The Gibbon Experience

Wow! What can I say?! This was AMAZING!

Actually, I’m gonna keep this rather short because I am leaving Chiang Rai today and I want a bit more time to have another wander around, but if you would like to hear me excitedly gabbling on about it for too long, please call me 😉

To give a bit of background, taking part in The Gibbon Experience basically involves getting to stay for a few nights in an area of protected jungle where endangered gibbons live, sleeping in purpose built tree houses with views out over the canopy, and spending the daylight hours whizzing around on big ziplines which have been set up between the trees. It is totally as awesome as it sounds!

Zipplining, though a little hair raising the first time that you jumped, was so much fun, and after a few tries began to feel really automatic and natural so that you could really focus on enjoy the amazing views and sensation of whizzing through the air, rather than focusing on trying to remember what to do with the harness, clips, etc. In any case, the guides were always on hand to help.

Speaking of guides, the guides were awesome and lovely and really made the whole stay! Each treehouse full of people were assigned two local guides, who stayed with the group and looked after us for the duration of the trip. We had A-tith, who was young, super friendly, enthusiastic, and spoke amazing English, and Kampy who was older, came from one of the villages within the forest and had lived there all his life, spoke pidgin English but was really friendly and funny, and knew so much about the forest. For example, he would stop us while walking through the jungle and cut off bits off bits of bark or leaves for us to try, and tell us about their uses in folk medicine or cooking. He picked and cut fruits from the trees for us to eat, and even whittled a flute from some bamboo in front of our eyes and showed us how to play it!

In terms of Gibbons, we think we saw some on the first morning from the tree house, but they were a long way off and little more than black shapes so it was hard to be sure. One thing’s for certain though, we definitely heard them, and it was INCREDIBLE! Gibbons don’t shriek like monkeys, but instead make whooping, melodic sound rather akin to a siren sound. At around 7:30 on the first morning the whole forest seemed to come alive with these sounds as the Gibbons called back and forth from all directions, deeper sounds from the larger males, and higher pitched sounds from the smaller females and young, altogether creating an amazing cacophony of sound. Myself and another girl had already been up since 5am watching, listening, and marvelling at the sights and sounds as the light crept in and the jungle gradually woke up around us. That alone had felt pretty special, but the Gibbon chorus really topped it off like nothing else!

For the second morning, our guides offered to take us on an early morning hike into the jungle to one of the places where the gibbons feed, to give us a better chance of seeing them close up. This again was them being amazing and lovely, since this was not part of the standard program. We set off at 5:30, zipplining out of the treehouse in the dark before leaving our harnesses to continue on foot, walking spread out in a line, treading gently, and practically holding our breaths in order to make as little noise as possible. Unfortunately, we were not lucky as the Gibbons didn’t come to that particular area to feed that day, but regardless, just being in the middle of the jungle as it woke up around us was an unforgettable experience!

I would wholeheartedly recommend The Gibbon Experience to anyone and everyone, and would go back there in a flash! Now, I’m continuing on to new adventures in Thailand, but Wow! What memories I have made!