BASE Jumping in South Africa is an Extreme Adventure! Where can I BASE jump?
BASE jumpers are the true bird people of aerial sport. One doesn’t even have to mention how exhilarating it is. It’s adventure off the chart. With a highly specialized parachute harnessed to their backs (and sometimes wearing a wingsuit) BASE jumpers leap from fixed ‘objects’ (Buildings, Antenna, Span, Earth) unlike their skydiving brethren, who leap from moving aircraft from much higher altitudes. BASE…
BASE Jumping in South Africa is an Extreme Adventure! Where can I BASE jump?
BASE jumpers are the true bird people of aerial sport. One doesn’t even have to mention how exhilarating it is. It’s adventure off the chart. With a highly specialized parachute harnessed to their backs (and sometimes wearing a wingsuit) BASE jumpers leap from fixed ‘objects’ (Buildings, Antenna, Span, Earth) unlike their skydiving brethren, who leap from moving aircraft from much higher altitudes. BASE jumpers literally have a few seconds of intensely wonderful freefall before having to open their parachutes. This means there is very little margin for error which makes this the extreme sport of extreme sports!
The ‘father’ of BASE jumping in South Africa is Karl Hayden who was the first person to jump off Table Mountain. BASE jumping used to be a fringe sport in South Africa but is fast gaining popularity amongst extreme sports people who have skydiving experience. South Africa has some stunning BASE jumping sites which include locations on Table Mountain, Drakensberg and the Hex River Mountains (all Earth or cliff sites - the E in BASE jumping).
Urban jump sites are also gaining traction. One of the most popular Antenna (tower) sites is the Soweto Towers in Soweto, Gauteng. These groovy repurposed cooling towers offer a superb urban BASE jump for people with free fall experience.
Review