We clambered back up the hill, pulling ourselves up on the trees and vines, not worrying about making noise now.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Gibbon Experience 3
Day 48 (17/05/08): Gibbon Experience, Bokeo Park & Huay Xai, Laos
We all woke early with the morning sun, and Max our guide zipped in, ready to take us 'Gibbon Hunting' again. The girls didn't want to come, so it was just us guys. We were ready in our harnesses, and under Max's instruction, sitting very quietly in our treehouse, waiting. And then we heard it, the distant sound of a single gibbon singing in the morning. With that we all sprang into action. Ignoring the standard rules of one person at a time, Max threw us all down the zipline as fast as we could each clip on. Down on the jungle floor we followed the sound, which had now grown in cacophany as several gibbons joined in. We turned off the main path, and climbed and slid our way down a steep hill, towards the source of the amazing howling, whooping and shrieking of the gibbons. Whenever they paused in their singing, we would freeze and not make any noise. When the singing resumed we would continue down, trying to make as little noise as possible.
We probably got to within 50m of the gibbons, whne they decided to move on. I managed to see just a few fleeting glimpses of gibbon silhouette against the morning light, and then they were gone. However, it was worth it just for the singing. The gibbons are incredibly loud when they sing, and have a big vocal range. All the more impressive was how the group of them all sang together, one gibbon would start off with some low notes, before all the others would slowly join in, building to a brilliant crescendo of gibbon voices. It is incredibly eery, hiding in the fog of the early morning jungle, listening to this other-worldy song.
We clambered back up the hill, pulling ourselves up on the trees and vines, not worrying about making noise now.
Being as 'zip-addicted'as we were, we went for a few more quick zips. There was a heavy mist this morning, and it was a great fun zipping through the mist above the treetops. Although as we found out, the first person down the zipline gets completely soaked, as all the condensed water on the zipline sprays into you. At about 9am all others came over for breakfast, and the 13 of us enjoyed our last meal together in the treehouse. It was then with much sadness that we all packed our bags and had the last zip out of our treehouse. A short walk back to the base camp to drop off our harnesses, and an easy hour walk back to the main village. After all the walking over the past few days, this last walk was easy for everyone. There was only one four wheel drive to take us back, and so instead of all cramming in, Garth (the Canadian in the group), and I jumped on the roof and enjoyed the ride back getting a great view and dodging all the low lying branches.
Back at the main road, and we had lunch at a small shop, before the first of us 'Gibboners' (as we had taken to calling ourselves) had to part ways. There were three going North, while the rest of us were going back to Huay Xai. At least we could all fit in the jeep now, and we spent most of the trip already reminiscing about how much fun we had just had, and how it was one of the most amazing experiences we had ever done. Back in Huay Xai, and most of us checked into the same guesthouse. We all went out and had dinner together, and then had a good party on the upstairs balcony of our guesthouse.
We clambered back up the hill, pulling ourselves up on the trees and vines, not worrying about making noise now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment