My Cape Canopy Zipline Experience

I enjoyed every moment of my ziplining experience and would recommend it to anyone in Cape Town who is wanting to do something fun, breath-taking with a lot of adrenaline.

Hello there, my name is Tasila. I am the current receptionist at Riverlodge Backpackers and I am in charge of all booking inquiries and tours. I had the opportunity to go on an educational ziplining tour, so as to experience the activity and be able to tell our guests what ziplining is all about and hopefully book them on this extreme sport during their time in Cape Town.

It was the morning of my first ever ziplining experience. I was super excited and had been looking forward to it all week!

We were a group of 12, most of us meeting for the first time. We started off from Cape Town and on board we got our yummy packed breakfast from Africaco staff and chatted over all sorts of things as we got acquainted with each other. 

The location was an hours drive from Cape Town to Grabouw and just 30 minutes into our trip, we had a mini hiccup with our transport (couldn't not pull uphill) which gave us more time to chat and prep ourselves for the much anticipated ziplining. 15 minutes later we were back on the road and driving along, seeing some beautiful farms and awesome landscapes.

Beautiful landscape of Grabouw (Source: Google Images)

As we got closer to our destination, a place called Elgin Valley Grabouw, within the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, I started to feel a tad bit nervous at the thought of hanging up more than 200 feet off the ground. I got encouraging remarks like, “you can do this” which made me feel much better.

We finally arrived at this serene and beautiful place operated by Cape Canopy Tours.

This spectacular countryside is also well known for other outdoor adventure fun for the whole family. This includes nature walks, hiking, mountain biking, quad biking, kayaking, fly-fishing, bird watching and rock pool swimming. 

We were greeted by the warm and welcoming smiles of Ted (organizer) and then we were treated to coffee and given a brief overview of the place and surrounding areas. He guided us through on what to expect and all safety procedures.

Finally we were ready to go for it and it was time to put on all our required gear. I was still nervous but pretty sure I could do it. A the same time I felt a sense of calm. As we drive along I admired the creation, mountains, and little creatures here and there.

We arrived...

Once more I was gripped by fear and the thought that I loved myself too much to not go dangling on that 100m rope. I was 5th in line and I noticed how quiet everyone was and it seemed like some were having second thoughts like me, but I also couldn't help but notice the big smiles on the other end, smiles of accomplishment with so much beaming I was jealous. I had to just do it and get over it.

Here goes……… 

I went over to the other side screaming "mommmy moommmy! I need you now!"    

But I did it. I was feeling a bit shaken and woozy, yet that overwhelming feeling of relief and pride that it was over and I was safe overcame me. That was amaaaaaaazing!

Now I was under the impression, it was just the one rope that we would actually zip/swing/slide on, alas to my surprise, it was 11 different ones, all ranging from the lengths of 100 meters to the longest one of 330 meters. Here is how is all went.

At this moment we were all filled with the adrenaline rush and the need for more swings. Crossing that bridge to the other side was a challenge for me as well. I have a phobia of heights, and the fact that it was a shaking bridge did not help me much. At one point I considered crawling across (well I actually did crawl a few meters with my eyes closed haha).

While the others kept admiring the scene and the stream and water fall, all I wanted was to get across that bridge in one piece. I eventually got there and was more than ready for a bit more fun.

It took us about 2 hours to get through all 11 ropes, by the 8th one most of us were ready to call it quits. Good thing is the guides/handlers were very keen to see us finish the experience to the end, so we soldiered on and tried to make the best of the last moments.

At this point, we were all looking forward to the last, fastest and the longest one of all. At 330 meters long, we were hoping to make the last ride much more awesome.

This was and still is the most extreme activity I have ever done. I enjoyed every moment of my ziplining experience and would recommend it to anyone in Cape Town who is wanting to do something fun, breath-taking with a lot of adrenaline.

To add to the day, we had to hike up hill for 1 km to where our pick up point was. Got there very exhausted but still feeling good about my time well spent on a new experience. I will be doing more extreme activities soon.

Watch this space for more extreme activities from me.

Tasila

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