The Gibbon Experience was one of the best experiences I have
ever had. It is worth a trip to Northern Laos
just to do this for your holiday. It was better than a childhood
dream—to fly over the canopy and live in a tree house like a gibbon. What is a gibbon? An ape. Read more
here.
Situated on the
Golden Triangle in the Bokeo province of Northern Laos, The Gibbon Experience Reserve is the definition of
rural SE Asia. The headquarters are based in Huay Xia, Laos, a common
border-crossing town on the other side of the Mekong River from Chiang Khong,
Thailand. The town itself has little to offer but cheap hostels, mediocre food,
and a few Internet cafes with painfully slow connections. I was certainly glad
to leave town for a few days in the jungle.
After a bumpy two-hour drive through water and up steep
inclines and an equally lengthy and difficult trek by foot, we finally arrived
to the vast system of tree houses, only accessible by zip-lines, deep in the
heart of the Northern Lao jungle. Guides were readily available to show us the
way. While my tour group was practically hyperventilating and drowning in our
own sweat from trekking in the heat, my guide was unfazed and even yawning.
I have been zip-lining in Costa Rica and Maui, and my
previous experiences cannot even compare to The Gibbon Experience. Previous guides
did everything from clamping me on and off the zip-line, braking for me,
telling me when to go, and pulling me to the end when I did not make the full
length of the line. The Gibbon Experience allows almost total freedom. I
clamped myself on and off the zip-line, hollered to the person behind me to let
them know it was safe to continue, braked for myself, and pulled myself when I
couldn’t quite make it to the end of the line. It was empowering to be responsible for myself when previous experiences made me feel
totally dependent.
Zipping over the various shades of green canopy below was
surreal. Mountains in the far distance complimented the vast jungle below. My
shadow appeared to be the size of an ant on the rare occasion I caught sight of
it. Although my first few zips were a little rough (I smashed into two trees
making branches and leaves fall, and I pulled myself quite a ways to reach the
platform on a third), I soon got the hang of it.
The tree-houses are sights to behold in themselves. The one
I stayed in was 25 meters (~80 feet) above the ground and three levels tall. It included a
full bathroom (toilet, sink, and shower), a kitchen (sink, dining table, and
refrigerator), and five semiprivate bedrooms (black mosquito nets covered the
mattresses to add privacy). The tree-houses use solar energy to power the
lights and refrigerator.
Without realizing it, I became accustomed
to the gibbon lifestyle after a day. The group of strangers who had just met quickly became
close-knit friends because this experience was extremely unifying.
During the three-day, two-night excursion, we saw gibbons
once and heard them twice. After our guide woke us up at 5:30AM, we watched as
these endangered apes woke for the day and leaped from their sleeper tree to
those surrounding it. Rather than clear images of the gibbons, I saw black and
brown blurs propel from tree to tree. The tops of the trees moved in a
snake-like manner as the gibbons swung from the branches below. Soon after we
heard the cry of the gibbon. It started as a melodious repetitive song and soon
turned into a crazed hodgepodge of noise.
Like Mowgli from
The Jungle Book,
I felt like I was one with nature and found that the unscathed jungle is truly
a magical place. Exotic insects were spotted in hidden crevices and beautifully
colored birds whirled around us. Crickets sung us to sleep each night in
harmony with one another. I experienced a jungle storm the first night from the
safety of my tree-house. Lightening in the distance set up the perfect scene to
watch the rain cause thousands of leaves dance around and slowly flutter to the
ground. It was beautiful.
This is the most expensive thing I have done and probably
will do in SE Asia, but it certainly was worth every Kip I spent to experience
a once in a lifetime opportunity. Around $290USD, I felt good that my
contribution was going to an ambitious cause. The future holds the truth if The
Gibbon Experience can actually protect the reserve, but for now it is untouched
by poachers, slash-and-burn farming, and unspoiled by tourists.
O-M-G pictures would help, but your words were enough to captivate me! Beautiful. I can only imagine the exhilarating experience. 290 is still pretty cheap! Was that how much it cost in total? Or were there added costs?
ReplyDelete$290 total. It's the most expensive thing I've done/most expensive thing I will do/really expensive for SE Asia, but in America it would have been soooooo much more!
DeleteAlso, thank you for the sweet compliment, John!! I enjoy writing, so it's nice to hear that others enjoy reading it.
DeleteDid you go in wet or dry season?
DeleteI'm going to Laos this week and reading such conflicting things about the Gibbon Experience.
Some people love it, others loathed it, talking about rats,leeches, giant spiders, filthy mattresses, cold rice and cabbage for 3 days, etc.
I imagine what time of year you go makes a big difference.