Chaoyang Park opens treetop adventure zone

 

Chaoyang Park's treetop adventure zone is only the second of its kind in the city. Photo provided by GoApe Park

 

By Wang Yu

Fans of Avatar’s jungle action sequences will delight in Chaoyang Park’s new GoApe Tree-top Adventure zone opened last Saturday.

The course is made up of ladders, bridges, swings, nets, trapezes and giant zip lines that allow people to weave their way through the wooded area. Participants, dressed in protective gear and attached to safety lines, can swing from tree to tree and zip over trees and streams.

Anybody from ages 5 to 70 can run the course, which is divided into low, medium and high levels of difficulty. It usually takes one to two hours to complete the course, said the Chaoyang Park management.

For the next 12 months, the park will note the fastest time that groups of three and six can navigate the course. Those that finish the quickest will receive a prize.

Participants will be given a safety briefing by instructors, and inexperienced participants need to start with the easy route, the park management said. All its instructors, the park said, have completed a week-long training program, which includes first aid and rescue techniques.

The installations and protective equipment will also be checked every day to ensure safety.
In addition, the course and its operating procedures will be independently inspected once a year by a specialist in engineering and risk management. Generali China Insurance will also provide insurance to course participants. 

Happy Gorilla Tree-Top Adventure, builder and operator of the eco-adventure zone, constructed China’s first such course in Shunyi District’s Green Resort last year. The course may be a novelty to Chinese people, but it has been a common feature of European adventure parks since the 1990s.

Chaoyang Park’s course follows European design and safety standards, the park management said, adding that before construction began, tree experts such as Professor Zhang Zhiyi from Beijing Forestry University inspected the site to ensure the project would not harm the park’s age-old trees.

The management said that every year, the zone will be closed for at least 10 days for upgrades and maintenance, and to give the trees a break from the action.

GoApe Tree-Top Adventure Park
Where: East 7 entrance of Chaoyang Park, 1 Chaoyanggongyuan Nan Lu, Chaoyang District
Open: 9 am – 9 pm
Admission: Beginner’s course 180 yuan for children, 90 yuan for adults; medium course 150 for children, 180 for adults, difficult course 90 yuan
Tel: 400 699 2909