South Africa – Bungee Jumping off the Bloukrans Bridge

The Bloukrans Bridge | *image: Flickr

South Africa has always had a good reputation in extreme sports from rafting to skydiving and to bungee jumping. Bungee Jumping is especially popular because the country is home to one of the highest bungee jumping spots in the world. Bloukrans Bridge in Tsitsikamma region is the highest bungee jumping bridge, and overall the third highest bungee jumping spot in the world at 216 metres above sea-level.

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Bungee jumping is always a scary activity for me. So many things can go wrong while jumping from a great height and swinging up and down with only a rope wrapped around your legs. When I was on the Garden Route trip along the southern coast of South Africa with three other friends, we were debating over whether to do the jump.

One of my friends decided to go through with it despite him having diarrhoea, while the rest of us decided to just watch him. We were too scared anyway and it was way out of our budget. The jump itself costs 900 Rand (65 USD), while the photos and videos cost an additional 500 Rand.

Luckily, we discovered that there were also walking tours along the bridge where we would experience everything except for the actual jump. The good thing was that it was ten times cheaper than the jump.

They gave us certain time slots to join the tour while buying tickets at the counter. This was necessary since the place was packed with tourists. When the time hit 9, we were all at the meeting point, listening to the instructions. Our friend was dressed up with the proper gear just like the other tourists preparing to jump. The guide gave instructions on how to properly jump to avoid bone fracture.

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Next, we were all walking to the midpoint of the bridge over a mesh grill made of stainless steel. This was possibly the scariest and the most intense part of the whole experience because we could actually see everything below us as we were walking.

The grill was flexing as we were stepping on it, making it even scarier. We learnt that it was made flexible to avoid snapping under a lot of weight.

The jumping point was extremely windy, but the views on our both sides were just stunning. The guides were playing house-techno music to boost the mood.

When somebody’s turn came up, the guides would prepare them by wrapping ropes and belts around the legs and the waist. Then, they would carry the person to the edge. On the count to three, they were literally pushing the person into jumping.

The push was almost always compulsory since there were many tourists waiting in the queue and there wasn’t any time for hesitation.

Despite the crowd and the wind, I was able to film the moment our friend jumped. He was really calm while jumping, and luckily we didn’t see any brown stains on his pants afterwards. 😛

He swung up and down for 3 minutes until one of the guides climbed down and fetched him. He was clearly very satisfied with the experience that he wanted to do it again. We even heard about people wanting to do the jump all day long once they tasted the first adrenaline rush.

While we were having lunch at the cafeteria of the facility, I was looking at the bridge from afar, determined to try the bungee jump myself the next time.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are the author’s and in no way reflect the views and/or opinions of Fat Starfish.