THE GIBBON EXPERIENCE

Aug 12th. Ban Houayxay, Laos.

THE GIBBON EXPERIENCE. 🐒

Breakfast at 7 am, packing / repacking my things. I will spend the next three days in Kam Nam National Park and can only take a small backpack with me. I leave my big backpack at the Gibbon Experience office in the city of Houayxay. When I arrive at the office, six other travelers and I are greeted with coffee and fruits. 🍉 We receive the safety briefing for the zip lines through a short film and when it's time to start, everyone is given a cap, a pair of gloves, and a metal water bottle. We squeeze onto the bench of a truck and drive out of the city along the Mekong River. Two couples from Germany and England, a 70-year-old man from Tasmania, and a lady from Amsterdam are also joining me. Ahead of us is a one-and-a-half-hour drive towards the national park and then another hour drive into the park. The guide mentioned that we may have to walk a part of this route due to the rainy season making it almost impossible for the trucks to pass through the muddy roads in the rainforest. 🌧️

After a short break, we turned off behind a small shop on the side of the road and drove through the river. Yes. Through the river. Not through a small stream or anything, no. A river that had become so deep due to the heavy rain in the past few days that we were afraid the truck would be flooded. So we grabbed everything we could and lifted our backpacks in the air while also stretching our feet towards the sky. 

Afterwards, we walked through the mud in the rainforest for an hour. This was what he meant when he said 'now the bumpy road'. 😅 We were shaken back and forth, had to hold on tightly, and the truck had a hard time making its way through the mud. We reached a small village and my inner child was once again amazed when I entered the house where we had lunch.

It was like a huge indoor playground, with multiple levels that you could climb up to the roof. I threw my backpack aside and climbed the stairs to enjoy the 360° view of the village.

During lunch, which of course consisted of rice and vegetables, it started to rain. Kam La, our tour guide, distributed plastic bags to protect our most important items in our backpacks from the rain. 📱 So I packed my camera, power bank, phone, lighter, and cigarettes, and sprayed myself from head to toe with mosquito spray. We started hiking into the jungle. Through narrow paths past rice and corn fields, until we waded through the dense bamboo stems in the mud. 🌿 I was so focused on watching where I was stepping that I missed a lot of the surroundings. At first, I was confidently walking right behind Kam La, but suddenly I found myself at the end of our group because I kept stopping to look at the plants around me. 💁🏽‍♀️

After an hour of uphill hiking and with completely muddy legs, we arrived at the first station. Three people in our group had already kissed the ground and were completely covered in mud. 😁 Kam La handed out zip line harnesses and hard plastic inserts for our caps, which were now supposed to serve as helmets. We hiked for another 10 minutes uphill in full gear until we reached the first platform, which could be reached by stairs and from which a steel cable was stretched into the thickets. I had caught up with Kam La again and hung my two carabiners directly after him, as he had shown us at the base with a practice rope. Kam La took a run-up and threw himself laughing from the platform into the treetops. 🦸🏼‍♀️ I looked around bewildered, we all nervously laughed at his words, and then the wire rope wobbled three times in quick succession, signaling the next person to start. I was so surprised that without a second thought, I ran as fast as I could, just like Kam La had done. I jumped from the platform, the rope between the carabiner and my harness tightened, and a moment later I was sliding out of the treetops with incredible speed. ☄️

Phew!
Does flying feel like this?

I floated 100 meters above a valley of green trees. Shades of green that I rarely saw in such variety. On the horizon, I could see mountains after mountains, a dense jungle as far as the eye can see! 🏞️ Without even realizing it, I let out a joy-filled 'WOOHOO!' along the entire length of the zip line and felt alive. Really alive. 🌠 I reached the next platform easily, and Kam La was excited with me about this success. He said that you have to be between 50 and 60 km/h to reach the platform, and I was amazed. Wait, what? How fast was I just going? 🤯 Once the rest of the group reached the target one by one, I understood why he was so happy for me. Without exception, everyone had to pull themselves along the wire rope to the platform for the last few meters. We were all super happy, and the hike to the next platform went quickly. I watched Kam La's technique each time, how he effortlessly and with as much momentum as possible threw himself into his safety harness and then leaned far back with his feet stretched far out. Each time, I imitated him more and dared to do more from zip line to zip line. The weight of my backpack was helpful in gaining enough speed, even though it sometimes hindered me when getting ready to go. 🌠 After two and a half hours through the rainforest, we arrived at our treehouse.

Arriving at the platform, I unhooked myself from the wire rope, took off my shoes, and climbed the stairs to the next platform. With wide-open eyes and an open mouth, I looked around. 😦 What I saw around me looked like a dream. A magnificent treehouse with a view that was hard to turn away from.

I walked in a circle, taking in every new sight. The small kitchenette in the middle, where Courth (the second guide, who closed our group) started slicing pineapples and other fruits. Kam La distributed the rattan stools around the round table, which he made himself, as he told us during. I discovered four folded mattresses, mosquito nets hanging above them, and another staircase. 

I climbed the stairs and found myself on the lookout point. There was also a folded mattress together with a mosquito net. 🦟 I sat down and took a deep breath. Wow. I exhaled. Still wow. I am overwhelmed.

After discussing what awaited us in the next two days, Courth and Kam La left us alone.

The two climbed down the stairs to the platform with the zip line, and Kam La let out an enthusiastic shout. 'Gibbons! Gibbons!' 🐒 He climbed back up the stairs, grabbed the binoculars, and pointed into the trees. Two of the monkeys were clearly visible in the treetops on the next hill. A black male and an orange female. 😦 We all sat down next to each other, swinging our legs over the abyss, and watched. The binoculars were passed around, and we could observe the gibbons grooming each other.

Kam La said it looks like they are making their nest there for the night, and he was right. Even hours later, when two girls from the team brought our dinner to the treehouse on the zip lines, we could still see them in the same spot. After dinner, I sat at the railing again and stared through the binoculars. Sonja, a 60-year-old biology teacher from the Netherlands, spotted another gibbon a few trees away! A huge male swinging from branch to branch. The arms of the gibbons are so incredibly long that it looked a bit like Spiderman swinging forward. 🐒 But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.

We spent the evening enjoying the sunset and constantly glancing at the sleeping gibbon couple in the treetops. 🌄 I shared a bed with Sonja for the night, as Kam La mentioned that the bed upstairs in the lookout was the favorite spot for rats. So we hung the almost opaque and very heavy mosquito nets over our mattresses, made sure they were firmly tucked under the mattress so that the rats couldn't crawl in, and lay down. Sonja told me stories about her daughter, who I apparently reminded her of, and the surroundings were repeatedly illuminated by lightning. It started to thunder, the rain poured on the rattan roof above us, and the sounds of the jungle around us were drowned out by the rumble of thunder. ⛈️ I fell asleep in what felt like two seconds.

Aug 13th Kam Nam National Park

The next morning, I woke up to a strange whistle. The gibbons sing every morning. It almost sounds like birds chirping. 🐒 I lifted the mosquito net and was greeted by Graham, our elder guide, with a smile and the question if I would like a coffee. Breakfast was already on the table, and one by one, the others woke up. We had rice with vegetables and spring rolls for breakfast. Warm. 😅

I told Sonja that she had scared me to death last night when she accidentally kicked me and I was awake for half an hour. Of course, my first thought was rats, about which Kam La had told us in detail. 🐀 I could clearly hear them when I was awake at night. Minie confirmed this, as she showed us her backpack that the rats had chewed through. 'I had cookies in there two days ago!' 🍪 Well, as long as I don't see the rats, it's okay for me.

I grabbed my towel and went down one floor to brush my teeth. Although it can't be called a room since there isn't a single wall. The shower here is like a dream, I swear. 🚿 Everywhere you look, you see the jungle. Even the ground is permeable so that the water can flow directly through. I spent a long time showering, brushing my teeth, and enjoying the distant view during the twilight time.

Kam La joined us a little later and we put on our harnesses, packed our water bottles, and followed him along the zip line to the ground one last time from our treehouse. The shoes on the arrival platform were completely filled with water.. have you ever tried to put on wet shoes with dry socks? It's not a nice feeling. 😂 We continued our way in the slowest pace through the flooded hiking trails back to the village. I put on my rain jacket, which was too hot for hiking, and threw it over my backpack as an improvised rain poncho. The next zip line we used was crazy. We had to take a run-up of about 10 meters and literally jump into an abyss. In addition, due to the storm, it was foggy deep into the valley, and after a few meters, the zip line disappeared into the gray. A leap into the unknown! 🌫️

After everyone arrived safely on the other side, we continued our way downhill at a snail's pace. A few more zip lines and with completely muddy shoes, we reached the valley and had to take an alternate route towards the village as the river next to our original path had disappeared. 

We waded through knee-deep water in some places. Kam La kept joking that we probably have to swim the last part because the river rises so high every year that the bridge to the village becomes impassable. 🏊🏼‍♀️ Fortunately, he was not entirely right, but we walked hand in hand with the water up to our thighs through the riverbed.

Done! In the hut where we started our tour two days ago, our lunch was waiting for us, and we all enjoyed the cold beer. An hour later, the off-road vehicle arrived, which was supposed to take us back to the city. We squeezed onto the back and off we go. The drive was nerve-wracking as we were all completely exhausted and had to hold onto something with both hands on the bumpy and muddy road.

The off-road vehicle stopped in the middle of nowhere after an hour. Kam La got out and explained that we couldn't drive through the river again like on the first day, so we had to walk the rest of the way to the main road. So, we walked half an hour in the mud across small wooden planks over branches of the main river, between rice fields and banana trees. When we finally reached the main road, another off-road vehicle was waiting, and everyone fell asleep on the one-and-a-half-hour drive back to the city. 😴

At 4 pm, we arrived at the Gibbon Experience office, had coffee together, and said heartfelt goodbyes. I took my backpack out of the storage room, grabbed my small soaking wet backpack and my soaking wet shoes, and shuffled across the street to the hostel where I had slept the night before the tour. The staff member grinned at me, handed me a room key, and took my shoes to dry them under the fan. I hung my wet clothes everywhere in the dormitory and took a shower. Good night! With about 60 new mosquito bites, countless bruises, and sparkling tired eyes, I fell into bed. 🌠

At 5 am, I was awakened by Sonja's headlamp shining directly in my face. It still hadn't stopped raining, and water was dripping through the rattan roof onto our mosquito net and onto Sonja's part of the mattress, which was already completely wet. We climbed out, caught a rat sneaking through the trash can, and then disappeared into the darkness. Sonja shone her light on our mosquito net, and we found a puddle that had accumulated over the past few hours. 🌊 We emptied the water and put a rain poncho over the area. Once again half asleep, I was woken up half an hour later by water droplets on my forehead. My tired self was in a 'I don't care' mood, so I grabbed my pillow, turned on the mattress, and let the water continue to drip onto my legs. 🤷🏽‍♀️

The next morning, we were woken up by the sound of the zip lines in our treehouse at 7:30 am. What a restful night. I crawled out from under the mosquito net, and Kam La, always in a good mood, grinned at me. At least he had brought coffee. 😴 It still hadn't stopped raining, and the poncho over the mosquito net of our bed was filled with water.

Kam La explained that despite the heavy rain, we would have to leave in two hours to hike the three hours back to the village. He was interrupted by the singing of the gibbons. 😍 Wow. The whistling and screaming almost resembled birds chirping.. We climbed the stairs to the lookout and spotted the rustling treetops nearby. I spotted a baby gibbon swinging from branch to branch. 🐒 

We had breakfast, packed our things in plastic bags to keep them dry on the upcoming hike, and put on our zip line harnesses to fly out of our treehouse one last time. The shoes, which were all placed on the arrival platform, were completely filled with water.. have you ever tried to put on dry socks in wet shoes? It's not a nice feeling. 😂 We spent the next two hours hiking back to the village in pouring rain. I took off my rain jacket, which was too hot for hiking, and threw it over my backpack as an improvised rain poncho. The next zip line we used was intense. We had to take a run-up of about 10 meters and literally jump into an abyss. In addition, due to the storm, it was foggy deep into the valley, and the zip line disappeared into the gray after a few meters. A leap into the unknown! 🌫️

After everyone arrived safely on the other side, we continued our way downhill at a snail's pace. With a few more zip lines and completely waterlogged shoes, we reached the valley and had to take an alternative route towards the village as the river next to our original path had disappeared.

We waded through knee-deep water in some places. Kam La kept joking that we probably have to swim the last part because the river rises so high every year that the bridge to the village becomes impassable. 🏊🏼‍♀️ Fortunately, he was not entirely right, but we walked hand in hand with the water up to our thighs through the riverbed.

Done! In the hut where we started our tour two days ago, our lunch was waiting for us, and we all enjoyed the cold beer. An hour later, the off-road vehicle arrived, which was supposed to take us back to the city. We squeezed onto the back and off we go. The drive was nerve-wracking as we were all completely exhausted and had to hold onto something with both hands on the bumpy and muddy road.

The off-road vehicle stopped in the middle of nowhere after an hour. Kam La got out and explained that we couldn't drive through the river again like on the first day, so we had to walk the rest of the way to the main road. So, we walked half an hour in the mud across small wooden planks over branches of the main river, between rice fields and banana trees. When we finally reached the main road, another off-road vehicle was waiting, and everyone fell asleep on the one-and-a-half-hour drive back to the city. 😴

At 4 pm, we arrived at the Gibbon Experience office, had coffee together, and said heartfelt goodbyes. I took my backpack out of the storage room, grabbed my small soaking wet backpack and my soaking wet shoes, and shuffled across the street to the hostel where I had slept the night before the tour. The staff member grinned at me, handed me a room key, and took my shoes to dry them under the fan. I hung my wet clothes everywhere in the dormitory and took a shower. Good night! With about 60 new mosquito bites, countless bruises, and sparkling tired eyes, I fell into bed. 🌠