True Travel Experiences
The vast majority of people think of holidays and travel as a mode for relaxation. Whilst I too love 'do nothing' holidays, I also feel it's important to every now and then step outside of your comfort zone when it comes to experiencing new things. Whether it be food, wine, nature or something more adventurous like hiking, bike trails there is something for everyone to push your experience limits.
For anyone that knows me, they know how much I despise heights. It's never been a forté of mine. However I always knew at some stage I wanted to experience bungee jumping (I just didn't know where). I came to the conclusion that if I was going to attempt this I wanted to do it somewhere spectacular as it was most likely only going to be a once off experience for me based on how crippling my fear of heights are.
Zimbabwe - Bungee Jumping
On a planned trip to South Africa we decided to make a detour for 3 nights up to Zimbabwe and the beautiful location and township of Victoria Falls. Never in my wildest dreams did I think of putting Zimbabwe on a travel to list but yet here we were. One of the main reasons for this was in my research I found out that you can bungee jump off the Victoria Falls bridge, so it certainly fit my description of a spectacular location to take a leap off a bridge. Towering at just over 111m high the Victoria Falls Bridge is a sight to see (for those of you who know Melbourne this is DOUBLE the height of the Westgate bridge). It's the border crossing between Zimbabwe and Zambia. I'll do another blog about the other things to see and do here but for today this is all about taking a leap off this bridge!
What better way to conquer a fear of heights than jumping off this bridge. (I'll attach a link to the video of my jump further down should you enjoy a laugh at my expense). This part of our trip came at the end of our holiday and for anyone that's been bungee jumping before you'll know that you need to get weighed in on site etc. After 2 weeks of being on holiday you can only imagine my gasp at even just weighing in! haha.
The checkin point for the jump actually falls on the Zambia side of the bridge. It took my courage enough to just walk across the bridge... how in the heck was I going to be able to take the leap off the ledge.
Checkin Complete
With check in now complete and my height AND current weight drawn on my thigh with a huge big black marker it was time to head to the meeting point and join the queue. In the centre of the bridge is a little yellow roofed structure. This is where all the fun happens (apparently). There was only a couple of people ahead of us and then it was our turn. To this day I still can't remember what was going through my mind at that exact moment.
Climbing in under the little gate entrance way it was my turn to start getting kitted up. The crew tried to do a great job at reassuring me and making light of the situation but I was not having any bar of it. Sitting on the chair whilst they were strapping in my legs, I was absolutely watching everything going on. Not sure if this was a good idea or not as the floor wasn't solid and was just mesh metal which looked straight down 111m below to the insane water rapids below. The falls where in massive flow for this time of year (just after wet season had finished).
The Time Had Come
Such a weird sensation and feeling to have your legs strapped together and hobbling your way out to the little ledge. It's somewhat more hilarious when they tell you to keep looking at the horizon, but in order to get your feet to the edge you have to look down! To say the least I was F****** terrified. The video will prove that lol.
Whether I jumped, fell or some would say got let go or pushed... I still plummeted. After 1 failed attempt myself the little encouragement of 'let go' from the team ensured that I toppled over the edge. It wasn't elegant AT ALL! But for someone that can barely even stand on a high rise balcony or go to a viewing platform of a high building without getting a spinning headache this was a HUGE deal for me.
What I'm getting at, is when you're on holidays... give it a go! Even if you don't go fully the way through with it, at least you've tried. And if you do go through with it, you may end up with just as a funny video that you can watch years later and still have a good laugh at. It's these moments that create memories and what holidays are all about. Letting go of the usual you to become someone even just for 30seconds so you can feel that rush of adrenaline and accomplishment of trying and doing something new.
Best of luck to you and your future adventures... and as promised the video is below if you would like to enjoy a chuckle at my expense!
Brenton
