What Is It?
The Gibbon Experience, located in Northern Laos, is a once-in-a-lifetime jungle living opportunity. Gibbons are small apes that are scattered all over the Nam Kan National Park. Many people think this experience is all about Gibbon sightings, but there is so much more to it. After returning from this incredible adventure, you will have a different perspective of the jungle. By living in the world’s tallest treehouses, ziplining to destinations, and trekking through the national park, you will get to experience the jungle from different vantage points during different parts of the day.
Here is your guide on how to do it all!
The Treehouses
The Gibbon Experience has built several treehouses located in different areas of the National Park. Depending on what kind of experience you sign up for Classic, Waterfall, or Honeymoon, your treehouse will vary. I got the chance to tour most of them and they were all incredible. The treehouses were all built by local Laotian people with little to no machinery. That’s right, hand-built. Heavy supplies were labored across the jungle and the first wooden planks were placed in by climbing up a tree! If you’re worried about safety, I can assure you the treehouses are sturdy and well built.
A word of caution: This is NOT A LUXURY ACCOMMODATION.
Too many people left reviews complaining about the lack of luxurious items in the houses. If you are an Instagram traveler who just wants nice pictures and ultimate western comforts this may not be for you. Expect a mattress, mosquito net, towels, and a cold shower (with the world’s most beautiful view). Frankly, if this was a luxurious experience, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. As the guides would often tell us, “You are here to live in the animals’ home, not the other way around.”
Ziplining
So how do you access these tall treehouses? Well, that’s where the fun begins. All treehouses can only be accessed via one mode of transportation, ziplines! Yes, every morning and evening you will step into and out of your accommodation by attaching your harness to a zipline and flying across the jungle. Even dinner is ziplined in. We were amazed on our first day when we saw a man zipping into our house carrying a cooking pot in one hand. It’s the coolest way I’ve ever had dinner served to me.
During the day there will also be plenty of ziplining as you explore the jungle. You will alternate between walking/trekking and zip-lining around. There were many different ziplines throughout the jungle and all of them had breathtaking views. The exhilaration of flying in the air as you take in the beautiful views around you is priceless. This was hands down the best zip-lining I have done anywhere in the world.
Day Schedule
Your daily schedule will vary slightly depending on which experience option you choose, Classic, or Waterfall ( more on this later). The general premise between both options is fairly similar.
The day is spent primarily exploring the jungle. A guide will lead you through the park as you trek and zip from place to place. If you have an awesome guide like we did (shout out to D-One), he will also teach you a lot about the wildlife and vegetation during your exploration. We learned about all sorts of plants and herbal medicines that local villagers use. There were times we’d even pick some plants and roots and add them to our dinner for the day.
The nights are usually much more relaxed and consist of dinner, sunset views, and fun drinking/card games in your treehouse. As you sit, laugh, and socialize hundreds of feet above the animals of jungle, you can’t help but smile and think “What even is my life right now.”
Classic or Waterfall?
The Gibbons experience offers you two experience choices when signing up. You can pick between the Classic or Waterfall option.There are three main differences between the Waterfall and Classic Experiences.
1. Trekking
The treehouse for the Waterfall Experience is located deeper into the national park and thus requires more trekking than the Classic. If you love trekking this may be a better option for you. The Classic experience treks for about 30-60 minutes a day whereas the Waterfall does about 2-3 hours a day.
2. Isolation
More people do the Classic Experience which means more treehouses next to one another. With the Waterfall option, you are in total isolation as there are no other treehouses or people nearby.
3. Gibbons
The Classic treehouses are built closer to where the Gibbons live so your odds of seeing them increase. You also spend less time hiking in the Classic so you have more downtime to look out for Gibbons. If seeing Gibbons is your ultimate goal, Classic is your best bet.
I should also add that the Waterfall Experience is mislabeled. Do not sign up for this option for its waterfalls. In reality, the better name for the experience would be the “Trekking Option” as it is the main difference between the two.
You can’t really go wrong with any option. Almost no one had bad things to say about this experience. Focus on the three differentiating factors above, make a choice best suited for you, and JUST DO THIS! You won’t regret it.
Tip: The company also offers a private Honeymoon treehouse if you and your significant other are the adventurous couple type.
The Ultimate Mission
If the entire experience is not enough, the project has an added benefit since it was created as a nature conservation program. This isn’t one of those gimmick nature conservation programs either. The guides, locals, and owners truly care about protecting wildlife in the park. From the start of our tour, our guide D-One was picking up every piece of trash he saw along the trek. The company as a whole moves treehouses if they determine it is invading the animal’s natural habitat. Some of the money that you pay for the experience will also go towards programs created to help prevent animal hunting and forest destruction.
The Cost
Depending on the season, a 2 night 3 day experience will cost about $300 Euros. You can find out more information and book on the official Gibbon Experience website
Overall Reaction
WOW. If I could give this 6 stars I would. This was one of the greatest travel experiences I have had to date. Seeing and hearing the wildlife from above, swinging through the jungle-like monkeys, picking plants to eat, and jumping in waterfalls to wash off sweat was all as authentic as it gets. I left this experience feeling as if I had been a part of the jungle during my time there. Going to sleep and waking up to the sights and sounds of jungle life around you is surreal on so many different levels.
The experience is pricey at 300 Euros for 2 nights but this is one of the top travel experiences I have had without a doubt. It’s a one of a kind experience not found anywhere else in the world.
Wonderful account Nishil. Very inspiring.
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This is a gorgeous treehouse accommodation that I’ve seen here! I wouldn’t be surprised if it only has the basics after all this is a treehouse! I am jealous with your amazing experience 😀
Interesting,, houses only accessible by zipline. That certainly makes it very safe. How many gibbons did you see and how close did you get to them?
This is interesting but staying at a house only acceptable by zipline seems to be like too much of an effort lol. Although the place is really gorgeous and the surroundings too.
When I was in Laos I missed having the Gibbon experience because luck of money. I am thinking to come back one day, but wondering if this tour is eco-friendly and doesn’t disturn animals too much? Do they feed the gibbons? The houses and zip lines looks absolutely tempting!
Wow! This is something I really want to do now. Accessing houses by Ziplining, and staying close to Gibbons in Jungle- quite interesting. These are the type of experiences we really enjoy on our vacation. But definitely it is a pricey game. Hopefully someday for sure. Thanks for sharing this up.
This is an amazing experience. I would love to experience the Gibbon one and stay in one of the crazy treehouses along with those sunset view and dinner as you had mentioned. Also, it is no less than a 6-star experience as it is completely natural. It’s a must experience in Northern Laos, indeed.
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