NAM KAN NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA THE GIBBON EXPERIENCE

The Gibbon Experience is an innovative forest and wildlife conservation project channeling income from an ecotourism enterprise into a comprehensive program of locally-run natural resources management. The site, Nam Kan National Park, spans over 136,000 hectares of land bordering the Nam Kan NPA. The project uses a business model which values traditional knowledge, empowers local communities to sustainably manage their own environmental assets and ensures the ongoing survival of flora and fauna populations in Bokeo. Visitors to the Gibbon Experience stay overnight in treetop houses with spectacular views of the surrounding forest, and traverse the canopy using a network of zip lines, in search of the forest wildlife. There is also an option for extended deep forest trekking. Ecotourism is environmentally responsible tourism which provides local people with income, reducing poverty and pressure on natural resources. For example, it gives incentives to local hunters to become tour guides instead of hunting. Ecotourism activities earn money for the National Protected Area office so that it can pay for patrols and other important protection activities