Gibbons in Laos

There isn't a more exhilarating way to explore the jungles of Laos than the Gibbon Experience, says Richard Waters in the Sunday Times. Participants trek for three days through unspoiled rainforest near the Thai border - home to tigers, clouded leopards and, of course, gibbons - and take the occasional shortcut using a network of ziplines crisscrossing the forest canopy. Ziplining - gliding along a wire above the treetops for 500 yards at a time, suspended from a flimsy harness - is like "living out your Neverland fantasy". Nights, too, are spent elevated above the forest floor, in treetop cabins. The Experience arose partly as a response to the problem of gibbon poaching in the area; now the poachers work as guides, earning twice their former income.
The Gibbon Experience (00856 84 21 20 21) costs £135pp. ·