spot for local young people, and at weekends you might find a group with a speaker and a picnic, which is part of the charm.

Tad Pasuam has long been developed as a park and resort area, with a collection of traditional houses representing different ethnic groups of the region. The architecture shows clearly how varied the people of southern Laos are, from raised houses with long roofs to small granaries on stilts.

Neither falls is very high, but they have a lushness the giant falls lack: ferns, mossy rocks and trees leaning over the water, and dragonflies everywhere in the sunlight.

The lower slopes of the plateau, where these falls lie, are also where the change in climate first becomes noticeable as you ride up from Pakse. The air smells of damp earth and woodsmoke, the coffee bushes begin to appear among the cassava and bananas, and villages switch from lowland Lao houses to the mix of styles typical of the plateau peoples. Stopping here first makes the whole journey up feel gradual, the way it should.

Getting there

From Pakse, take Route 16 east. The turning for Tad Champi is signposted from the main road roughly 30 km out of Pakse; a rough track of a couple of kilometres leads to the falls. Tad Pasuam is reached by a turning a few kilometres further on, with a better road. Ask locally if you cannot spot the signs; they are sometimes small.

Allow about an hour to get there by motorbike with stops. Tuk-tuk drivers in Pakse will also do a half-day return trip if you agree the price, the stops and the waiting time in advance; it is worth writing the names of the falls down for them, as spellings vary from map to map.

A suggested plan

1. 8:30Leave Pakse.
2. 9:30Tad Champi; swim and climb behind the falls if the water is calm.
3. 11:00Ride to Tad Pasuam, walk the park paths and bridges.
4. 12:30Lunch at a roadside restaurant, then return or continue to Tad Fane.

Where to stay

An easy trip from Pakse; on the loop, continue to Paksong for the night.

Good to know

• Weekdays are much quieter than weekends.
• Bring water shoes; rocks behind the falls are slick.
• The track to Tad Champi is rough after rain; walk the last part if needed.