Bokeo Province


Bokèo is a northern province of Laos. It is the smallest and least populous province in the country. Bokeo Province covers an area of. Bokeo Province borders Luang Namtha Province to the northeast, Oudomxai Province to the east, Xaignabouli Province to the south, and Thailand to the southwest and Burma to the west and northwest. The province has five districts:. It is rich in deposits of precious and semiprecious stones. Bokeo's provincial capital is Houayxay on the Mekong River. The province is in the Golden Triangle, at the border of Myanmar and Thailand. There are 34 ethnic groups in the province. Houay Xay is the border town with Thailand and regional economic centre.

History

Bokeo was named after the sapphires mined in Houay Xay District. A stele that is dated to 1458 is found in the Wat Jom Kao Manilat, a pagoda built in 1880 of teak wood in Shan architectural style. Fort Carnot, a historical artifact of the French colonial empire, now belongs to the Lao Army.
The province was created in 1983, when it was split off from Luang Namtha Province. In 1992, Paktha and Pha Oudom Districts were reassigned from Oudomxay Province. In olden times, Houayxay town was a marked crossroad trading centre between Yunnan Province of China and Thailand, particularly for Chinese goods.

Geography

Bokeo Province is the smallest of the country's provinces, covering an area of. Bokeo Province borders Luang Namtha Province to the northeast, Oudomxai Province to the east, Xaignabouli Province to the south, and Thailand to the southwest and Burma to the west and northwest. Notable settlements include Houayxay, Mong Lin, Ban Thakate, Ban Meung Hong, Ban Ha Li Tai, Ban Khai San, Ban Nam Kueng, Ban Long and Ban Paung. The Nam Nga River flows through the province's Bokeo Nature Reserve, and is hemmed between the Mekong River bordering Thailand and Burma and is also along the trade route with China. Don Sao is an island in Tonpheung District, which is connected to the mainland except during the rainy season.

Protected areas

The Bokeo Nature Reserve was created as protection for the black crested gibbon, discovered in 1997, previously thought to be extinct. Elephants and wild water buffalo migrate through the reserve; bears and tigers are also present. The protected area, is characterized by a mix-deciduous forest and mountainous terrain. The total area covered by the reserve is 136,000 ha covering the 66,000 ha in Bokeo Province and 70,000 ha in Luang Namtha Province with where critically endangered species of western black crested gibbon as the prime species brought under protection. According to a preliminary survey the number of gibbons in Nam Kane is substantial, particularly
in and around the uninhabited Nam Kan river and its tributaries. This project is being supported and implement by Animo by the French entrepreneur Jean Francois Reumaux as a Gibbon Experience Project.
Gibbon Experience is a conservation project which came into existence after the indigenous black-cheeked gibbon was discovered. This experience is provided in the Bokeo Nature Reserve. The conservation programme has two components, one is of gibbon viewing huts, known as canopy huts in the vast forest reserve meant to view the black cheeked gibbons and the second component is to experience the beauty of the rain forests at the canopy level. Another experience is of the Waterfall Gibbon Experience which involves 3 hours of trekking to the location, deep in the reserve traversing along the Nam Nga River.
Other than the gibbons the wildlife in the reserve reported are: great barbet ; grey-headed parakeet ; grey leaf monkeys ; crab-eating mongoose, tiger ; smaller cats; dhole, bears ; otters; sambar ; and wild cattle.
The 10,980 hectare Upper Lao Mekong Important Bird Area stretches across the provinces of Bokeo, Oudomxai, and Sainyabuli. It is located at an altitude of above sea level. The topography features river channel, exposed beds, sandbars, sand and gravel bars, islands, rock outcrops, bushland, and braided streams. Confirmed avifauna include black-bellied tern, great cormorant, grey-headed lapwing, Jerdon's bush chat, brown-throated martin, river lapwing, small pratincole, and swan goose.

Administrative divisions

The province includes the following districts:
MapCodeNameLao scriptPopulation
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5-01Houayxayເມືອງຫ້ວຍຊາຍ70,170
5–02Ton Pheungເມືອງຕົ້ນເຜິ້ງ34,476
5–03Meungເມືອງເມິງ14,506
5–04Pha Oudomເມືອງຜາອຸດົມ40,909
5–05Pak Thaເມືອງປາກທາ19,182
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Demographics

Its population was 179,243 in 2015, in 36 townships, more than 400 villages. With 34 ethnic groups, the province's ethnic diversity is ranked second in the country, after Luang Namtha Province. Most numerous though are the Lanten, Hmong, Lahu, Yao, Akha, and Tai Lue peoples. The Lahu, a Tibeto-Burman speaking people who are part of ethnic group of northern Myanmar and Thailand also inhabit this province in large numbers.

Economy

The provincial economy is now dominated by the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. In 2007, Kings Romans Group, owned by well-connected Chinese husband and wife Zhao Wei and Su Guiqin, entered into a 99-year lease for 10,000 hectares on the banks of the Mekong. The company was granted 3,000 of these hectares as a duty-free zone, now the SEZ. As gambling is illegal in China, and the SEZ is only a two-hour journey by road from China, casinos and hotels catering to a Chinese clientele were built. A robust industry involving trafficking in endangered animals has grown up around the Chinese tourist trade. In January 2018, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against what it called Zhao’s transnational criminal organisation, engaging in illicit activities, including human trafficking and child prostitution, drug trafficking and wildlife trafficking.
Houayxay, the capital city of the province, has most of the remainder of the province's economic activity. The province is one of the main maize producing areas of Laos. Commercial mining for precious stones and gold is a major economic activity. Ban Nam Khok and Ban Houi Sala, about and from Bokeo town respectively, are notable mining areas. Buhae Industrial Corp., which mines for sapphires, is a major company operating in Houayxay District. Many of the ethnic Lantaen villages are noted for their production of traditional saa paper and other crafts.
Paa beuk, a catfish, the largest freshwater fish in the world, is found in the Mekong River. It grows to in length and could weigh up to 300 kg. It is an economic resource as it commands a high price at the market; the flesh of this endangered fish is considered a delicacy.

Landmarks

There are several temples in the capital city of Houayxay, including Wat Chamkao Manilat, Wat Jom Khao Manilat, Wat Thadsuvanna Pkakham, Wat Khonekeo Xaiyaram, and Wat Keophone Savanthanaram The buildings and barracks of the old French Fort Carnot are now destroyed.

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