the new Canopy tour

Yesterday I had to take some photos of the Antigua Rainforest Canopy tour and was quite surprised by how nice it all looked. As you can see from my photos, it is mostly set up in between a huge valley in the middle of Antigua’s “rainforest”, Fig Tree Drive. I didn’t actually do the trip but there was a group of about 12 people who all seemed to be fit ranging in age from twenty somethings to fifty somethings. The setting is beautiful and I must say that I can’t imagine a better one in terms of set up and position. It really is worth a look if nothing else as its all soo pretty.

I must say that although I didn’t actually do it, it looked more difficult than I thought it would be. These types of tours are usually set up for a huge range of tourists who generally are not that young and fit. After all, Antigua’s tourism product is marketed more towards “mature” adults. Anyway, it’s my mother’s 60th birthday this weekend and I was thinking of sending her and some of her friends on the tour, but have changed my mind since then.

My mom will be an extremely fit 60 year old who teaches yoga every Thursday so I thought she would be able to do it no prob, but after seeing several of the guests pull out ½ way through yesterday I think I will select another gift for her. The tour is awesome in my opinion, but not for everyone just as my Xtreme Circumnav isn’t for everyone, but I better explain why I think so. The Canopy tour isn’t all about zipping along from tree to tree on suspended cables as many would imagine. If it were just that I think the tour would be boooring. Instead there are many other aspects to the interesting tour. The obstacles or “challenge elements” as they call them will challenge most people for the first time no matter how fit they may be. An example is the Elvis walk or something like that….:While connected to cables from safety lines you have to use ropes hanging from above to help yourself walk over steps that are attached at good distances between each other. This is all done at about 20 feet from the ground and made me kinda scared just watching. Of course all 100% safe, but suitably called a challenge. Safety is never an issue and the “rangers” do a great job of making sure everyone is all looked after properly. The gear, hardware and set up are all top notch and better than I think will exist anywhere else. No money has been spared in setting this up, and after you have done my tours (wink wink), I think you should definitely check this tour out. In fact, you don’t have to do the challenge elements and could even walk through most of the course too. I may take the Adventure Antigua team there on a staff outing next week one day. That would be cool!