Flight of the Gibbon, Chiang Mai, Thailand

For an eco-friendly and fantastic outing for people of all ages take a trip to the Flight Of The Gibbon when you visit Chiang Mai. This adventure features at the top of the bucket list for travellers who go to Chiang Mai. There are a few cheaper, inferior zips on offer by other companies but they cannot compare with the original and ever popular "Flight of the Gibbon" which easily retains the title of the best and safest ziplining experience you will ever have. It is almost double the size of its nearest competitor.

The maximum weight for participants is 125 kg (275 lbs) and each person must be at least 1 meter (3 feet 3 inches) tall to fit in the harness properly. You can rent a GoPro video camera to capture the whole experience.

Your day starts out by being collected from your accommodation in Chiang Mai and driven about 45 minutes in an air-conditioned van to the village of Mae Kampong high in the mountains East of Chiang Mai. After you place all your non-essentials (backpacks etc) in secure lockers you will be placed in small groups of 6 to 9 people, and allocated 2 sky rangers to look after your group. You will be fitted with a helmet and safety harness equipment and then taken a short drive down to the starting point where the sky rangers will go through the safety procedures to ensure you have a fun but safe time.

Over the next 3 hours you will have fun ziping through the treetops, going across sky bridges, going down spiral staircases around tall trees, taking a walk through the rain forest and abseiling down really tall trees. The whole way you will be laughing and whooping at the thrill of it all. The ziplines are mostly single zips but there are several double zips where you get to go over with a partner. Flight of the Gibbon has the longest single zip line anywhere in South East Asia, it is around 800 meters long.

The sky rangers keep a close eye on everyone to make sure that safety is paramount. They are also a fountain of knowledge on the local animal and plant life and point out items like the local fruit, coffee, tea and pepper trees. They will keep an eye out for the Gibbon monkeys so that you can have the chance to see them playing in the trees in the wild.

After you finish your zip line adventure you are driven back to the starting point where you have the opportunity to purchase photos that were taken of you as you were ziping around (well worth the small cost) then it is off to the restaurant for drinks and a great lunch. After lunch you are driven down to the nearby Mae Kampong waterfalls for time to explore them. After the waterfalls you have option to visit the local village of Mae Kampong to experience life in a local village. From there you are driven back to your accommodation, or to the Segway Gibbon office if you elected to do the 2 hour Segway ride around Chiang Mai. (TIP - Buying a Zip and Segway combo ticket will save you around 1500THB).

Whilst the Flight of the Gibbon is a great adventure for the whole family the owners are not just there to make money. They are committed eco-tourism operators who strongly believe in giving back to the land and the local people. They taught the locals communities about reforestation and with their assistance they have already planted over 30,000 new trees in the jungle with many more to be planted in the future. The whole mountain area around the zip line was devoid of any gibbon monkeys for decades as they had been poached to be used as pets of for their meat. The operators went about buying the surviving animals back and relocated them to Mae Kampong. Here the rescued gibbons were nursed back to good health and released back into the wild.

For current pricing, bookings and more information on this fantastic venue visit the Flight of the Gibbon website.

The Flight of the Gibbon operators also run the Segway Gibbon city tours around Chiang Mai. For a fun couple of hours jump on a segway with local guides and see the back streets and alleys and temples around Chiang Mai's old city. For current pricing and more information see the Segway Gibbon website.

For other adventures to try see our Chiang Mai Activities page for a big range of choices.

Flight of the Gibbon - Chiang Mai