One of our guides (22) zipped in at 6:30 just as V and I were waking up. We opted for some pre-breakfast zipping while Arna and Gerlinde chose to go on a walk in search of animals – the rest slept in. It took some coaxing to get the second guide out of bed and onto the trails but before long we were zipping through the early morning mist – brilliant. The dew ensured that being the first on a line meant a free shower. We didn’t go too far but got a chance to ride the longest (and I think highest) line in park a couple of times before heading back. The noise of the lines and people shouting “okay” to indicate that the line is clear is enough to scare away any animals. Arna and Gerlinde had more luck. They spotted a baby cobra munching a frog (to their guide’s surprise) and some gibbons (unfortunately a little obscured by mist).

Breakfast was to usher in an unwelcome trend. More rice and veg with a little egg on the side. In the end every meal consisted of the same set of ingredients presented in the same bland fashion. It was a little disappointing. Jessica and Christian joined us looking sweaty and muddy from their early morning hike and our guides explained the plan for the day. Zip and hike to a distant tree-house where we would stop for lunch before heading back. Anything with more zips sounded good to me.

Dropping off of our tree-house (#5) was probably the scariest one. Most of he others start on a platform and the ground gradually falls away before you pop out of the trees into open air but from the tree-house you are stepping straight off a ledge. The hiking between zips was tedious and our guides tried to entertain us by identifying plants and insects with a fair amount of horseplay in between. At least there were hardly any leeches but apparently there have been sightings of tigers and bears in the park (very rare).

Lunch at tree-house #7 was less of the same but the venue was good. Definitely the snazziest tree-house complete with bar-fridge. As we sat eating with ever longer teeth a bank of clouds rolled in and it started to pour down – wet roads could mean a very long hike out tomorrow. We met an American girl who was working in the park as an English teacher for the guides. She had hiked 9 hours to get in the week before. Thankfully the rain subsided and the sun came out to add some humidity to the mix as we backtracked to our tree-house. Arna, Gerlinde, Nick, Jacob and I stopped at the long zip line to loop around it a few (okay maybe 5) times. We had a ball on the two lines, one at least 20m above the other. I managed to stop in the middle of the higher line to take some photos and watch the others zip past underneath me at crazy speeds. Hanging in the open it doesn’t take long before you start to question the security of your position. It got ‘uncomfortable’ and I started to hand-over-hand my way to the far end. Back at base Gerlinde and I decided to do one of the shorter loops around the tree-house to finish off the day and burn some time while the others had a shower. A fantastic day of zipping through the jungle !

Dinner – oh dear – more of the same but without coffee and tea as Gerlinde’s shouts across the valley went unanswered. More great conversation, fun and distribution of the munchies we had been hoarding. Unfortunately one man down – Jonny was feeling terrible. It was a really early night for all. Its a great group of people. Mostly atheist, or non-religious, all with interesting stories and some with hillarious bug phobias. Another wonderful day in the jungle.

[Pictures: zipping in the mist. Breakfast delivery. Nick out on a wire]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi