The
Gibbon Experience, in the Bokeo forest of Norhern Laos, was created a few years ago in an attempt to stop hunters from poaching the Gibbon monkey into extinction. They offered the hunters jobs working as guides, cooks and maintenance workers on the zipping excursions which paid higher wages than their hunting jobs. The project also provides further employment for the local villagers and helps conserve the forest. Although the Gibbons are no longer hunted, they are very elusive and shy.
We woke early on May 12 to meet our driver and our two fellow trekkers, Brooke and Clare. After a one hour drive out of town, we abruptly stopped at the side of the road where our guide started walking us behind the Laos homes and into the bush. After a short hike, we arrived at our first zip line - about 50m across a creek. Looked simple enough despite little instruction from our guide (we did watch a short safety video before we left on our trek). We then hiked up the mountain side for about 1.5 hours in the sweltering heat. We stopped frequently to hydrate. Even Heidi's shirt was dripping with sweat!
Then the fun began - the next zip line was 500 m long and about 70 m above the forest floor! The next several lines varied between 400 and 700 m long, some lasting 60 seconds from start to finish. The views were incredible needless to say. We were all in awe of the height but no one hestitated once to take off on each zip line.
 |
| Awesome view in every direction |
 |
| Dave zipping above the tree line |
 |
| Adam flying in |
 |
| Here comes Heidi |
 |
| Yes, we were very high up |
 |
| Afternoon coffee at the tree house |
Zipping into our tree house!
 |
| View from our tree house |
After coffee it was more zipping. This should give you a perspective of how high and how long the zip lines were...
 |
Dinner time - rice, buffalo meat, lots of
cooked veggies and a bottle of swill |
No comments:
Post a Comment