The best adventure activities in South Africa

As South Africans, we generally consider ourselves hardy outdoors folk, capable of surviving almost any threat. Because of this, our wonderful climate and unbelievable natural diversity, we also have a wide range of adventurous activities each capable of giving an aspiring adventurer that adrenalin spike they are looking for.

Shark cage diving

Done incorrectly Shark cage diving can be pretty controversial. Fortunately, we have a number of companies who are doing it right and giving us small humans a way to see one of the greatest predators on earth in their natural habitat.

The best places for this activity are in Gansbaai where you will be taken out to sea in a wet suit. Cages will be dropped in the ocean and the local sharks lured in with a mixture of blood, fish and oil. The next step is a dip in the icy water just a few metres from the legendary great white shark. Fortunately, this happens with thick steel separating you from an animal that would gladly eat you, if you chose that moment to do your amazing seal impression.

Depending on the season and the company you call the experience for a morning or afternoon will set you back about R1500 to R2000 including breakfast and lunch.

Bloukrans Bungy

Situated on the N2 Highway between the Eastern and Western Cape the Bloukrans Bridge offers one of the highest bungy jumps in the world. At 216 metres above the Bloukrans River it takes nerves of steel to throw yourself over the side attached to nothing, but a slim rubber cable.

The bungee jump including a t-shirt and footage of your plummet is currently being advertised at R1800 on the site.

Oribi Gorge Swing

Wild 5 Adventures offers thrill-seekers the opportunity to leap off a waterfall and swing-out into a 55-storey deep gorge. Plummeting downward, the rope slack behind you, you will wonder just what you have committed to as you accelerate up to 120km/hours in just 2.5 seconds.

The gorge also offers a 110m abseil and an 85-metre suspension bridge linking both sides of the gorge. The wild swing is currently advertised at R650 on the company’s website.

Abseiling Table Mountain

Table mountain may be one of SA’s most famous symbols and the views from the top are a spectacular part of any first-time tourist’s trip to the mother city. Abseil Africa hopes that people may want to take their relationship with the mountain to the next level, by edging their way down a sheer cliff from the top, while strapped to a rope.

To be fair to all the crazy adventurers who take up their offer the views of Camps Bay, the Atlantic Seaboard and the Twelve Apostles are said to be breathtaking, and the adrenalin rush as you peer down to what could be your certain doom, a special memory you will also treasure for the rest of your, hopefully significantly much longer life.

Abseil Africa is open every day with the price on the website being advertised as R1195, which includes the hike back to the top, but not your cableway ticket to get you to the top and back on the day.

White water rafting on the Orange river

Starting high up in the mountains of Lesotho the Orange River runs westward across the country until it meets the Atlantic ocean. In total it covers 2200 metres from the frozen heights till it’s wide river mouth and along the way delivers the best white water rafting in the country.

With most trips taking between four and seven days travellers will head into wildly unpopulated parts of the country, ride whitewater rapids by day and camp at the riverside, while the fire throws up sparks into a sky filled with hundreds of thousands of stars.

Priced between roughly R3000 and R8000 rand per person depending on which company you use, which sections you raft along, and the season its a perfect bonding session for a group of friends, and parents with their kids.

Skydiving in Johannesburg

There are few things in the world that divide people more than skydiving. Either you have done it, or want to do it, or you think everyone who even considers it is crazy. If you are part of that former group then the ideal place to take the plunge is the Johannesburg Skydiving Club located in Carltonville west of Johannesburg,

Tandem jumps range from between R2250 and R3200 depending on whether you want someone there filming the jump or not, while Static line courses, in which you will do a day course, before jumping from the plane attached to a static line that pulls your ripcord for you will run you R1500 and R440 per jump thereafter.

Wildlife Safari on a horse

If you want to feel like you are part of nature there is little that can compare with going on a safari on horseback. Numerous reserves around the country will gladly take you on a ride out into the wilderness, where you will get closer than ever before to herds of game.

Prices range wildly depending on which reserve you are in, the animals you are likely to encounter and the length of the ride.

Sandboarding

Sandboarding is a sport that involves standing on a board and riding down a sand dune at a ridiculous speed, very similar to snowboarding. In South Africa, the most common destination for sandboarding is the Atlantis dune field, which is roughly 40kms outside Cape Town. According to all the companies that offer it, learning to ride the boards is relatively simple and they promise to have you on your feet and whooshing down the sides of these giant sandy hills in no time.

Costs tend to vary, but expect to pay in the region of R350 for about 3 hours with all the board rental included.

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