[5] A stele that is dated 1458 is found in the Wat Jom Kao Manilat, a pagoda built in 1880 of teak in Shan architectural style.

Fort Carnot, a historical artifact of the French colonial empire, now belongs to the Lao Army.

[6] In the past, Houayxay town was a marked crossroad trading centre between Yunnan province of China and Thailand, particularly for Chinese goods.

[12] The protected area, is characterized by a mixed deciduous forest and mountainous terrain (elevation ranging between 500 and 1500 m).

The Waterfall Gibbon Experience involves three hours of hiking to the location, deep in the reserve following the Nam Nga River.

[9] Other than gibbons, wildlife in the reserve reported are: great barbet (Megalaima virens); grey-headed parakeet (Psittacula finschii); grey leaf monkeys (Semnopithecus); crab-eating mongoose (Herpestes urva), tiger (Panthera tigris); smaller cats; dhole (Cuon alpinus), bears (two types); otters; sambar (Cervus unicolor); and wild cattle (gaur).

[13] The 10,980 hectare Upper Lao Mekong Important Bird Area (IBA) stretches across the provinces of Bokeo, Oudomxay, and Sainyabuli.

The topography features river channels, exposed beds, sandbars, sand and gravel bars, islands, rock outcrops, bushland, and braided streams.

Confirmed avifauna include black-bellied tern (Sterna acuticauda), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus cinereus), Jerdon's bush chat (Saxicola jerdoni), brown-throated martin (Riparia paludicola), river lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii), small pratincole (Glareola lactea), and swan goose (Anser cygnoides).

[16] 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.

[17] 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.