along the way: days 22, 23 and 24 - The Gibbon Experience

Sunday, 17 November 2013

We've arrived back in Houay Xay after three fantastic days on the Gibbon Experience! There's so much to say but we'll try and keep it brief and let the photos do most of the talking.

We set off from the office in Houay Xay on Friday morning after an information and safety briefing. We had a 84km drive ahead to the village in the Bokeo Nature Reserve. There were 10 people who had signed up for the experience; a variety of different ages and nationalities. We all piled into two four wheel drive trucks, along with some staff. At the 65km mark, we stopped for a short break and picked up a few more people, including our guides for the trip. From there, we took a dirt track to the village. It's unimaginable how they could possibly get through those tracks in the rainy season. Even now, in winter, when the ground was fairly dry, one of the trucks lost its grip and slid down a steep hill about 20m, forcing the car behind to reverse quickly out of the way. Thankfully no one was hurt and the drivers did a great job handling the road for the remainder of the journey.

(Arriving at the Village to begin our walk into the Reserve)

(A map showing where the tree houses were located and how to get to each one)

(At base camp, waiting for our instructions)

Once at the village, we walked through the forest to the base camp where we were given our harnesses and were separated into two groups. Paul and I were paired with Marc and Bebe, a lovely couple from Switzerland. Bebe was four months into a round the world tour and Marc had come out to join her for this leg of the journey. From the camp, we continued to walk and began zip-lining our way through the reserve to our tree house which would be our home for the next two nights. Initially the zip-lining was a little scary. At some zip-lines, you leave from a platform that is only a metre or two off the ground; from other points, you step out onto a small ledge that is 100m or more off the ground. But once you are zipping over the trees below at about 40kmph, it is breath-taking.

There are 8 houses in the reserve, each able to accommodate different sized groups. It is a real Robinson Crusoe experience at the house. Some houses are about 100m off the ground and the view from each one is spectacular. The houses are solar powered and the bathroom has a rain water shower and a drop toilet which is a good way of ensuring nobody takes over the bathroom for too long! The largest house which can accommodate about 10 people took almost two years to build.

(One of the tallest tree houses in the Reserve)

(The bathroom at our tree house)

(Nice view)

(The view from our beds)

As you are essentially out in the open the whole time, you rise and go to sleep with the sun. The guides would arrive at our house at about 6.30am with hot water and breakfast was delivered at about 8am. Lunch and dinner were also served at the tree house. When we weren't walking and zipping through the park, we were left to explore or hang out in the tree house. We would watch the wildlife, chat and play cards or just catch up on a bit of sleep.

(The forest had huge amounts of Bamboo trees)

(The only jungle cat we saw)

(One of the staff zipping away with our empty lunch containers)

(The kitchen which supplied our tree house with excellent food)

Our guides names were Boongit and Pia. They were friendly and easy going and shared as much knowledge as their limited English would allow. They explained to us that when they don't work, they don't get paid, so they work as much as they can and rarely take holidays. The catch phrase of the trip would have to be an expression used regularly by the guides. When we asked Boongit if Laotian tea was like Thai tea or if the Laotian language is like the Hmong language, he would say "same same but different".

(Our guide, Boongit)

(Our guide, Pia)

While we didn't see any Gibbons on the trip, we did hear them singing one morning which was pretty wonderful. There were also many beautiful birds, insects and lizards and it was pretty special going to sleep to the sound of the forest nightlife.

(With Marc and Bebe from Switzerland)

We set off back to the village this morning at about 9am. It was a really great few days, finished off with a fun dinner this evening with Marc and Bebe. The Gibbon Experience was definitely a real highlight of the trip so far and something we'll remember for a long time.