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Whitewater Rafting: Choose from mild, family trips to wild, spectacular trips on some of the most extraordinary and senic spots on some of South Africa's roughest rivers. Multi-day trips through the wilderness also available.
Hot Air Ballooning: Fly at the break of dawn over African wilderness and experience the tranquility of Africa as you watch wildlife from this vantage point, landing for breakfast in the bush!
Abseiling: Are you into, or have you always wanted to abseil? You need no prior experience, just a sense of adventure. Try a half-day abseil package or combine abseiling with one of the other adventure activities for an adrenaline pumping experience!
King Swing: On top of all the natural adrenalin-inducing beauty, you will have the opportunity to jump the "Big Swing", offering a heart-stopping 65 metres of free fall. This 19-storey jump takes less than 3 seconds as you step off onto one of the highest and most spectacular cable gorge swings in the world. To warm you up, you can fly across the gorge on a 131m highwire ("foefie" slide) 80m above the bottom of the abyss, and witness the breathtaking Graskop Falls as rarely seen before. Located on the outskirts of town at the Graskop Gorge, this breathtaking activity is just right to get those adventurous juices flowing. Not for the faint-hearted.
Bungee Jumping in South Africa: For most people, looking over the edge of a 216m bridge might be quite enough of a thrill. For others though, throwing themselves off the bridge is a far better pastime. Known as bungee jumping. Bungee jumping in South Africa has earned a global reputation for its claim to having the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Positioned along the gorgeous Garden route, the Bloukrans Bungee Jump will send you plummeting 216m, headfirst, towards the bottom. Because of the extreme height of this bungee jump, a full body harness is used, instead of the traditional ankle harness. The harness, combined with a technique called ‘pendulum bungee technology’, makes for a very comfortable jump - considering the fact that you’re jumping off a 216m high bridge!
Canopy Tours: If you really take pleasure in nature, canopy tours are definitely for you. Canopy tours involve sliding from one high level forest or canyon platform to another along a steel cable suspended up to thirty metres above the forest or canyon floor. So, if you are up to the challenge and not afraid of heights, book yourself on a Canopy Tour!
In South Africa there are currently 3 locations for canopy tours.
Tsitsikamma canopy tours. Situated at Storms River on the Garden Route, this was the first tree top canopy tour built in South Africa. The tour consists of 10 platforms and 10 slides, the longest of which is 100m.
Karkloof canopy tours. Situated just north of Howick in the KwaZulu Natal midlands, it consists of eight slides, the longest of which is 170m. Emphasis on this tour is on the the forest plants and birdlife. Some slides are through the canopy, whilst you also are able to fly above the canopy for a while.
Magaliesberg canyon tours. Situated in the Magaliesberg, the second oldest mountain range in the world, about 90 minutes from Johannesburg and Pretoria. These platforms have been placed against spectacular cliffs which offer breathtaking views of the Ysterhout Kloof. Here you are mostly gliding above the trees. Here you are able to get a fabulous look at the scenery, plants and perhaps some animals.
Great White Shark Diving:
If you've got the guts, this is the point at which you'll go shark cage diving to get an even closer view of the Great White Shark... you'll hop into one of the cages and go diving with the Great White Sharks to get an even closer view. You don't need a scuba diving qualification to go shark cage diving as you don't need air tanks.
Great White Sharks have become a new addition to South Africa's Big Five in game-watching. Now you can get close to these fear-inspiring and fascinating creatures, with professional guides.
Gansbaai has become known as the Great White Shark capital of the world.
Sharks can also be seen in False Bay.
It is above all, an educational experience, dispelling many of the myths about these creatures. Sharks are attracted to the boat, and underwater cage diving is also offered. Apart from sharks, these excursions usually come across a wide variety of other marine and bird life.
Ostrich Rider - Julianna Parolisi. My week in the
bush was spectacular, in a very connected-to-nature and exciting
sort of way.
We woke with the rising sun every morning and hiked for 4 hours
tracking various animals with our expert leader, then had a huge
brunch and siesta time, then an afternoon/evening game drive to
check out various waterholes. We stayed in tents on platforms along
an animal-inhabited riverbed, with such luxuries as warm water
provided by solar panels and lanterns to light the pathways so as
not to stumble into roving wildlife in the middle of the night.
We fell asleep to a nightly chorus of hyenas laughing, elephants
snacking, leopards calling and various other unknown forms of
wildlife marching around our campsite. Absolutely brilliant!!
Each day in the bush brought a new surprise, introduced me to new
creatures, and carried a delicious spirit of adventure; and each
evening we sat by a roaring campfire under spectacular stars,
drinking hot tea and recounting the day's highlights. Some of my
favorite highlights included:
- Rounding a bend on one of our morning hikes to find ourselves face
to face with a herd of 300+ buffalo. We eyed them, they eyed us in
return, and we all stood there motionlessly in awe of each other.
What a thrill!
- Finding fresh lion tracks and following them off into the thick
bush, with me at the back of the line, looking over my shoulder with
great frequency.... when suddenly a flurry of wings and squawks made
us jump in great surprise, as some resting birds flew off in a
tizzy... I'm not sure who was more startled, us or them!
- Being woken at 2am by our lead guide and told “get in the jeep,
quick, there's a leopard stalking prey very close by!” We
surreptitiously followed the leopard's call, and after considerable
bushwhacking with the vehicle, we found her, beautiful and muscular,
slinking along in the grass. It was definitely a new and unique sort
of adrenalin rush to be chasing after a leopard through the bush in
the middle of the night!
The whole week was my ideal way of experiencing the African bush, an
adventure that I will not forget!
Tales from the Sea, my diving in Sodwana Bay was fantastic, and I
saw some wonderful creatures that I had never seen before, like
free-swimming Lionfish, Paperfish, and Honeycomb Moray Eels!
Then I had the great fortune of having an encounter with the biggest
fish in the sea, the enormous, gentle, and beautiful Whaleshark!
We were bouncing out on the boat for my very last dive, when I heard
the words every diver dreams to hear: "get on your mask and fins,
there's a Whaleshark at the surface!" Having only ever seen one
before in my life, and that one very briefly, I was incredibly
excited to have this chance. I peered over the edge while quickly
pulling on my fins and mask, and saw that this fish was actually
BIGGER than the dive boat we were sitting on!! We quietly slipped in
the water just in front of this 25m long fish, and WOW- its huge
wide mouth was literally 3 feet away from me!
It was so close that I literally had to move myself out of the way
so he didn't run into me, as I slowly inched to the side, it passed
right in front of my face and looked at me with a large soulful eye
before breaking the surface of the ocean. I hung there frozen in
absolute awe while the entire length of his spotted graceful body
passed in front of me, which took a long time. This close encounter
was one of the most amazing moments I've ever had in the ocean! When
I close my eyes I can still see the huge mouth and eye right in
front of me, and the shape of the enormous gently swinging tail. |
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