Friday morning we woke up and had a quickie peanut-butter-toast breakfast. We knew we wanted to go on a hike through Blyde River Canyon, and we were debating whether to do "The Big Swing" before or after the hike. Neither of us fully understood what the big swing was, so we decided to stop off there first to check it out.
As it turned out, The Big Swing was like a giant 75 meter bungee jump without the bungee, and with a long swinging rope that basically swung you across the entire gorge like a pendulum. When we first headed to the swing, we actually ended up at "The Edge" bar across the gorge. From there, we could unfortunately see the entire drop.
Gen was starting to get worried, and Sami was concerned she was getting cold feet! So we decided to do it first and get it over with. The staff was friendly enough, and excitement built as we were strapped into the jumping gear.
When the jump master told us to "simply lean back", we were pretty freaked out. At this point we had already been attached to eachother for the "tandem" jump (when two people go together), and our heels were already overboard. It all happened so quickly that when the jump master had counted down from 3, we still couldn't believe we were actually doing this. We leaned back together and screamed at the top of our lungs as we plummeted down to the bottom with no sign of any support from the ropes. Adding to our fear as we fell was the fact that we could not see the bottom, since we were facing upwards to the sky as we fell. It was one of the most exhilarating feelings either of us have ever experienced and our heart skips a beat even when we think about it! As Sami was falling his legs started to rise above his head and remembering the jump master's last remarks "Do not flip over as you fall", he quickly tried to maneuver his arms on the rope to flatten out as he fell. Neither of us let go of the rope the entire time.
After it felt like we had been free falling for quite some time, the "swing" part of the fall took into effect and we gradually stopped falling downwards and started swinging across to the other side of the gorge. We were still facing backwards at this point, and Sami began to worry that we would hit the other side of the canyon, and as he turned his head to look behind him, we immediately started to rise above the fast-approaching tree-level.
After those first few exciting swings across, we gradually slowed down and were lowered onto a platform at the bottom, where another staff member awaited our drop. He unhooked us and told us he very much prefers going face down on a bungee because it is a lot less scary... We then made the long walk up the rickety wood steps back to the top of gorge to our car, where our legs could finally stop shaking!
The other difference between a bungee jump and a big swing is that you don't jump off a cliff when you do a swing. Instead, you approach the edge of this massive cliff facing BACKWARDS until your heels are off the ledge, and you simply lean back and let yourself freefall 75 meters. Directly below us was this beautiful picturesque waterfall dropping into a small green pond at the bottom.
When the jump master told us to "simply lean back", we were pretty freaked out. At this point we had already been attached to eachother for the "tandem" jump (when two people go together), and our heels were already overboard. It all happened so quickly that when the jump master had counted down from 3, we still couldn't believe we were actually doing this. We leaned back together and screamed at the top of our lungs as we plummeted down to the bottom with no sign of any support from the ropes. Adding to our fear as we fell was the fact that we could not see the bottom, since we were facing upwards to the sky as we fell. It was one of the most exhilarating feelings either of us have ever experienced and our heart skips a beat even when we think about it! As Sami was falling his legs started to rise above his head and remembering the jump master's last remarks "Do not flip over as you fall", he quickly tried to maneuver his arms on the rope to flatten out as he fell. Neither of us let go of the rope the entire time.
After it felt like we had been free falling for quite some time, the "swing" part of the fall took into effect and we gradually stopped falling downwards and started swinging across to the other side of the gorge. We were still facing backwards at this point, and Sami began to worry that we would hit the other side of the canyon, and as he turned his head to look behind him, we immediately started to rise above the fast-approaching tree-level.
After those first few exciting swings across, we gradually slowed down and were lowered onto a platform at the bottom, where another staff member awaited our drop. He unhooked us and told us he very much prefers going face down on a bungee because it is a lot less scary... We then made the long walk up the rickety wood steps back to the top of gorge to our car, where our legs could finally stop shaking!
Now that we were wide awake, we continued our day with a stop at Burke's Luck Potholes. This is where the Blyde River Canyon starts. The two main rivers meet here and carve their way through the rocks, forming a remarkable geological phenomenon, making deep cylindrical holes into the bedrock.
The blue footprint led us down into the canyon, much deeper than we expected. As we were descending the very steep path covered in stones and thorn trees, we quickly realized why the trail was rated moderately difficult and dreaded the climb back up. Four hours later, we made it back to the potholes, not really knowing whether we finished the trail or went too far.
This is also where our Belvedere day hike started. The hike, which is supposed to last about 5 hours (10 km), takes you down into the canyon to the Digi falls and the Belvedere power station. The first part of the hike was flat so we were enjoying the views and taking lots of photos when Gen's camera battery died ten minutes into the hike (even when Sami asked her if her battery was OK at the start of the hike and she said "it's still going!". Gen still denies he ever asked, plus she didn't even know how to check the battery level so how could she have said it was OK?...). Thankfully we still had Sami's camera. We had to follow blue painted footprints to ensure that we remained on the path, but after Sami chased a bug for 10 minutes, we lost track of the blue markers and went off track. There was a loud barking/shouting sound approaching us. As we were wondering what it was, an angry baboon jumped into a tree in front of us. It continued to shout, as if calling for reinforcement. This is when we decided that we were definitely not on the track, and had to go back and find it.
The blue footprint led us down into the canyon, much deeper than we expected. As we were descending the very steep path covered in stones and thorn trees, we quickly realized why the trail was rated moderately difficult and dreaded the climb back up. Four hours later, we made it back to the potholes, not really knowing whether we finished the trail or went too far.
After the hike, we jumped back in the car and headed to our next lodge in Phalaborwa called Elephant Walk. Phalaborwa is also one of the entrances to the massive Kruger National Park... on the way, Lily, our trusty GPS navigator, decided that she wanted to take us to our lodge via some extremely rural roads. "Roads" is actually an overstatement of what these rocky trails were. In fact Lily often said "Turn right on unpaved road to unpaved road"... This is literally what Bono was talking about when he wrote "Where The Streets Have No Name". During this drive, we christened our sturdy Volkswagon Polo "Popo", after the name of the town we drove through, Limpopo.
After a highly eventful detour through farms, rural villages with very inquisitive inhabitants, rugged soccer fields filled with screaming children, and even surprised-looking cows, we managed to get back on to the highway and ignored Lily for most of the rest of the drive.
We made it to our destination after dark, and checked-in with the friendly owner. Rather than stay in a room, we decided to test out our new tent in the lawn. It worked out great, though we found out that the South African temperature dropped drastically during the middle of the night.
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