What the Press is saying about Flight of the Gibbon:

City Life

4th April 2008

Strapped in harness flying over ancient forest, sixty five feet high, birds flying beneath you and adrenalin buzzing, is an experience you are not likely to achieve too often in your lifetime. Flight of the Gibbon takes you to the small village of Mae Kompong, situated outside San Kampaeng amidst pristine jungle. From there you embark on a tree top journey carried by a series of flying foxes. From some lofty vantage points, you can hardly see the forest floor; and while elevated on the wire, flying from one tree to the next your heart might just skip a beat or two. This is one of Chiang Mai's best outdoor, eco-friendly adventures. No let-downs, hypes or misadventures here. It's a very professional outfit; all the equipment is of top quality and safety is paramount. After the gibbon emulation you are treated to lunch and then a short trek to a waterfall.

They can pick you up from town. If you decide to drive, be prepared for many small winding lanes. Head to San Kampaeng, past the hot springs, follow signs for Tharnthong Lodges and it's about 5km further than the lodges on the right.

Nation

9th February 2008

How's the air up there?

Gliding through the towering forests of Chiang Mai
on a sling and a prayer

According to biologists, we share 99 per cent of our DNA with chimpanzees. Yet, by some cruel twist of fate, the genetic material that gives them the power to fly from branch to branch didn't make it to us.

What lousy luck. Then again, if we could while days away doing something as fun as that, civilisation would probably never have arrived.

Fortunately, we terrestrial primates still have the chance to swing from tree to tree without a care.

More than a decade ago, scientists in Central America developed a cable-and-pulley system that allows them to glide through the upper canopy of rainforests inaccessible from the ground. There they can investigate what goes on in the highest branches.

Of course, this proved far too much fun to keep to themselves, and the tourism industry quickly cottoned on to its potential.

Though still rare in Asia, an outfit in Laos called The Gibbon Experience set up shop about two years ago. But, getting to their site in the remote north of the country remains challenging for the casual tourist.

In the meantime, friendly, convenient, and richly forested Northern Thailand has forged ahead. Long famous for its wide array of outdoor adventure sports, Chiang Mai now boasts a thrilling jungle-canopy adventure, and it's an easy, inexpensive day trip - only 45 minutes by road from the centre of town. An outfit called Tree Top Asia operates out of Mae Kompong, offering canopy adventures through old-growth forest, and cheap home stays and trekking through the lush jungle and forest.

Though Tree Top Asia has named its ride Flight of the Gibbon, there are no actual gibbons in the area. The company chose the name because gibbons are uniquely evolved for travelling through the forest by swinging from branch to branch, and because the owners are involved in gibbon rehabilitation and donate 10 per cent of their profit to centres around the country.

It's easier than you imagine. After donning a body harness, tour leader Brian from Sacramento gives our group of six "junglenauts" a brief set of pointers. Then, before you can say "me Tarzan", we take turns flying across a ravine to a sturdy platform attached to a massive old tree.

To slow down we have been taught to use an angular piece of bamboo, pulling down on the cable above us as we approach the platform.

This can prove a little tricky for the beginner - press down too hard with the bamboo and you might not even make it to the platform.

The situation is easily remedied by the cheerful staff who haul you in.

As we progress through the course of 15 stations, it seems as if we're climbing higher and higher into the trees.

Several times we're obliged to rappel down enormous trees with the aid of friction ropes - this is exhilarating. Gliding above the ravines you get an idea of the immense scale of the vegetation, and then there are the unprecedented views.

When all is said and swung, the thing that stays with you is your surroundings. Though the excitement of swinging from platform to platform gets the adrenaline pumping, it's the beauty of this high-altitude jungle that has one swooning in appreciation.

The last couple of stations are among the most impressive - a walk across a swaying wooden bridge, then a dramatic soar along the second-longest cable in the series to the highest tree platform of all, and finally, a long rappel back down.

Everyone giggles with glee as they remove their helmets and harnesses, but perhaps feel a little melancholy, too. We have literally come down to earth from a very natural high.

The Gibbon Experience in Laos provides visitors with bed and board in tree houses and the chance to cruise around the canopy all day.

Aside from my jungle adventure it was interesting to discover the cute village of Mae Kompong. Next time I'll stay a few days to take advantage of the place before it too gets "discovered" and the inevitable elephant camps and five-star hotels put up stakes.

Furthermore, nothing cool in Thailand ever remains "un-cloned" for long. Before you know it, jungle-canopy adventures will be sprouting up everywhere. For now though, Flight of the Gibbon is truly one of a kind, and one guests and their prime mates won't be able to stop whooping about.

Oliver Benjamin
Special to The Nation
CHIANG MAI

Bangkok Post

14th March 2008

Thrills in the treetops

Treetop Adventure Ecotours is offering an exhilarating opportunity to soar through a rainforest in Chiang Mai in the most exciting way possible. The company will take you high into the canopy using an ingenious series of treehouses, platforms, cables and "sky bridges" to cover a distance of some two kilometres and view life from a perspective previously reserved for a select group of researchers.

Mimic the way gibbons negotiate their way through the forest by taking a tour called the Flight of the Gibbon. It's a one-day excursion including about two hours in the canopy, one hour trekking along Mae Kompong waterfall plus about one hour for lunch and a visit to the village of Mae Kompong. Add 45 to 60 minutes' travelling time each way.

The concept of canopy tours originated in the lush rainforests of Costa Rica where adventurous biologists devised a system of cables and platforms that allowed them to study this previously inaccessible ecosystem. It wasn't long before this developed into a breathtaking eco-tourism activity that not only allowed people to enter and experience the upper realm of a rainforest, but raised awareness to the plight and beauty of the world's endangered indigenous forests.

The Chiang Mai tour has been designed to be easy for all. Participants descend along a downhill network, taking time to linger and relax at special places along the way and share their impressions with each other. Old-growth rainforest has several layers, all of which can be seen on this excursion.

For those more conservative in their thrill-seeking, Treetop Adventure Ecotours offers a shorter canopy tour, using the final four platforms in the network which are linked by a series of sky bridges. The firm donates 10 per cent of its profits to the preservation of gibbons.

For more details, visit www.treetopasia.com or phone 089-970-5511.