by Charles Munkee

Would you like to see the tropical forests from the tree tops the way the monkeys do and swing through the jungle like Tarzan? Or fly through the forest like an eagle, all without breaking your neck? Take a canopy tour. You might even get to see a monkey, or all other manner of wildlife.

Originating in Costa Rica ten years ago, the idea is simplicity itself.  The participant is first suited in a repelling harness, which straps around the waist and thighs and given a pair of leather gloves. After a lecture on procedures by the guides, the participant climbs a ladder to a fiber glass platform suspended by steel cables about 15 meters up in a large tree. A rope hangs along the length of the ladder, which the participant is connected to with a fall arrester. Once you reach the platform, you are hooked to a rope running around the platform. In other words, you couldn’t hit the ground if you tried to jump. From that platform there is a steel cable or nylon rope, called zip lines, strung to another platform in another stout tree down hill. The participant’s repelling harness is hooked to a pulley wheel on top of the cable. Sit down, let the cable take your weight, push off and let gravity do the rest. Maximum acceleration is about seven meters a second.