Seen the movie Apocalypse Now?

Experience it for real on the Mighty Serapok River in the Central Highlands of Vietnam!

Guided River Based Eco Adventure Tours

Awesome Locations & Exotic Hill Tribes

You choose activities and we arrange

Rafting, Fishing, Hiking, Mountain Biking, Camping

Central Highlands / Cambodian Border

Locations

We operate our Eco Adventure Tours in Daklak Province in the Central Highlands. We conduct our expeditions in the Hill Tribe Areas around Yok Don National park and the Cambodian border. This area has only recently been opened up for Tourism. You will see few if any foreigners during our trips.

Licenses

Foreigners require special permission to enter and stay in these remote areas. The local government is strict. It is for your own good.  Where we go is truly wild. Wild animals like tiger and elephant still inhabit the deep forest It is easy to get lost in the forest and accidentally wander over the border into Cambodia. We take care of all licensing!

Guides

All our guides are University Graduates in tourism or ex Vietnamese Military. They are all from Daklak. We also use local Hill Tribe guides on the river and out in the forest.  They know the tour areas, forests & rivers.

Equipment

We use top quality imported equipment………… inflatable boats, fishing gear, mountain bikes, camping equipment. Everything you need for an expedition deep into the mountains, rivers and forests.

Unique Experience

We are the only company in Vietnam who can conduct these types of tours. We have the Locations, licenses, guides & experience!

Mighty Serapok River

Adventure tour begins in Ban Don Village on the banks of the Serapok River. Ban Don is home to Ede minority people. It is also home to the trained elephants we use for our elephant safaries.

Exploring The Serapok                   Our Support Boat & Guide Team

Our Vietnamese and ethnic minority guides (Hmong / Ede / Lao) are all local people who intimately know the river and surrounding area.

Guides, Local Knowledge & Safety

Local guides are essential to safely navigate the Serapok as there are a series of large waterfalls and rapids along the route.

The Serapok is a powerful River and conditions change constantly. There are no accurate modern maps available; we have spent 3 years surveying the Serapok and are the only people who know the safe route along the river!

Serapok is truly a Mighty River. It is the only major river in Vietnam that runs East to West. It’s a tributary of the Mighty Mekong and it runs through some of the wildest areas of the Central Highlands. Along the river there are unspoiled forests, wild animals and ethnic minority villages.

Camping in the Forest

Our guides will build you a camp in the deep in the forest. This is the best way to get up close to nature. At night you the guides will prepare you a feast and treat you to some local rice wine.

              US Army ‘C - Rations’               Local ‘Gook’ Food we find in the forest

Our guides will show you how to ‘live-of-the-land’, how to find fruits & edible plants, catch fish & animals and how to prepare this food.

Food is always fresh when you catch it yourself!

Ethnic Minority Hill Tribe People

             Serapok River Fishermen             Yes,smoking does stunt your growth!

           Ethnic Minority Children               ‘Flot’ our Ede/Lao River & Forest Guide

Experience wildlife, scenery and traditional way of life of the ethnic minority people. Stay in a traditional M’nong Long House & take an Elephant trek.

Tour Details

Basic expedition tours are based on a 2 to 5 days spent traveling along the Serapok River in Inflatable kayaks. On the River you will run rapids and travel thru unspoit forests. You can choose either to spend the night in tents in the forest or in Ethnic Minority Villages. You can also add Hiking, Fishing, Elephant Safari or Mountain Biking to your Tour Plan.

Customized Tours

We don’t do ‘Package Tours’ only ‘Custom Tours’. This means we wont put you in mini bus with 10 strangers and follow well known tour routes. Our tours into the Highlands are all fully customized, each one is different depending on how many days and what you want to do. These are private tours, only your tour group! No sharing with strangers. We only do expedition tours in remote areas where there are no other tourists.

Veterans Tours

If you are a Veteran and served in the Central Highlands or in Special Forces anywhere in Vietnam let us know and we will give you a 10% Discount on your trip.

Getting There

You meet us in Nha Trang or you can make your own way to the Highlands and we will meet you there. You can get to Bun Mun Tuat City, The starting point for our Highland tours or by bus from the popular tourist Cities Nha Trang or Dalat or fly in from either Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh Cities.

If you are interested in venturing into the wilderness with us for an expedition this is what you do:-

You can visit us in Nha Trang City in The Shamrock Irish Pub (www.shamnam.net), & meet the guides to find out more details or send us an email on ecotours@raftingvietnam.com and tell us how many people, how long you want to go on expedition for & what activities you are interested in doing and we will send you a quote. Our basic rate starts at $50 per person per day.

Apocalypse Now….The Movie & The Reality!

Many US Vets say the movie was an accurate portrayal of the way the US High Command fucked up the war for the ordinary soldiers on the ground.

Nha Trang During the American War

Just like in the movie Green Beret and other allied special forces were based in Nha Trang during the American war in Vietnam. Nha Trang was used as a training base for operations into the Central Highlands, especially for helicopter assault and insertions teams. Nha Trang was also & R&R centre for Allied troupes on leave.

Battle for the Highlands

The Central Highlands seen some of the fiercest fighting during the war. For the Vietnamese it was a case of brother fighting brother and father fighting son as some tribes people fought for the North and some for the South.

After the US forces pulled out in 1972 the ARVN was able to hold out against the NVA & VC for several more years. ARVN units were abandoned by their commanders during the Hi Chi Minh Offensive in 1975 and could not hold their positions due to lack of leadership, ammunition and equipment. ARVN units were decimated in carefully laid NVA / VC ambushes as they tried to retreat into the lowlands. The Ho Chi Minh Offensive was the North’s ‘D-day’, once they took control of the Highlands the Southern Govt was finished and the war was soon over.