The World's Highest Bungy Jump

Special Addition:

Here are two more photos that Carolyn took and sent to us. The first was taken right after we jumped. You can't see it, but the bridge we jumped off of is in the blackness behind us. Just imagine how high it was . . . really high :) Carolyn took the second photo at the pool hall.


A week and a half ago we decided to take the Garden Route out of Cape Town and head toward one of the top-rated, most sustainable backpacking lodges in the world (the local community owns forty percent of the lodge, it is fair trade certified and complete with solar panels, composting toilets, wind power, lots of candle light, and paraffin rocket showers...you get the drift).

We met up with Tessa's friend from Thailand, Carolyn, and she, thankfully, organized our whole adventure together (this may have been the first time we actually had a plan and had purchased tickets more than a day in advance). We mentioned to Carolyn that we would love to try and hit up Storm's River, a hamlet boasting the highest bungy jumping bridge in the world, and so Carolyn booked our bus tickets in an effort to ensure that we would make it to the bungy jumping bridge before they closed. Our plan was to arrive at Storm's River around 3 pm, catch a ride to the bungy jumping bridge, jump, spend a partial night at the hostel, and then leave early in the morning so that we could catch our 3:45 am bus out of Storm's River.

As you might have been able to guess, our bus was running a bit late. We arrived in Storm's River at 4:10 pm (the bungy place closes at 5 pm and was a 35-40 min drive and we had no transportation!). I (Alisa) started running (which is rare; you can tell that I was desperate) frantically through the parking lot asking each and every car if they were driving near the bungy place and could drop us off. Everyone was so incredibly supportive but no one was driving in that direction (or had enough room for three of us and our massive backpacks). Right as a little red car offered to take me (alone due to lack of space), a woman named Michelle from Dijembe Backpacker's drove up. We hurled our backpacks into the back of the truck and took off toward Bloukran's Bungy. The clock was ticking. She was a mad driver, originally from Johannesburg and we made it to the jump site. We were the last group to suit up.













To get to the jumping off point we had to walk along narrow pathway suspended beneath the bridge. This in itself was already intimidating! Once to the jumping point, there was loud dance music blaring and lots of energy to get everyone pumped up. They strapped us in and didn't give any instructions besides stick your arms out and jump. Alisa screamed the entire time leading up to her jump and had to be pushed off the bridge. Tessa didn't decide to jump until on the platform and then decided and jumped 5 minutes later.

It was actually a very magical experience to be flying toward the earth seeing the world from an entirely new viewpoint. Absolutely surreal.

After the jump Tessa, Carolyn, and I decided (in an effort to save a few dollars) that it would be wise to camp out at the gas station. Our next bus was coming to pick us up at 4 am and we thought that it would be quite ludicrous to pay for a night's stay when you are really only staying there for a partial night (10 hours is nothing!). As we were waving goodbye to the bungy crew we mentioned that we were going to be staying at the gas station and that we were going to start a little party there...they told us that they might drop by.

We drove back into town with Michelle, from the backpacker's lodge. She asked if she could stop off at the backpacker's lodge to serve dinner. We gladly obliged and warmed ourselves up by the fire. Eventually Michelle motioned us to the truck and drove us back to our soon to be home.

Back at the gas station, we unloaded our backpacks and went to crash in what we thought was the all-nite fast food restaurant, Steers. Little did we know that they were actually closing at 10 pm! We started brainstorming our options. 1. Sleep on the cold benches outside 2. Try and bring our backpacks into the convenient store and nestle ourselves in a corner in there 3. Call the backpacker's and tell them that we really did need a room The cashier overheard our predicament and menioned that she would try and help us out. Eventually she ended up securing a place for us-the break/locker room of the gas attendants! Right as the clock struck 10 pm and we were being kicked out of Steers, Conden and Charles (two guys from the bungy jumping crew) arrived and offered to take us out to play pool.


As you may have been able to guess, we took them up on their offer and went to a local bar to play pool. The time flew by and we didnt return to the gas station until 2 am.




We then moved our backpacks into the gas attendant station's locker room and enjoyed an hour and a half of shut-eye.


Right above me, on the wall, a little wall posting reads: "The PATH to YOUR Future"...you decide!