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STORMS RIVER
My next stop was Storms River and from Pezula, the drive is roughly an hour and 15 minutes. It's an easy trip as we hugged the coast for most of the way before heading inland into the mountains. Storms River is a small village, which I found to be a mix of California's Old West and Rotorua, New Zealand. The town functions as the gateway to the Tsitsikamma National Park and it's an eco-destination packed with adventurous and daring activities including the world's highest bungee jump.

WORLD'S HIGHEST BUNGEE JUMP
Believe me, one day I hope to muster up the cojones to bungee jump but when I do, you can be dang sure it will never be off the Bloukrans Storms River Bridge. These people are nuts and just watching them plummet from the viewing point made me anxious. What makes this 216-meter (708 feet) fall special is that the Guinness Book of World records claims this as the world's highest bungee jump. The worst part is that the daredevil jumpers don't even go all the way down, just about two thirds of the way. So when they're done bobbing like a yo-yo, they hang upside down from their ankles until a modern day Spiderman lowers himself down and gets the elated jumper harnessed for the hoist up. Is that gnarly or what? It costs 580 Rand ($85USD) and surprisingly, there's no shortage of people lined up for their turn. The wait is usually about two hours. Face Adrenalin also offers a bridge walk (50 Rand / $7.40USD) and a flying fox (a zip line to the center of the bridge). See FaceAdrenalin.com for specifics.

STORMSRIVER ADVENTURES
From the crazy bungee jump to the Tsitsikamma Village is less than a 15-minute drive. The main outfitter in town is Stormsriver Adventures. The owners have been rightly commended for their environmental and community work; they are a professional adventure and activity company based in the heart of the Tsitsikamma Forest supporting poverty relief programs. Their most popular attraction is Africa's first canopy tour. Here's an example: They charge 395 Rand ($58USD) for the canopy tour. The owner told me they could get 395 Rand without including a light lunch (sandwiches, hamburgers or salad) but by doing so, it gives 10 more people jobs, which in turn feeds 60 more people in the local village.

CANOPY TOUR
After lunch, my team and I suited up for the canopy tour, also known as zip-lining. Then we jumped in the bus for the seven-minute ride to the first slide. I've done zip-lining once before in Costa Rica (where the activity originated) and even though I was scared as all get out, it was quite an experience. The one I did in Costa Rica had 18 slides while Stormsriver has just ten. I figured it would be a piece of cake. Wrong!

DON'T BE CHICKEN!
The guides are young, enthusiastic, articulate, bright locals who are a joy to be around. They take their jobs seriously and do a good job stressing safety. In fact, I felt much more secure here than in Costa Rica because here, they use two wires and three safety catches. The first two slides were short but the third was fairly long and high, about 30 meters. Our guide announced that if anyone wanted to chicken out that this was the last chance since they have a short Chicken Slide that goes back to base camp. I seriously contemplated taking it but when I mentioned this to my friends, they blocked the path and said no. I don't know what happened but the fear just kicked in and my leg began shaking uncontrollably. It would have been the perfect time to audition for a Michael Jackson video but instead, I was preparing to zip from tree to tree like Tarzan. I was so scared that I literally hugged the tree that I was standing next to, 100 feet from the ground.

FEAR IS TEMPORARY/ REGRET IS FOREVER
I took a deep breath and realized that there were a lot of cameras pointed at my face, including the Stormsriver photographer who charges only 120 Rand ($18USD) for his time and excellent DVD. I didn't want to look like a wimp or have a video of me going down the Chicken Slide show up on the Internet, so I sucked it up and thought of the slogan I saw on one of the T-shirts in the Face Adrenaline gift shop ... FEAR is temporary, REGRET is forever. And you know what? I actually felt my fear subside around the fifth or sixth slide. It was remarkable. All of a sudden, I was a new man, pumped to go down the next one, which was the longest (100 meters). You'll see it all in my eyes when you watch the video below, but don't let me fool you completely ... I was still a little freaked out standing on the wobbly, see-through platforms. But they weren't as scary as the ones in Costa Rica. They are also just as eco-friendly; they didn't put one nail into a tree when setting up the tour. The whole thing took two and a half to three hours and the guides also told us all about the magnificent Tsitsikamma indigenous rainforest, the impact it has on visitors and what we might see. We saw a 600-year-old tree but no monkeys or snakes ... thank God.

PROTEA HOTEL TSITSIKAMMA VILLAGE
Just 50 yards down the road from the Stormsriver Adventures office is the Protea Hotel Tsitsikamma. Protea is a major chain in Africa. The three-star Protea Hotel Tsitsikamma is a family-owned and managed hotel. It was established in 1946 but the main building dates back to 1845. The property consists of 49 freestanding rooms, village-style, where each cottage is individually decorated and has its own garden matching the specific colonial building style found in the Garden Route. The grounds and architecture made me feel like I was in Fiji or New Zealand. My room was cute and clean and came with a TV, phone and plugs for both South African and European converters. The shower was on the small side and the walls were thin but I still loved it ... even being awakened at 4:30am by roosters. FYI: There was no wireless Internet. Rates begin at 288 Rand ($42USD) per person. Protea Hotel Tsitsikamma, Darnell Street, Storms River, South Africa, Tel.: +27 422811711.

DINNER AT DE OUDE MARTHA RESTAURANT
At night, the temperature dropped, just like it does back home in Southern California. I ate at the hotel's only restaurant, De Oude Martha Restaurant. It had a French flair with a New Orleans feel: orange walls with wood paneling and low lighting. The dinner buffet served up traditional home cooked South African food like sweet carrots, chicken, fish, salad, bland pasta, string beans, brown bread, chocolate coffee mouse, bread pudding and ice cream.

TOWNSHIPS
One of my main concerns about visiting South Africa was seeing so much poverty. Driving from the airport, especially in Cape Town, you pass by miles of shantytowns where you just can't believe people live like this. It's so heartbreaking. And sadly, just like Brazil's favelas, shantytowns and townships have become tourist attractions. The term 'township' in South Africa usually refers to the urban residential areas that are often underdeveloped and were reserved for non-whites under Apartheid.

TSALANANG TOWNSHIP BED AND BREAKFAST
Travelers are typically curious about life in townships and often want to experience it and help in some way. One way to help is to stay at a township Bed & Breakfast or going on a township tour. I checked out both. The Storms River 470 House Township is just a 10-minute walk from the Protea Hotel. I met with Geraldine (Gerri) Damons who owns, runs and lives at the Tsalanang B&B with her husband Mart, her six-foot-some white Dutch husband and their children. The house is clean costs 125 Rand ($18.50USD) per person for one of the three rooms she rents out. Breakfast and dinner are offered. What makes this place special, apart from the fact that it's right in the township, is that Gerri is the only black B&B owner in the area. Tsalanang Township Bed&Breakfast and here’s a scan of their business card). Email: geraldinedamons@gmail.com

TOWNSHIP TOUR
Gerri also offers daily one-hour township tours for 50 Rand ($7.40USD). I had no idea what the township tour would be like or how my friends and I would be received. However, everyone we walked by was so friendly (especially the children) and some residents even waved to us from the couches in their homes. Gerri told us that people living in the township earn an average of 600 Rand ($88USD) a month. That's it. But one of the locals has taken advantage of Gerri's tours by selling his beautiful wire art from his front yard. We stopped by and cleaned him out.

TSITSIKAMMA NATIONAL PARK
You can't visit Storms River without paying a visit to The Tsitsikamma National Park. The place is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. No wonder it's South Africa's second most popular national park after Kruger. This is where many South Africans spend there whole holiday. The park has a wide variety of accommodations from camping to oceanside cottages, all at affordable prices. Just having lunch on the deck and watching the waves pound against the jagged rocks is worth coming here for but there's a lot more, too. There are hiking trails of all lengths from 30 minutes to six days. There's even a suspension bridge but it was closed when I was there due to the high seas. Most hikes are unguided but if you have a group of more than 10 people you can book a guide for a small fee, to tour you around and tell you about the history and ecology of the area. That's what we did. Of course I had to ask the guide if there were any snakes. He nonchalantly replied that yes, they have two snakes, both are deadly but only one is aggressive. Was that supposed to make me feel better? Our short, easy hike lasted 45 minutes and we reached the top in 15 minutes. The views were inspiring and it perfectly capped off another adventurous week in South Africa. Tsitsikamma National Park; day passes for foreign adults cost 40 Rand ($6USD). For more prices, see their tariffs list.

VIDEO
Here's a four-minute Johnny Jet video of my trip to the Garden Route. We also have all the Johnny Jet videos ever made on YouTube.

NEXT WEEK
Next week we'll finish up our South African adventure by visiting Cape Town and the surrounding area.

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Happy Travels,
Johnny Jet

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Note: This trip was sponsored by the South Africa Tourism board.





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