Laos in April

[dpotanin]

Hi All!

I`m planning to visit Laos for collecting trip this April.
Could you say, it will be good time for collecting or not? If not what region of SE Asia you can advise fro collecting in April?

[Adam Cotton]

April is the hottest time of year, and generally dry. Some places will have butterflies (I assume that's what you are looking for), but be aware that mid April is the traditional New Year and you will get very wet in populated places for the days around 12-16 April (exact dates depend which place/country you are in). The univoltine spring species will have finished by then, except in Sam Neua, where it may still be possible to find some of them. East Laos, around Lak Sao, is probably better in early May than in April.

Adam.

[dpotanin]

Thank you Adam.
My main interest is Coleoptera, butterflies less interesting (but I`m planning for night collecting, and of course will take interesting butterflies attracted to light).
What do you think about Vientiane region?

[Adam Cotton]

April is probably too early for most beetles, except oak flower feeders. I think many beetles are around between June and September, but am not so familiar with them, even less so in Laos compared to Chiang Mai.

Adam.

[Cassida]

I was in Laos in may 2011. The wet season was beginning wery slow. I was catching beetles mainly. Time was good I mean (but - it could be better). There were already some "big beetles" too. For example Dorysthens granulosus, Megopis - more sp., Batocera - more sp.,... But only "small" Lucanidae,... In the first part of june (when I was moving to the south Thailand) started the full rainy season (monsoon season). Started heavy rains and were comming north. It was impossible to catching insects. A lot of people going to Laos, Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia just in may (or may/june).

[Adam Cotton]

It depends exactly where you are in Laos in May. The western side will be wetter, as the early monsoon comes from the southwest (although some miserably hot years it doesn't reach Chiang Mai until late May). However, the Vietnam border area in May is the dry season (good for butterflies, 2nd generation Papilio dialis for example), but by June it's wet again.

Late July to early August around the Nahin area is very good for those butterflies (especially Troidini) that actually like to fly in fog or light drizzle, but it can be very wet. When I used to collect there then it was a case of driving up and down the road looking for butterflies on the roadside flowers in the forest, and jumping out of my truck with a dry net (sometimes under an umbrella) to try to catch the butterfly before the net gets wet. You also need several spare net bags to change when the one in use gets too wet.

Adam.

[Cassida]

I was going down (from the north). 1st locality around Luang Namtha, 2nd around Nong Khiaw, 3rd around Luang Prabang, 4th Namsanam (Khammouane prov.), 5th Thakhek (Khammouane prov.) and 6th Pakxong (Champasak prov.). I didn't see great differences in weather. On all localities were short showers only (and not every day). But - when I was in Crabi province (S Thailand)in the 1st part of june, started heavy rains. In Bangkok were also a lot of showers in half of june.

[Adam Cotton]

Feb 2, 2014 12:08:27 GMT -8 Cassida said:

I was going down (from the north). 1st locality around Luang Namtha, 2nd around Nong Khiaw, 3rd around Luang Prabang, 4th Namsanam (Khammouane prov.), 5th Thakhek (Khammouane prov.) and 6th Pakxong (Champasak prov.). I didn't see great differences in weather. On all localities were short showers only (and not every day). But - when I was in Crabi province (S Thailand)in the 1st part of june, started heavy rains. In Bangkok were also a lot of showers in half of june.

The rain would reach the areas in the north before those further south and east, so if you were moving in that direction you would likely see similar weather in the whole of your trip across Laos.

Yes, in Krabi in June you would have been exposed to the monsoon which comes from the Andaman Sea at that time of year, but switches in late July or August to October to come from the South China Sea across Laos and into Thailand. Bangkok can have rain showers any time of year, but they are commoner from May to November.

As the monsoon season comes to an end the storms that come across the South China Sea gradually move further south down Thailand, and by November they generally hit the Thai peninsula and by December the rains are in Malaysia. Here in Chiang Mai it normally virtually stops raining by mid November, and we may not have any rain at all except for maybe a shower a month until mid April and early May, when the temperature is over 40C. If, as happens maybe every 10 years the rains don't come then, the temperature stays in the low 40s through May and it is rather uncomfortable as the humidity also increases.

Adam.

PS. Your "Namsanam" is the same area as my Nahin (which means 'stone cliff face'). Tad Nam Sanam is the name of the stream that runs from a waterfall on the cliff face to Koun Kham town, locally called Nahin.