Garden Route Roadtrip, Part I

This post is many weeks late, but because the roadtrip was so awesome it’s probably best to write something about it. Me and seven others (Seb, Amanda, Emil, Camille, Josephine, Caroline, Jan) rented a 10-seater van for a three-day trip along South Africa’s southern coast, known as the Garden Route, to explore a few of the many popular attractions. Beyond booking hostels and a bungee jump time, we just planned to wing-it with each of us having researched different POI’s along the way. We got the car Thursday, hit the road around 11am, and drove about 8 hours to our first hostel which was really close to the world’s highest bungee jump (216 meters, about the length of 2.5 football fields). We stayed at Flashpackers in Tsitsikamma National Park, which, oddly enough, felt a bit like being in the Adirondacks – thicker, deciduous forest, a bit cooler than Cape Town. Arriving later in the night we ate a quick dinner at a Marilyn Monroe/Elvis-themed diner, played pool, and relaxed around the fire at the hostel. Weary about the bungee the next morning, we packed into our dorm-style room with four bunk beds and zonked out.

Stop #1: Bungee

Waking to grey clouds in the morning and rain on the windshield for the drive to the jump point was quite a bit dismaying. The fog set heavy on the mountains alongside the road, and we wondered whether we would be jumping without being able to see. After joking about jumping naked the night before it was a bit ironic to step out of the car at 8am with my EMS Gortex jacket, literally shaking because it was that cold. TIA (this is Africa)…wtf? Slightly miraculously, after waiting about 45 minutes, the fog that had filled the gorge below the jump cleared and the air warmed to a comfortable temperature. The bungee workers strap us up into a seemingly skimpy body apparatus, brief us really quick on procedure, and take us to the center of the bridge via a grated walking bridge you could see through. Just a minor adrenaline rush to prep the mind for the real challenge, the see-through base to this walking platform had a little more give than expected.

The bungee staff bumped some up-tempo jams, helping to calm the nerves and focus attention on something besides the inevitable leap of faith. Jan, the tall German friend, provided some good entertainment expressing his fear a bit more vocally than the rest and really wearing his emotions on his face. I was the fifth to jump. The night before, I was absolutely fearless and slept like a baby. Even on the bridge, waiting anxiously as jumpers 1-4 took their turn, I was jittery, but my heart rate was fairly normal and I didn’t experience any stomach-dropping feelings. The guides stabilize and lead you to the edge, toes hang over the edge, looking down the impossible distance, this time the adrenaline rising. With an unhesitating count of “THREE, TWO, ONE” I bent my knees and vaulted out with arms extended, and that’s when it hits you. The little fear I had prior to jumping was magnified x2,000, an adrenalin surge unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Immediately you are completely dizzied - you want to scream, but can’t; want to throw up, but can’t. Bodily function seems to stop and the 5-6 second freefall feels endless. The original drop is followed by a number of recoils where you just hang in the air like at the top of a trampoline jump.

Finally I make it to the hanging phase, waiting to be reeled up by a staff member, and it starts to feel like I’m slipping through the ankle bindings – it’s at this moment of incredible insecurity that I start thinking that these may be my last seconds (rationalizing that my small feet, which were barefoot for the jump, might actually slip through). It sounds a bit over-dramatic, but these thoughts did cross my mind – the adrenalin-high added to my disorientation and panic. Keeping my ankles locked for about 50 seconds, the guy finally reaches me and locks me in, asking if I felt like I was gunna slip through. Answering with a simple “Yes” he replies that the jump company doesn’t like to tell people that the feeling is perfectly normal and would never happen. Thanks a$$holes for my unnecessary near death experience. Although, jumping shirtless and barefoot in the slightly chilled air was an unparalleled rush.

I’ll continue the roadtrip blog later…