Flying Hanuman

I had the pleasure of trying out the Flying Hanuman zip line experience on Monday. It’s a relatively new operation similar to the Flight of the Gibbon experience that’s so popular in Chiang Mai. It’s located in the hills of Kathu a short distance inland from Patong. There are three programs, program A with the full 28 platforms followed by lunch at their restaurant, program B with 28 platforms but no lunch and a much shorter program C with just 16 platforms.

I did program B so I can’t comment on the lunch. I think anyone choosing program C would regret the choice as it misses all the longest zip lines which come later.

There are four “flights” per day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. I went at 1pm and the adventure lasted 2 hours. You have to be there 30 minutes before to register, get assigned to your guides and fit the equipment. Afterwards you are given a t-shirt and a plate of fruit before being transferred back to your hotel so the whole program is about 3 hours plus transfer time. Each team has two guides so there is always one guide on the platform that you are flying from and one on the platform that you are flying to. Out guides were a lot of fun, always laughing and joking. They are very safety conscious, keeping you and themselves hooked in to safety lines at all times.

There were 9 people in my team and that seemed to be the norm, the platforms up the trees aren’t big enough to take many more people. There was always a team just in front of us and one just behind us. The guides keep everyone moving along but it’s never rushed. The smaller zip lines are at the start of the course and get progressively longer. There are 15 zip lines in all so not all 28 platforms are connected by zip lines. There are also rope bridges and a couple of abseil points.

The longest zip line is 400 metres long, it takes about 45 seconds to travel down at speeds reaching 60 km per hour. The highest abseil is 40m. The course and the setting is very impressive, you are completely immersed in the jungle apart from at a couple of the highest platforms when you can see across the island to Phuket Town and out to sea.

The course is not too physically tiring although there is an uphill trail walk at the start and some climbing up spiral tree staircases. The maximum weight limit is 120kg. They say that children under 4 are not recommended, I reckon it would be pretty scary for a young child of 4 or 5. It’s not dangerous, everyone is strapped in, but it is high and kids have to fly by themselves, there are no joint harnesses.

I would highly recommend the Flying Hanuman, it’s one of the best Phuket tours that I’ve done in a while.

More details of schedule and prices here: www.snorkelingthailand.com/zip-line-phuket