Flight of the Gibbons

The most fun tour we have taken so far was zip-lining through the rainforest on “The Flight of the Gibbons”. We started out very early in the morning when the tour van picked us up at 6:15. After about an hour's drive, it stopped at a small village perched on the side of the mountain in the middle of the rainforest. Everyone piled out of the van and divided into small groups of four to six people. Jack and I were in the last group, so we watched as the others got ready to go. I was trying not to think about the actual zip-lining part, because I didn’t know what to expect and was really uncertain if I would like it. It was finally our turn and we were buckled into harnesses, had our eyeglasses tied on so they wouldn’t fall off, and put on helmets. Our group got back in the van and went a little further up the mountain, then hiked about 100 meters to the first platform.

One of our two guides gave us a talk about safety, told us what we were going to do, what our equipment was for and how to use it, where the safety line was, showed us where and how to hold on, and where NOT to hold on. Then we started. One guide would hook onto the zip-line and go ahead of us to catch us when we came across. The other guide would make sure we were hooked onto the line correctly, that our equipment was secure, and then helped us off the platform to go across.

The first time I was thinking, “OMG, I’m zip-lining.” After a few seconds, it was, “OMG THIS IS FUN!” It was fast and exhilarating. We spent the next two hours going from platform to platform, getting hooked on and flying across to the next one. I felt very safe the whole time. When you sit down in the harness, it just feels like you’re sitting in a chair. I didn’t feel like I was dangling 100 feet above the ground while flying along at who knows how many miles an hour.



So, why is this tour called “Flight of the Gibbons”? Gibbons are a species of ape that live in the rainforest, all around where we were. They are very shy about showing themselves, but we could hear them the whole morning we were flying around their rainforest. Kind of cool.

I put a new album up of our adventures. Our group was kind of small, so one of the guides got everyone’s camera and took pictures of us the whole time, and he got some good shots.

I added zip-lining to my top-10 list of the most fun things I have ever done. In my life.