After sampling some of the adventures that Laos had to offer, the best was yet to come: The Gibbon Experience! This was totally unique to anything we had ever done before. In short, it was one of the best things ever, and we were incredibly lucky to have been able to do it. So if in Laos, do not miss this, do not!
The Gibbon Experience involves a three day adventure into the Laotian jungle. We were to stay in tree houses, (some of the highest in the world in fact), in the hope of catching sight of the elusive gibbon. The best part is that it involved zip wiring around, here, there and everywhere. And the nature... Oh, the nature! We had seen our fair share of wildlife in South East Asia, but nothing quite like the kind of weird wonders you get in the rural jungle of Laos. Sun bears, leopards, slow loris, pangolins and rare species of monkeys can all be found in the National Park here, for example, not to mention the gibbons themselves!
The location of The Gibbon Experience is rural and barely accessible, which is as it should be. A fairly new approach to tourism, the experience seeks to promote the protection of the natural delights rather than destroying the forests to make way for a bigger industry. This is where the money goes. It is set deep in the North West region, far enough away from human development to allow the wildlife to thrive and to enable us to enjoy it too.
Needless to say, the journey from Luang Prabang to the Gibbon Experience was an adventure in itself: a two day slow boat (slow being the appropriate word) from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng for an overnight stay, and then on day two a journey from Pak Beng to Huay Xai. From there, a two hour drive to the National Park, and a small trek to our tree house, which would be our home for the next couple of days. The journey was exhausting - I'm exhausted even retelling it - but it was all SO worth it for what was to come.
The slow boat itself was comfortable enough, (or at least more comfortable than what we had expected, having read a few disconcerting reviews online). The seats were comfy and roomy and the breeze stopped us from melting in the midday heat. But alas, the journey was not without it's perils!
Day one was a sad day. Matt somehow managed to sit on his kindle - in what could only be described as a moment of sad irony - just as he was explaining how much he was enjoying reading, and how lost he would be without it. To make matters worse, the model is one that's no longer available from Amazon! Needless to say, he took some consoling and tears were almost shed. Matt is now settling for paperbacks, but it was a traumatic experience that tainted the slow boat memory.
After the incident that shall not be named, we decided that it might be a good idea to communicate with each other as a form of entertainment and ended up playing some card games instead, including Beanie (a variation of Nanna Betty's "George's Game"). The journey meandered through the river with Laos on one side and Thailand on the other. Some of the sunsets were particularly beautiful, but after two days on the slow boat, we were starting to get a bit restless and arriving at Huay Xai came as a welcome relief. It was a small riverside town that was nice enough. And more excitingly, we were one step closer to the gibbons!
The following morning we headed out to town to locate the Gibbon Office, where we had a very basic health and safety briefing and were greeted with our 4:4 transport to the National Park. We hopped onto the back of these trucks with a few other Gibboneers and felt the wind and dust in our face as we raced towards the jungle across the dusty Laos highway. A couple of hours later, we reached the jungle itself and had what could only be described as a bumpy ride through dirt tracks and mountain, deeper into the abyss! Holding on for dear life at times, the 4:4 embraced some challenging drives down banks, up steep hills, and through a river(!) until we finally arrived, bedraggled and sweaty, at a few huts which were known as the 'village' of the jungle, with a few pigs and cows to keep the local residents company.
Here, we gathered in groups and met our guides, who interestingly were all poachers in past lives, but as mentioned earlier, have learnt through growing tourism, more money can be earned through working for the preservation of the forest as jungle guides. We split off into smaller groups of 7 or 8, and these were the people who we were due to share our accommodation with for the two nights. We got very lucky - our group turned out to be lovely and we really enjoyed the company throughout the experience. There was a nice sense of camaraderie.
And so we began our trek to the tree house! Despite the fact that the website had actually claimed the experience was suitable for all fitness levels, we disagreed, and found it a real challenge at different stages. It was no doubt further precipitated by the 40 degree heat! After some steep uphill hiking, we stopped briefly for lunch, and eventually made our way towards our first zip-wiring spot, where we were given some complicated equipment to saddle ourselves up in, ready for the zip-wires and tree houses.
It was time for our first zip-wiring adventure. Gulp!!
In all honesty, our first zip-wiring experience wasn't the great success we had imagined, but it was still lots of fun. Some people seemed to take to the sport quite naturally - gliding down to the landing spot with gravid ease in a streamlined, graceful manner. Others, (well, me specifically), ended up spinning around on the wire and braking too soon, thus ending up grinding to a halt about half way along the wire, with a queue of eager and frustrated zip-wirers behind me waiting to set off. When this happens - and it does happen - you have to use your strength to pull yourself along the wire until you reach the other end. I have to admit that it was a little embarrassing when I reached the stage where I couldn't pull myself along the wire any further, and had to be rescued by one of the guides... But cest la vie. Matt handled his first zip wire better than I did, but it's fair to say that neither of us were born naturals. To be a pro zip-wirer I think you have to lean back for speed and use your arm to balance. But it's trickier than it looks; trust me!
After a bit of zip-wiring and mega trekking, we had finally reached our tree house - Hurray! We zip wired to the platform and were greeted with a house like no other: tree house 7 (the best of the treehouses, not that I'm biased or anything), which consisted of 3 platforms of wooden beams suspended by ropes and a tin roof. We were reassured that it was safer than it looked, and was designed by skilful architects, but still, natural instinct gave us a bit of a fear when we looked down and saw just how far away the ground was. Yikes. Not one for the vertigo sufferer. We were given the rest of the day to relax, which was much needed. It also gave us a good chance to get to know our housemates, not to mention the resident wasps, before tea time. Everyone fancied a shower but few were brave enough to enter the bee hive that was the tree house bathroom. It was a test of bravery to see who could endure a shower, or indeed toilet visit, amongst the deadly swarm.
As the afternoon passed us by, we spotted the occasional tropical bird swoop through the trees, and even at one stage a giant flying squirrel popped by to say hello! We wondered at first, due to it's size and black fur, if it was one of the elusive gibbons, but we realised it had a golden coloured belly and a big give away was when it glided through the trees. It was an incredible sight!
Dinner was served by one of the guides who arrived, shortly followed by a lady who was carrying a hot kettle, both by zip wire. The food was actually really good, mostly consisting of Laos staples such as noodles, chicken, oyster mushrooms and morning glory with rice. It was all excellent, and more than enough for the seven of us. We were also given some interesting snacks such as flavoured sticky rice, peanut brittle and melon. Our guide was a man of few words and made a sharp disappearance after dishing out food, leaving us at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the leftovers, as we had heard by word of mouth that the (oh-so sinister) "jungle rats" were likely to make an overnight appearance at the treehouse. As the sun set, we waited for beer, which never came, and started to wonder if our Gibbon Experience would turn into a real life version of Lord of the Flies. Thankfully, it never came to that, and we all coped reasonably well without the supervision of our guide, who never did come back that night! And in case you were wondering, we ended up throwing our leftovers overboard, though in retrospect it maybe wasn't the best idea given that the jungle rats were out and about.
After dinner we were all happy to entertain ourselves with Matts card games as the dusk, (and not to mention, savage forest insects), crept in. It was really a bizarrely nice experience, playing cards with the jungle sounds as the background music. As night time arrived, a couple of solar powered lights gave us just enough visibility for cards. We spent a couple of hours in the communal kitchen area before we retreated to our tents for some well-deserved rest.
Fortunately, our tree house had three levels which meant the couples each had a floor (bottom and middle) and the singles could occupy the top. Me and Matt had the bottom floor, which meant less distance to the bathroom but also less distance to the jungle rats, as the kitchen was also on this level. (You can see where this is going, can't you). And as for sleeping arrangements, we had a couple of floor mats, a blanket and pillow, and a mozzie net/tent to act as our boudoir. All were assembled with the help of our handy head torches, and when it came to bed time, we were well prepared. At this stage, we wondered if we heard the rumbles of thunder in the background, but decided to ignore it and get some shut eye, ready for our early start.
It was only a couple of hours into our slumber before we were woken up by torrential rain. A true thunder storm! The wind and rain pounded against the tin roof and the occasional strike of lightning lit up the sky through our tents. Luckily we were sheltered, but the ever-growing thunder claps did induce fear that was comparable only to the waspy bathroom experience! It was made worse by the subtle creaking noises that served as a gentle reminder of our own vulnerability. We wondered if we would end up being evacuated, but it never did happen.
But I'm pleased to say that the storm passed eventually, and there was also no sign of our rodent friends on night one. The next morning we laughed and joked about our near death experience before breakfast arrived, which was another few Laos basics such as omelet (so much egg in Asia) and peanut tomato stuff (couldn't tell you the technical term, but it was tasty). Well stocked on food, we got suited and booted again ready for a day of zip wiring to ogle the other 6 tree houses and look out for gibbons. Morning is the best time to do, apparently, But so far, no signs of our long armed friends, and even if they were about the morning fog limited our visibility, but some of the girls in our group swore they heard the distinctive calls of the gibbons at about 6AM!
So we set off again with our zip wiring gear, and had a long trek ahead of us through the trees. We visited the different tree houses, some with thatched roofs, some with one or two floors. Seeing them really did allow us to fully appreciate the architectural skill involved in their creation. Apparently drones are going to have a key role in the design of future tree houses - what an age to be alive!
This day the trekking was tiring and we were all overheating. I also had a nerve racking experience on the zip wires where I got my hand caught in the break device half way along the zip wire. Fortunately no major injuries to anything other than my ego. And I'm very pleased we were wearing gloves, put it that way. After this slight knock to my confidence one of the guides was happy to tag along with me and Matt as I was lagging a bit, which was nice of him. On our way back we spotted a strange white spider, that we never did identify.
Eventually we arrived back at our tree house for a late lunch and some snacks. This afternoon, we ended up braving the shower despite the immanent wasp attack that awaited us in the bathroom. The midday heat felt a bit overpowering (no A/C in the tree house!!) and the water was cold enough to give a bit of respite.
Humidity in the air was high and we could feel a storm brewing. We spent the afternoon beached in the tree house, and played some card games again later on. Thunder approached and the heavens opened! It was terrifying and exciting, hearing the storm approaching. No evacuation this night, but we later found out that one of the tree houses did in fact get evacuated later on.
The most memorable thing about night two for both me and Matt was the arrival of our friends, the jungle rats, who decided to pop by on more than one occasion. Waking up to the sound of squeaking and rustling came as unnerving shock to our systems. Although we knew they probably weren't, it did sound as if they were in the tent with us! We could also hear them rustling through the bin, which was just a few meters away. The next day, someone saw bite marks in the soap in the bathroom. Jungle living comes at a price!
That morning, we woke up to the sound of gibbons! Caught in the heat of the moment, we didn't get any recordings, but the sound of their voices seemed to echo across the jungle; it was just fantastic! It was foggy again, so no sign of them, but I'm pleased to say that we did hear them on day three, along with the sound of some exotic birds and geckos.
Our general plan for our final morning was an hour or so of zip-wiring, followed by a trek back to the village. A little less strenuous today, and we finally felt as if we were getting the hang of the zip wiring. The main drama of this day involved a random attack from some cows on our way back to the village, would you believe. On our final descent, one of the guides shouted "run!!" and we turned around only to see about ten people running away from two cows who were charging in our direction! Luckily no disasters transpired, but it was a bit of drama to finish off the three day jungle adventure!
So on our return, we revelled in everything we had seen and done, back through the Laos jungle towards Huay Xai. Overall, The Gibbon Experience is, and remains to be, a highlight of our trip, and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Laos!
The Gibbon Experience involves a three day adventure into the Laotian jungle. We were to stay in tree houses, (some of the highest in the world in fact), in the hope of catching sight of the elusive gibbon. The best part is that it involved zip wiring around, here, there and everywhere. And the nature... Oh, the nature! We had seen our fair share of wildlife in South East Asia, but nothing quite like the kind of weird wonders you get in the rural jungle of Laos. Sun bears, leopards, slow loris, pangolins and rare species of monkeys can all be found in the National Park here, for example, not to mention the gibbons themselves!
The location of The Gibbon Experience is rural and barely accessible, which is as it should be. A fairly new approach to tourism, the experience seeks to promote the protection of the natural delights rather than destroying the forests to make way for a bigger industry. This is where the money goes. It is set deep in the North West region, far enough away from human development to allow the wildlife to thrive and to enable us to enjoy it too.
Needless to say, the journey from Luang Prabang to the Gibbon Experience was an adventure in itself: a two day slow boat (slow being the appropriate word) from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng for an overnight stay, and then on day two a journey from Pak Beng to Huay Xai. From there, a two hour drive to the National Park, and a small trek to our tree house, which would be our home for the next couple of days. The journey was exhausting - I'm exhausted even retelling it - but it was all SO worth it for what was to come.
The slow boat itself was comfortable enough, (or at least more comfortable than what we had expected, having read a few disconcerting reviews online). The seats were comfy and roomy and the breeze stopped us from melting in the midday heat. But alas, the journey was not without it's perils!
Day one was a sad day. Matt somehow managed to sit on his kindle - in what could only be described as a moment of sad irony - just as he was explaining how much he was enjoying reading, and how lost he would be without it. To make matters worse, the model is one that's no longer available from Amazon! Needless to say, he took some consoling and tears were almost shed. Matt is now settling for paperbacks, but it was a traumatic experience that tainted the slow boat memory.
 |
| Not even a nice sunset could console Matt, sigh |
The following morning we headed out to town to locate the Gibbon Office, where we had a very basic health and safety briefing and were greeted with our 4:4 transport to the National Park. We hopped onto the back of these trucks with a few other Gibboneers and felt the wind and dust in our face as we raced towards the jungle across the dusty Laos highway. A couple of hours later, we reached the jungle itself and had what could only be described as a bumpy ride through dirt tracks and mountain, deeper into the abyss! Holding on for dear life at times, the 4:4 embraced some challenging drives down banks, up steep hills, and through a river(!) until we finally arrived, bedraggled and sweaty, at a few huts which were known as the 'village' of the jungle, with a few pigs and cows to keep the local residents company.
Here, we gathered in groups and met our guides, who interestingly were all poachers in past lives, but as mentioned earlier, have learnt through growing tourism, more money can be earned through working for the preservation of the forest as jungle guides. We split off into smaller groups of 7 or 8, and these were the people who we were due to share our accommodation with for the two nights. We got very lucky - our group turned out to be lovely and we really enjoyed the company throughout the experience. There was a nice sense of camaraderie.
 |
| Group shot! |
In all honesty, our first zip-wiring experience wasn't the great success we had imagined, but it was still lots of fun. Some people seemed to take to the sport quite naturally - gliding down to the landing spot with gravid ease in a streamlined, graceful manner. Others, (well, me specifically), ended up spinning around on the wire and braking too soon, thus ending up grinding to a halt about half way along the wire, with a queue of eager and frustrated zip-wirers behind me waiting to set off. When this happens - and it does happen - you have to use your strength to pull yourself along the wire until you reach the other end. I have to admit that it was a little embarrassing when I reached the stage where I couldn't pull myself along the wire any further, and had to be rescued by one of the guides... But cest la vie. Matt handled his first zip wire better than I did, but it's fair to say that neither of us were born naturals. To be a pro zip-wirer I think you have to lean back for speed and use your arm to balance. But it's trickier than it looks; trust me!
 |
| Got the hang of it eventually |
After a bit of zip-wiring and mega trekking, we had finally reached our tree house - Hurray! We zip wired to the platform and were greeted with a house like no other: tree house 7 (the best of the treehouses, not that I'm biased or anything), which consisted of 3 platforms of wooden beams suspended by ropes and a tin roof. We were reassured that it was safer than it looked, and was designed by skilful architects, but still, natural instinct gave us a bit of a fear when we looked down and saw just how far away the ground was. Yikes. Not one for the vertigo sufferer. We were given the rest of the day to relax, which was much needed. It also gave us a good chance to get to know our housemates, not to mention the resident wasps, before tea time. Everyone fancied a shower but few were brave enough to enter the bee hive that was the tree house bathroom. It was a test of bravery to see who could endure a shower, or indeed toilet visit, amongst the deadly swarm.
 |
| Our tree house! |
 |
| A rather nice picture of the bathroom of doom |
As the afternoon passed us by, we spotted the occasional tropical bird swoop through the trees, and even at one stage a giant flying squirrel popped by to say hello! We wondered at first, due to it's size and black fur, if it was one of the elusive gibbons, but we realised it had a golden coloured belly and a big give away was when it glided through the trees. It was an incredible sight!
 |
| Mysterious tropical bird |
Dinner was served by one of the guides who arrived, shortly followed by a lady who was carrying a hot kettle, both by zip wire. The food was actually really good, mostly consisting of Laos staples such as noodles, chicken, oyster mushrooms and morning glory with rice. It was all excellent, and more than enough for the seven of us. We were also given some interesting snacks such as flavoured sticky rice, peanut brittle and melon. Our guide was a man of few words and made a sharp disappearance after dishing out food, leaving us at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the leftovers, as we had heard by word of mouth that the (oh-so sinister) "jungle rats" were likely to make an overnight appearance at the treehouse. As the sun set, we waited for beer, which never came, and started to wonder if our Gibbon Experience would turn into a real life version of Lord of the Flies. Thankfully, it never came to that, and we all coped reasonably well without the supervision of our guide, who never did come back that night! And in case you were wondering, we ended up throwing our leftovers overboard, though in retrospect it maybe wasn't the best idea given that the jungle rats were out and about.
After dinner we were all happy to entertain ourselves with Matts card games as the dusk, (and not to mention, savage forest insects), crept in. It was really a bizarrely nice experience, playing cards with the jungle sounds as the background music. As night time arrived, a couple of solar powered lights gave us just enough visibility for cards. We spent a couple of hours in the communal kitchen area before we retreated to our tents for some well-deserved rest.
Fortunately, our tree house had three levels which meant the couples each had a floor (bottom and middle) and the singles could occupy the top. Me and Matt had the bottom floor, which meant less distance to the bathroom but also less distance to the jungle rats, as the kitchen was also on this level. (You can see where this is going, can't you). And as for sleeping arrangements, we had a couple of floor mats, a blanket and pillow, and a mozzie net/tent to act as our boudoir. All were assembled with the help of our handy head torches, and when it came to bed time, we were well prepared. At this stage, we wondered if we heard the rumbles of thunder in the background, but decided to ignore it and get some shut eye, ready for our early start.
It was only a couple of hours into our slumber before we were woken up by torrential rain. A true thunder storm! The wind and rain pounded against the tin roof and the occasional strike of lightning lit up the sky through our tents. Luckily we were sheltered, but the ever-growing thunder claps did induce fear that was comparable only to the waspy bathroom experience! It was made worse by the subtle creaking noises that served as a gentle reminder of our own vulnerability. We wondered if we would end up being evacuated, but it never did happen.
But I'm pleased to say that the storm passed eventually, and there was also no sign of our rodent friends on night one. The next morning we laughed and joked about our near death experience before breakfast arrived, which was another few Laos basics such as omelet (so much egg in Asia) and peanut tomato stuff (couldn't tell you the technical term, but it was tasty). Well stocked on food, we got suited and booted again ready for a day of zip wiring to ogle the other 6 tree houses and look out for gibbons. Morning is the best time to do, apparently, But so far, no signs of our long armed friends, and even if they were about the morning fog limited our visibility, but some of the girls in our group swore they heard the distinctive calls of the gibbons at about 6AM!
 |
| A beautiful morning in the jungle! |
So we set off again with our zip wiring gear, and had a long trek ahead of us through the trees. We visited the different tree houses, some with thatched roofs, some with one or two floors. Seeing them really did allow us to fully appreciate the architectural skill involved in their creation. Apparently drones are going to have a key role in the design of future tree houses - what an age to be alive!
 |
| Our rivals: Tree house 5 |
This day the trekking was tiring and we were all overheating. I also had a nerve racking experience on the zip wires where I got my hand caught in the break device half way along the zip wire. Fortunately no major injuries to anything other than my ego. And I'm very pleased we were wearing gloves, put it that way. After this slight knock to my confidence one of the guides was happy to tag along with me and Matt as I was lagging a bit, which was nice of him. On our way back we spotted a strange white spider, that we never did identify.
 |
| A white spider - bizarre |
Humidity in the air was high and we could feel a storm brewing. We spent the afternoon beached in the tree house, and played some card games again later on. Thunder approached and the heavens opened! It was terrifying and exciting, hearing the storm approaching. No evacuation this night, but we later found out that one of the tree houses did in fact get evacuated later on.
The most memorable thing about night two for both me and Matt was the arrival of our friends, the jungle rats, who decided to pop by on more than one occasion. Waking up to the sound of squeaking and rustling came as unnerving shock to our systems. Although we knew they probably weren't, it did sound as if they were in the tent with us! We could also hear them rustling through the bin, which was just a few meters away. The next day, someone saw bite marks in the soap in the bathroom. Jungle living comes at a price!
That morning, we woke up to the sound of gibbons! Caught in the heat of the moment, we didn't get any recordings, but the sound of their voices seemed to echo across the jungle; it was just fantastic! It was foggy again, so no sign of them, but I'm pleased to say that we did hear them on day three, along with the sound of some exotic birds and geckos.
 |
| Gibbons in the mist! |
So on our return, we revelled in everything we had seen and done, back through the Laos jungle towards Huay Xai. Overall, The Gibbon Experience is, and remains to be, a highlight of our trip, and a definite recommendation for anyone visiting Laos!
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