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Mountain tribes in northern Thailand celebrate their freedom - with an entertaining swing festival.

The Akha people were once native to China before being being conquered by rival factions and forced to flee to Burma in therapy 1900s.

Following decades of struggle many of them settled in the mountainous Chiang Rai province. The group - which has more than 40,000 living in the region - now celebrate their freedom once a year with a colourful swinging and dance festival.

Footage from the Akha Swing Festival on Sunday (08/09) shows villagers soaring into the sky on a rope swing suspended from 30ft high bamboo poles.

Women in hand-woven costumes and brightly decorated hats are pulled on the rope while the men-folk are able to use their strength to propel themselves and whiz back and fourth.

The symbolic act celebrates throwing off the bonds of constraint and is also the tribe's new year celebrations, in line with the peak of the rainy season.