The Gibbon Experience

I was sitting at a bonfire in Muang Ngoi, talking about the possibility of doing some treks before I left Lao, and one of the people there mentioned The Gibbon Experience (TGE). It's a conservation effort to maintain the habitat of Gibbons, specifically the Black-Cheeked Crested Gibbon, which is endangered. They've built a network of treehouses accessible only by ziplines. Being the good Biologist that I am I left the next day to head to Bokeo. The trip there was rather uncomfortable as the speedboat seats are more like a box, and you ride for 6 hours with your knees around your head. It was damn fast though.

I got to Houeisai (Way Sigh, in case you care to pronounce it properly), but there wasn't a tour for the next two days, so I had to wait a bit in the border town, and there was nothing to do. It's pretty much just a stopping point to cross over to Thailand which is just across the Mekong. I had now followed the Mekong from Vietnam to Cambodia to Lao, and in a few days to Thailand. TBE sounded amazing though. It's just in its second year, and its really only heard about through word of mouth, since its so new,and not in any guide books yet. It's a three day trek with two nights in the tree houses, and lots of walking in the jungle. I went for option two which involved more hiking, but also more wildlife. There were only 6 of us in the group, so we wouldn't be seeing anyone else. The other option was to stay in the first treehouse and just hand out. There were only 6 people in that option so in total there were only 12 of us in the whole place. This could only happen in Lao, anywhere else and there would be wall to wall people.

The first day started with a 3 hour drive on some of the most dusty and bumpy roads I had ever been on. Once at the camp we had to hike 40 minutes to the fist village to gear up, and then zip over to the first treehouse. IT WAS AWESOME! Zip lining is the most fun thing ever, but man is it scary at first. Once there we were given a rundown of the trip and the aim of the project. The goal is to not only protect the gibbons, but they also use the money raised form the project to train villagers to be guides and to act as rangers, which hunt the poachers which are killing the wildlife. They're goal is to make the project totally Lao run in a few years, thereby providing income and jobs for the remote villages, which are mostly comprised of minority tribes. For the three days we would be split up into two groups. The four girls went in one with me, and a German named Eddie in the other group. We would switch treehouses the next day. Once the guides bring you to the treehouse, then they leave you only coming back to drop off food and supplies. So you're basically on your own in a treehouse in the middle of a Lao forest. That could never happen in North America.



The first zipline from the treehouse was a 100m crossing between two off the mountains, with a drop of over 100m. It was a spectacular view, but nerve wracking as well. Then we did a few more zips and a bit of hiking to get to Tree House 3. We started settling in, and unpacked our trunk of food, and in it were all kinds of snacks, and the most amazing thing, a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of Lao Lao Whisky. They let you get drunk and give you unlimited access to ziplines! I love these people! Truly only in Lao. So Eddie and I settled in, and give some more zip-lining, and then it was time for dinner, which the guides brought up and then ate with us. Their English was Ok, but it was quite fun trying to communicate with them. I had to break out my note book a few times to draw pictures for the point to be made. At about that time the sun went down and the view from the tree house was spectacular. Then it was time to break out the Lao Lao, and do some more night zip-lining. We even did it with out flashlights for a bit, which was insane. We then passed the time telling tales of our trips, and Eddie convinced me to take a SCUBA course in Southern Thailand. The only sounds you could hear were from the wildlife, and it was quite peaceful. There was a full moon, so the surrounding Mountains were outlined,and we just sat and watched while playing cards.



Then we heard some rustling in the trees and the next thing you know there was this big cat on the railing on the treehouse. It looked like a Mercat, but it turns out it was a Civet Cat. The Civet Cat is probably most famous for eating coffee beans in SE Asia, which are then collected after passing through their digestive system, and t's supposed to be the best coffee ever. I'll eat a snake, but I'm not drinking poop coffee. Maybe I'll bring some home for Dad though. We watched the two cats which were climbing around for 40 minutes, before they finally got pissed at us and left. There was a nice piece of poop on our railing the next morning though, to thank us for the evening (no coffee beans though). After the visit from the Civet Cat the only visitors were insects, which wasn't to much fun. Falling asleep to the sound of birds and bugs was quite relaxing though, especially the 'I-go-you-go' bird (that's what he call sounds like).



The next morning we had breakfast in the treehouse. There is something incredibly amazing about drinking a good cup of coffee while hundreds of feet in the air, sitting in a treehouse. We got to do some more ziplines (which I was just told are also referred to as flying foxes, which is a much cooler name to tell you the truth), and then headed for a 3 hour hike through the forest (jungle?) to tree house 4. About 30 minutes into it we heard a rustling through the trees, and that's when we saw it...A fucking Gibbon!!! Now there are people that have worked at the place for 2 months that haven't seen a Gibbon, so we were pretty amazed. It passed by really quickly, and man can those things swing fast. I wasn't able to get a picture of it though, although we then stood there for 20 minutes hoping more would come. We did see a few other animals including this huge bird, but unfortunately that was our lone Gibbon experience.


Tree House 4 is by the river, so along the way we did some swimming, while the guides caught some fish. There was also a waterfall near TH4, so that was kind of neat. The view from TH4 isn't quite as good as TH3, but it was still pretty awesome, and this time the guides stayed with us which was pretty fun. We were going to teach them a few card games, but they were pretty tired. The next day we hiked back out to the village, and then caught a lift back to Houisay. We might not have seen too many Gibbons (but the other group saw none, so HA!), but the experience and solitude made the trip so worth it. Definitely one of if not THE highlight of my trip. If you're ever in Lao, GO! Heck even if you're not in Lao, book a damn ticket and go.