The Mud Experience

For our first three days in Lao, Claire & I joined a trek into the Bokeo National Park rain forest with The Gibbon Experience group (www.gibbonx.org).

The trek involved a 4 hour walk into the rain forest including very high zip-wires/flying foxes across the valleys, two nights in a tree house in the the rain forest canopy, and then a walk out. I even took the optional 6 hour walk on the second day. Ideally you can see or hear gibbons near the tree houses but we weren't so lucky.

The zip-wires were a definite highlight. Pushing off from the platform you quickly gather pace as you whip passed bamboo and trees, with a rush break out of the last tree and then sail over the rain forest canopy 30ms below, the floor 2oms further, and have views stretching kilometres away over the rain forest. It's the closest I'll come to flying and only temporarily scary on the longer glides if you think about what you're doing.



Another highlight was the opportunity to be in the rain forest, which is amazingly detailed a ground level and awe inspiring at canopy level. Noise never stops in the rain forest, even if our sightings of wildlife were low.

At the first local hut we stayed they had a pet baby Asian bear which was highly cute and pat-able. They had no plan of what to do with it when it reached adulthood.

The walks were particularly demand as, having chosen to take the trip in the wet season, most of the paths had turned to deep mud. Living in the mud were also highly active leeches. At one point I was eking along over a very deep mud patch, one foot on the less-slippery edges of the path when I looked down to see several large leeches waving up at me, begging me to slip. I didn't slip that time, but did on many occasions. Amazingly Claire & I managed to only get blood-sucked on one occasion each, though vigilance did lead to a lot of picking & flicking of leeches off shoes, legs and feet.


Overall the trip was rewarding, mixing beauty with very difficult, strenuous slogs through the mud. When we finished, muscles aching and leeches removed, the memory of flying, seeing the rain forest at first hand and a sense of accomplishment meant it was a positive experience.