Ziplining in Limpopo

On a warm Friday morning, we embarked on a tour of South Africa’s Limpopo Province, with the primary aim being to finally explore the exciting outdoor activities at Canopy Tours, a popular location known in the area for its varied platforms for fun outdoor activities.

From the Marriott Group’s Protea Hotel, where we were residing, it took two-and-a-half hours to Canopy Tours in Makgoba’skloof— a journey that cut across expansive plains and flattened hilly paths before opening into a wide patch of greenery.

The park is touted as a one-stop shop for extreme outdoor activities, but I was majorly interested in zip-lining because I had once attempted it at the Kereita Forest in Kiambu, Kenya, and quit before the experience began due to a sudden bout of extreme anxiety.

A zip line, in some areas, is known as a death slide, and for good reason. Consisting of a pulley suspended on an inclined steel cable, zip lines provide an unsophisticated way of travelling from the top to the bottom of hills and mountains, almost always by use of gravity.

It is perhaps the “nakedness” of the technology employed in zip lines that makes them scary to most of us.  

Yet I was now in a foreign land and with a new opportunity to face my fear of heights, a challenge I could not run away from, at least not without damaging my dignity.

Safety gear comprises a helmet, leather gloves and the harnesses that attach the rider to the cable, all of which were provided by the facility. Outdoor shoes and comfortable pants are also recommended.

The trip was to take place across the gorges of the Letaba river, covering 1.2 kilometres on 11 zip lines strategically mounted to allow the best view of the waterfalls and the surrounding forest. The longest of the lines was 150 metres.

“Once you start the trip, there is no going back, you have to finish it,” warned Daniel Eddy, the lead guide.

Still, he made the effort to help me shake off the fear of plummeting into the rocks below. I finally rigged up, and although an extra set of harnesses would have made me feel safer, Eddy assured me that the set I was accorded could support several hundred kilogrammes.

A quick prayer and down the first line I went. The descent was short and after the first stop, I had shaken off all fears and was enjoying the descent.

“To enjoy zip lining you need to relax and follow instructions of the guides carefully. Relax your body and swing through, braking when you are almost at the end,” he said.

Successive lines kept getting longer and flew over rumbling waterfalls and majestic trees.

One of the gloves, worn on the right hand, was reinforced with leather padding and was used for braking and any stops we made needed some great arm strength. But each stop gave us something to look forward to as it came with a brief lesson on different tree species.

One of the educational stops, for instance, described the Bobbejaanstert (Baboon Tail), a plant said to have many traditional uses for several South African communities.

 “The roots are smoked to relieve asthma and smoke from the whole tree is used to stop nosebleeds. The plant is also used as a charm against lightning. The tough, fibrous stems are used extensively in traditional home craft for making brushes and mats, and to make rope for hut and screen building,” read the note.

There is something about seeing nature from the top that gives you a sense of domination and excitement that cannot be achieved by walking through it, and zip lining, which I now greatly recommend, provides the right altitude for this unique thrill.

The whole trip took about two hours and by the time we got to the bottom, we had scaled the entire height of the rugged mountains. 

Tired? Yes. But fears had been conquered and lessons learnt.