gibbon x

For 3 years we've been hearing about a mythical place called the Gibbon Experience. People's eyes would widen as they described zip-lining high above the jungle floor from mountain top to mountain top. Some would whisper that they had slept in massive tree houses 30 metres in the sky. The word "flying" was used in every analogy. Enough said!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the experience, you really need to know about Gibbon-X. About 6 years ago it was concieved by a French gentleman who saw how deforestation was ruining Lao. He came up with an amazing idea that has revolutionized the model of an NGO. I have lifted this info from their website: "A concept emerged: with the local people we build tree houses and a network of zip lines through the canopy of Bokeo Nature Reserve. We provide accomodation in the treetops and local guides ‘fly’ you over the forest to meet the wildlife. The funds received are reinvested to protect the forest." Each local tribe will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of a treehouse providing them the equivalent of what they would earn if they logged the region, the difference being that instead of one big payoff every 40 years (the time for regrowth), they get the big payoff every year. There are 24 villlages in and around Gibbon-X and eventually there will be 24 treehouses. That means 24 thriving villages and thousands of hectares of primary forest saved. Brilliant! Please check out their website: www.gibbonx.org

In celebration of Helen's birrthday (how long has it gone on by now?), we booked a very coverted space on the 3-day/2-night tour. Even though at the time of this writing the Gibbon-X is not in any guide books, reservations are very hard to get. Getting there was beautiful as we drove about 2 hours through several passes on the newly built China – Thailand Highway, followed by about an hour of off-roading until we finally stopped in a remote Hmong village. From there we hoofed it through rice field after rice field. Then we hiked 3 hours up into the jungle. It was amazing.

Now comes the part we were all waiting for. They gave us a briefing in broken Hmong/English (Hmong is a large ethnic group found in SE Asia and one often meets people who only speak Hmong, not Lao) and we were off. The first run is scarey until your feet actually leave the ground, then you become ADDICTED! The first 5 photos are a sequence The rest are random.

After about 7 or 8 runs we were brought to our tree houses for another safety briefing about water usage, rats, and fire containment. The Swiss Family Robinsonesque dwellings had amazing views. After the briefing they let us go on our own. At one point the sun came out and I had to get some vitamin D. At dusk we stopped zip-lining, but not willlfully, we just couldn't see what was in from of us and we didn't want to get lost on the trails between the zip-lines. Our guides brought us dinner and we crashed early in anticipation of the next day. As morning came we rolled out of bed and into our harnesses. Who needs coffee when you're jumping into thin air from a doorway 70 feet above the ground?