what smaller traditional-style boats are often used during excursions to explore narrow side rivers?

The smaller traditional-style boats you’re looking for are longtail boats , which are often used for excursions into narrow side rivers and canals in many parts of Asia.

Quick Scoop

When tour operators or local guides need to leave a main river and slip into tight, winding side channels, they commonly switch to longtail boats, canoes, or small wooden skiffs.

• Longtail boats – Slim, wooden, with a long propeller shaft, great for shallow, narrow waterways in places like Thailand and Laos.

• Canoes – Narrow, human-powered, and quiet, often used for nature or wildlife excursions in side creeks and backwaters.

• Small skiffs/jon boats – Flat-bottomed, very stable, used on calm rivers and side channels where draft needs to be shallow.

A typical scenario: a larger tour boat anchors in the main river, and passengers transfer into these smaller traditional-style boats to weave through mangroves, flooded forests, or village canals that bigger vessels simply can’t reach.

TL;DR: The most common answer is longtail boats (with canoes or small skiffs also used), because their narrow, shallow-draft design makes them ideal for exploring tight side rivers and channels.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.