Riding high in the trees

January 27th

Views from our hotel room

Today, we headed into The Tsitsikamma.  Tsitsikamma is a Khoi word that means "place of abundant or sparkling water".  This region is covered in large tracts of indigenous forests as well as deep river gorges that make their way to the sea.

We took a zip line tour high up in the trees.  Our 2 guides - Carmen and Mary.

Our guide explaining to me how to fly through the trees..

Looking from one platform to the next.

Tom zipping through the forest.

Getting harnassed and getting safety lines attached.

Our group at a platform about 70 feet above the ground.

There were 10 different zip lines.  The canopy tour took about 3 hours.  This is one of the longest and highest (about 100 feet or 30 meters above the forest floor).

Ready or not...here I come!!

A view from a platform

We wore leather gloves to protect our hands from the wire cables.  On our right hand we had an extra layer of leather because we had to use our right hand as a break (by pulling down hard on the primary cable).  If we didn't 'break" before the platform, it would be an ugly landing.  :-)

Walking out of the forest.  These huge trees have extremely shallow roots and sometimes get blown over in high winds.

We went on the Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours which is run by Stormsriver Adventures.  This company has been firmly committed to changing the lives of impoverished communities for more than 10 years.  It was the first "Fair Trade" accredited adventure company in the world.  Some of their community projects include clothing distribution of the poor, environmental education, feeding school children, aid awareness and education, training and development of local communities etc., etc.  It was an amazing and educational 4 hours!