AIKIDO » 30 мар 2013, 04:07
Так, для информации, мож кому пригодится. Ответили на мое письмо. Запрашивал инфу по Гиббонам, на июль месяц. Прислали следующее:
Dear
Thanks for your mail and your interest in our conservation activities.
In July and August, a car will be leaving for the forest everyday. However,
the waterfall area is too challenging to access and only the classic program
is possible. Therefore, two classic programs are currently available:
3-day 2-night program, and
2-day 1-night program
The 3-day 2-night program
The initial walk to your tree house may theoretically take up
to 5 (five) to 7 (seven) hours long because on certain days, the car will not
make it to the end of the road. Guests to the Gibbon Experience,
in the rainy season, should be in good physical shape as the trek is challenging,
and be prepared to have a wet and muddy trip. Parts of the tree houses may
also be wet and not as clean as we would like them to be. Finally, the time actually
spent in the canopy will be shorter than in the dry season as a result of longer
walks. The rainy season is nevertheless the best season to discover the diversity
of colors, sounds and wild species of the Bokeo National Park: those who choose
to join are always rewarded.
_What to bring _ (you can find all of this next to our office)
Poncho, flashlight, mosquito repellent and gloves if your hands are delicate,
a bottle of water for the first trek (you can refill it once you have reached your tree house)
a long sleeve T-shirt. Please bring a small and light bag and let your big bag in our office.
If you have no appropriate shoes, you will find cheap (3 usd) and excellent plastic ones
next to our office (but the biggest size is 43). Please don t use sandals.
Think to protect your camera!
Departure dates and fares (per person, individuals or groups alike):
Classic Gibbon Experience: 2 350 000 Kips (advance online payment: approx. 290 USD or 240 Euro upon daily exchange rates )
departure every day.
*_The Gibbon Express 2-day 1-night program_*
Road access is one hour only and initial walk takes about three hour. A series of very long zip-lines then fly you from mountain to mountain to the heart of the Nam Kan National Park and to the most giant trees living now in the Lao PDR. However, only one gibbon family lives in that area so your chances to meet gibbons are low in this program.
Departure dates and fare (per person, individuals or groups alike)
Price: 1 400 000 Kips (advance online payment: approx. 180 USD or 145 Euro upon daily exchange rates )
Departure every day.
The Gibbon Experience includes:
* Exclusive access to the Bokeo Nam Kan National Park
* Transportation to and from the National Park
* Accommodation in a canopy-level tree house complete with running
water, semi-private comfortable bedrooms, and a spectacular view
* Fire-cooked meals
* Unlimited access to an extensive canopy cable-gliding network for
exploring the treetops
* Local guides with a good knowledge of the forest and a basic English
* Harnesses (guests should have waist perimeter < 120 cm and thigh perimeter < 80cm)
To make a *booking in advance*, please follow the next steps:
1- Send us an e-mail with your full name, passport number and
nationality, and indicate your date preference for joining the
Gibbon Experience.
2- We will get back to you by e-mail with a possible date.
3- E-mail us to say if the date is suitable for you.
4- A Paypal money request will then be sent to your e-mail address.
Follow the link and pay within 5 days the fare to the Gibbon Experience
through Paypal (secure online payment, you just need a
valid credit card or a Paypal account) to confirm your booking. Should
you fail to proceed to this on line payment within 5 days, your booking
will be cancelled.
Please note that to change your trip dates upon availabilities, you have
to give us as much notice as possible. In case you were to
cancel your trip, please refer to the _reimbursement in case of
cancellation _paragraph at the bottom of this e-mail.
5- Come to our office in Houayxay the day before departure (we close
at 7pm) to sign in. If you are coming from Louang Namtha by road
transportation and prefer to sleep in Ban Donchai instead, please
mention it in your e-mail and refer to the last paragraph of this e-mail.
To try a *last minute booking*, please come directly to our office.
PLEASE consider the use of cables only as a smart way to access the
canopy: making it the main purpose of your visit, you would lose out
most of the experience
I have attached more information below. Please read all the information
carefully before you make a booking.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gibbon Experience description for guests
*The Classic Gibbon Experience* is relaxing and peaceful, with only an
hour of essential walking. You choose how you want to spend your time,
there is no schedule; food will come when you are hungry, and the guides
will be around, at your service.
A group of twelve people departs on alternate days at 8:30 am for two
nights in the Bokeo Nam Kan National Park.
*The Waterfall Gibbon Experience* takes you deeper into the reserve,
trekking for two to three hours per day along the Nam Nga Valley.
The waterfall tree house has a fresh-water swimming hole at the bottom,
the others show sunsets overlooking several valleys or the Nam Nga
River.
Two groups of 8 people depart on alternate days at 8.30am and
9:00 am for two nights in the Bokeo National Park, swapping tree houses on the
second night.
Travel time from Houayxay to the village of Baan Toup is about 3 hrs. It
is a difficult, 83 km trip that is either dusty or muddy depending on
the time of year. In the last village you will be welcomed by local guides
who will take care of you from there. From the village, it is a
one-hour, mostly uphill hike to get to the canopy infrastructure. When
you arrive, you will put on a harness and glide across a cable to enter
the first tree house. There you will be informed about important things
to know in and around the tree houses. You will split up in smaller
groups and reach your other tree houses scattered in the National Park.
(1 to 3 hours of cabling and trekking depending on your tree house).
We offer a more private tree house for two people, which you can reserve
when booking.
On the first afternoon the guides will take you on a two-hour hike to
become familiar with the cable network. On the second day you can use
the cables, relax in your tree house or go for short hikes on your own.
Dawn, on day two and day three, is the best time for wildlife
encounters. The project received its name because the black gibbons
(Nomascus concolor lu) sing on most days and hearing them is an
experience unlike many others; however, The Gibbon Experience is not a
wildlife park. We are visitors in their territory, which is very
extensive, so we cannot guarantee gibbon sightings. On the third day you
will leave from the first tree house at approximately 10:00 am. Our
driver will then take you from Baan Toup to Houayxay unless you prefer
to wait for the bus to Louang Namtha from the National Park Gate, in which
case you will generally arrive in Louang Namtha the same evening.
Take only the essentials to your tree house, in other words, only those
items you are willing to carry for at least an hour. These should
include a *flashlight, *gloves or old socks and mosquito repellent.
Towels, mosquito net and bedding are provided in your tree house.
You may leave your large backpack in the office in Houayxay or in
the village of Baan Donchai if you plan to travel on to Louang Namtha.
Don't forget to charge your camera batteries ahead of time!
The Gibbon Experience is truly unique. We take great pride in the fact
that, as far as we know, there is nothing else like it in the world, and
we love to see our guests experiencing the magic that lasting memories
are made of. We look forward to sharing it with you!
You can find our office in Houayxay (pronounced "way sigh") on the main
road, just north of the immigration checkpoint (upriver) on the side of
the street closest to the Mekong. Make sure you pop in our office the
day before the car leaves to the forest, so we can tell you more about
our program and discuss the last important things before you leave the next day.
Please email or call to make a reservation. Thank you!
_________________________________________________________
INFORMATION FOR TRAVELERS COMING FROM LOUANG NAMTHA
BY BUS (3 or 4 hours):
Guests traveling from Louang Namtha whose advance payment is confirmed and who
wish to reduce the amount of time spent on the bus have the option to get off in
Baan Donchai, which is approximately two-thirds of the way to Houayxay.
Our driver will pick them up the following day before heading into the Park.
Accommodations in Baan Donchai are rustic and friendly; prices are comparable
to guest house prices. The bus leaves Louang Namtha at about 8am and reaches
Baan Donchai at about noon. Make sure the driver understands that you don't want
to go all the way to Houayxay; they are still not used to foreigners stopping in
this small village. To make sure that the bus driver fully understands,
tell him the name of the previous big village (Ban Tafa). Buy your
ticket (about 65 000 kips) at 6:00 in the morning, otherwise it may be
full. You could also ask someone in your Guest House to write "Baan
Donchai" in Lao so that you have something written to show the driver,
and you could remind him that you will be
getting off the bus before the other passengers. Mr. I-Daeng's restaurant and
guest house is located right by the Nam Ngao River with clean and
private rooms. If you choose the option of sleeping in Baan Donchai,
make sure to let us know so that we will know to pick you up there.
You can leave your big backpacks in Baan Donchai and take only a
small backpack into the forest. Make sure you bring a flashlight and
mosquito repellent. We will pick you up the following morning at Mr.
I-Daeng's restaurant in Baan Donchai at around 10.00am on the way into the Park.
Please don’t forget to sign the waiver form with our driver!
INFORMATION FOR TRAVELERS COMING FROM CHIANG MAI
BY BUS (6 hours) :
At the Chiang Mai bus station the price will be 211 Baths or 272 Baths (VIP bus).
Bus schedules:
Chiang Mai 6H30am / Chiang Khong 12H30pm Chiang Mai 8H30am / Chiang Khong 2H30pm
Chiang Mai 1pm / Chiang Khong 7pm: TO LATE TO CROSS THE BORDER!
We advise you to take the bus in Chiang Mai in the early morning. If you
take a bus at noon you are likely to arrive too late at the border
crossing in Chiang Kong, regardless what bus drivers may say! The border
crossing closes at 6.00pm, sometimes even a bit earlier.
You need to be in Houayxay the day before you depart for the Gibbon
Experience.
*Reimbursement in case of cancellation*
For obvious booking reasons, we value early cancellations as opposed to
late cancellations. At the end of each month, we will refund any canceled booking
according to the following rates:
* If cancellation occurs more than 7 days before departure date, you
will receive a 90 % pay back through Paypal.
* If cancellation occurs between 7 to 2 days before departure date,
you will receive a 50% pay back.
* If cancellation occurs later (or never), you will not be reimbursed.**
