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September 2, 2017 | Last Modified: 2017

Travel Experience

The Gibbon Experience is a ‘tourism-based conservation project’ that takes you through the Nam Kan National Park in Laos, by zip-lining your way between tree-houses. This project began 12 years ago by a French man who had a mission to protect the forest from poachers, logging and the destruction of agriculture.

Responsibility

The Gibbon Experience project in Laos was given a mandate to think and act differently. Since 1996, we have dreamt and ensured a sustainable future for the Bokeo forest. The Gibbon Experience currently provides full time jobs to over 120 people. The first step of our project was to put together a team of 5 forest guards, selected among the best tribal hunters living in the forest. Funded with occasional donations, the team was experimental and the first of its kind in the Lao PDR. The team’s primary focus is on illegal logging, hunting, bomb fishing and land use. The Gibbon Experience also considers reforestation in and around the Nam Kan National Park a strategic long-term tool to complement day-to-day conservation activities. Since 2006, the Gibbon Experience project has offered free or low-cost land flattening and irrigation services to farmers willing to switch to irrigated paddy rice cultivation. Since inception, we flattened a total of 90 hectares benefiting over 120 families.

Business Case

Protect resources and transform the economy. We believe that only local people with a proper mandate are capable of truly monitoring and protecting the forest from external logging and poaching. Villagers can make a non-destructive living from their unique environment, by protecting the forest and farming the lower altitude flat lands. Our team now proves that taking care of the ancient forest can be a profitable activity for all.

Google Map

The Gibbon Experience is a ‘tourism-based conservation project’ that takes you through the Nam Kan National Park in Laos, by zip-lining your way between tree-houses. This project began 12 years ago by a French man who had a mission to protect the forest from poachers, logging and the destruction of agriculture.

The Gibbon Experience project in Laos was given a mandate to think and act differently. Since 1996, we have dreamt and ensured a sustainable future for the Bokeo forest. The Gibbon Experience currently provides full time jobs to over 120 people. The first step of our project was to put together a team of 5 forest guards, selected among the best tribal hunters living in the forest. Funded with occasional donations, the team was experimental and the first of its kind in the Lao PDR. The team’s primary focus is on illegal logging, hunting, bomb fishing and land use. The Gibbon Experience also considers reforestation in and around the Nam Kan National Park a strategic long-term tool to complement day-to-day conservation activities. Since 2006, the Gibbon Experience project has offered free or low-cost land flattening and irrigation services to farmers willing to switch to irrigated paddy rice cultivation. Since inception, we flattened a total of 90 hectares benefiting over 120 families.

Protect resources and transform the economy. We believe that only local people with a proper mandate are capable of truly monitoring and protecting the forest from external logging and poaching. Villagers can make a non-destructive living from their unique environment, by protecting the forest and farming the lower altitude flat lands. Our team now proves that taking care of the ancient forest can be a profitable activity for all.

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