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2003
Article: Leap Of Faith Publication: Style Magazine Canopy Tour: Tsitsikamma Canopy travel was developed by Tarzan early in the last century, but somehow didn't catch on as a means of mass transportation. |
Canopy travel was developed by Tarzan early in the last century, but somehow didn't catch on as a means of mass transportation. Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours is about to change all that with a forest perspective unlike anything you've ever encountered.
The Garden Route - one of the great eco-playgrounds of the world. Every day, boatloads of tourists enjoy close encounters with whales and dolphins, or back flip into the Indian Ocean with one of the many scuba operators. There are wondrous rivers like the Clubrooms, where you can putter or paddle upstream and picnic on sandy beaches at the foot of heavily wooded mountains. For the more adventurous, there are craggy ravines to be abseiled and raging white waters to be tamed. Central to all of this is the pristine indigenous forest that blankets the entire area, interacting with the dramatic coastline and waterways to provide spectacular hiking and biking trails. And interspersed throughout this eco-system are a number of colossal yellowwood trees, centuries in the making, whose massive trunks give a Lorie's-eye view of the jungle below.
Whoosh! An adrenalin overload follows my leap of faith from the wooden launch pad at the top of the hill. It's an exhilarating return to boyhood- I'm foefie sliding along a slender steel cable towards my first tree platform high up in the leafy canopy. This is my maiden voyage on an eight-stage aerial tour of observation posts, all connected by a silvery strand. As the deck looms large, I apply a primitive but effective braking manoeuvre that involves the application of pressure from a heavily insulated glove on the cable behind the spinning wheel.
Strong hands haul me aboard. With a solid click, my safety cleat is switched from the overhead security line to one that runs the circumference of the platform, and I await the rest of my party of five. Ranging in age from 10 to 61, they arrive - pumped up and expressing varying levels of incredulity. One down and seven to go, as we progress down the hillside - deck to deck, dangle-gliding along - some 30m above the forest floor.
The sheer exhilaration is a given, but the senses are also assailed by a surreal sense of beauty in this enchanting new world. Bird life is prolific and depending on the time of day, you might encounter magnificent Knysna Loeries or the elusive Narina Trogon. You may even bump into a Samango monkey. One thing's for sure, this is a forest perspective unlike anything you have yet encountered.
The tree top originated in Costa Rica and was introduced to the Tsitsikamma by Mark Brown, a civil engineer who worked on the pilot system there. Linking up with Ashley Wentworth, a Storms River Adventure operator, they embarked on collaboration with the Department of Water and Forestry.
The latter recognized an opportunity to foster an environmentally friendly interest in this eco-system on a large scale while creating job opportunities for the locals who were to be trained as guides and operators. Adhering strictly to the regulations controlling the erection of the infrastructure, no indigenous trees were removed or impaired, and the forest floor was protected during construction. Platforms were attached by an elaborate rigging system that eliminated the need for screws or nails, and the tree trunks were protected by rubber pads.
The result is one of the most sophisticated canopy skyways in the world.
But is stands to reason that you can't have a disparate bunch of eco-tourists careening around the canopy 30m above the ground. Springing into space, your sub-conscious might appreciate the knowledge that the 30mm cable has a breaking strain of 14 tons, and that there are two back-up fall safe systems - one trails behind your pulley attachment and the other is connected to a back-up rope situated above the main line.
Then there is the tough, padded full-body harness from which you dangle as you traverse the 1km aerial way, and at no point on the journey are you disconnected from either the main cable or the ones that surround the platforms. Finally, well-trained guides armed with walkie-talkies marshal the treetop commuters from station to station, ensuring a trouble-free passage while imparting intriguing information on the forest ecology.
All things considered, this was certainly a giant leap for me, and I now have an inkling of how Tarzan must have felt. For three hours time stood still and I returned to the carefree abandon of youth in an afternoon of pure elation. So if you're looking for a completely different adventure, swing into action - you won't need to be reminded to buckle up.
