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Published: March 28th 2007
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Emily Zipping
Zip line in front of tree house one. Hands down, this was one of the most interesting and exciting three days I have ever had. The Gibbon Experience is a conservation project in the Bokeo province in northern Laos. A French man had the ingenious idea of presenting his vision to the local people of the area as a lucrative business (not a charity) that benefits animal, plant and human alike. They have built five tree houses and an extensive network of zip cables all located in the tree canopies some 200 meters above the ground. Not for those cursed with vertigo!
The Gibbon Experience has catapulted in popularity in the past couple years in South East Asia. There is often a waiting list of two weeks or more to be one of the lucky few who fill the sparse 12 available spaces. When I arrived to Huay Xin, a small border town across the river from Chiang Khong, I even found people waiting outside the office door hoping that someone would be a no-show and that he or she may fill the spot. They asked that we all come by the office at 6:00pm to check in and give us the low down on what we
The Gibbon Gang
Meal time for the hungry zippers could expect and what we should bring on the trip. Getting together the night before had the added benefit of meeting the other people who you would be spending the next three days with. We seemed to be a friendly group from the beginning and that night we ate dinner together at a cozy riverside restaurant.
The next morning we met at 8:30, watched a short video about the Gibbon Experience project and safety regulations and all piled into a cramped sawngtaew to start our two hour journey north to the reserve. Mid day we arrived at the village where we would unload and begin the walk through dry cornfields, across the river and then continuing up a steep incline into the contrasting, dense, humid jungle. We arrived at the kitchen hut 45 minutes later to meet the guides and receive our harnesses which consisted of a cable roller and a safety rope. We were greeted by the proud locals and their pets, a small monkey and a two month old Asian black bear, Ken. The bear’s mother had been shot by poachers and the cub was found on his own in a cave. One of the women has
A Room with a View
A 360 degree view of the jungle adopted the bear until it is old enough to be reincorporated back into its natural environment. We played with the animals and took several pictures. The monkey was a natural in front of the camera, trying on people’s sunglasses, unzipping bags and literally bouncing off the walls.
We strapped into our snuggly fit harnesses and headed for the zips. The guide explained some safety precautions and how to get around on the circuit of lines. I was the first one in the group to go. I clipped on and took off. It’s hard to write in words the sensation you experience. Flying, soaring, rocketing. Once I got over the fear of having only a harness between myself and the jungle floor some 200 meters below, I started to enjoy the feeling of seeing the world from an eagle’s point of view, above the canopy.
We got to tree house number one for lunch, rice and veggies, and sorted out who would be sleeping where. The tree houses themselves are incredible constructions, made from all natural materials. I think that we never really did figure out how they were able to build them and get all the furniture and
Honeymoon Tree House
Looking up the to the pent tree house equipment to each one. It is funny to imagine them bringing mattresses and sinks over on the zip lines. Number one is three stories and holds up to 6 people. It has a kitchen and a bathroom with shower (your poo free falls for about four seconds before making an impressive thud from 50 meters above.) I chose to stay in number one because it was the most Swiss Family Robinson-esque, complete with trap doors and a grass roof.
After lunch we zipped ‘til couldn’t zip no more. The guides asked us not to be out after dark, so at around 6:30 we headed back to our living quarters and ate dinner and played a game of Texas Hold’em with peanuts and toothpicks as currency. That night there was a very big storm with thunder, lightning and heavy rain. We were told to evacuate the tree house if there was strong wind. Being a single moving object on a metal cable, zipping in the dark during an electrical storm didn’t appeal to anyone, so we decided to chance it and stay in the tree.
The next morning the forest was mysteriously foggy because of the night rains. The
Who's the Gibbon Now?
A monkey-like manuver to the end of the line. guides came around at sunrise to bring us our breakfast (something I couldn’t get used to) and by 7:00 we were back on the lines, watching each other disappear into the mist. On my second zip, I made a silly mistake and clipped my carabineer on the wrong part and got stuck about 15 meters from the platform, oops. By noon, the humidity had cleared up and it was a sunny, pleasant day. Again, we zipped around until lunch, visiting the other two tree houses and trying all the lines in our area. Some of the guys in our group made several videos going down the lines, sometimes more than one at a time.
The last morning, the guides came in and said that there were several black gibbons between the first and second tree house, so a couple of the hard core zippers literally jumped out of bed to pursue the once believed to be extinct primates. We ate breakfast and tried to get our last zips in before having to make our way back down to the village to get the sawngtaew back to Huay Xin. We reluctantly gave back our harnesses and said good bye to
Asian Black Bear
After this photo he latched on to my wrist and wouldn't let go. our wildlife friends in the hut. We hiked back through the cornfields and stepped back into our terrestrial lives.
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Maureen Beilke
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Amazing!
Emmy - Your mom told me how to find your journal and pictures and I'm just in awe. Keep up the good work. I'm enjoying completely following your travels.