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GET YOUR ADRENALIN RUSHING WITH THESE FAB 10. SCOOBA-LICHIOUS WAYS TO GET FIT!
TIRED of the usual hiking, jogging, gymning way of getting some exercise? Want to push yourself a little? Well, here are several suggestions to get your weekly adrenalin rush, but get ready for some extreme stuff, like stepping off a 24-storey building, or descending into a pitch-dark cave, or climbing, Spiderman-style, over huge boulders without ropes. Bring it on!
1.Climb the walls
We all feel like climbing the wall sometimes. Well, now you can climb a wall . . . at the SA Climb Inn in Randburg, where there's a huge indoor climbing gym with a set of graded walls, the tallest at 10.5 metres. There's an instructor on site for beginners who need assistance. It's open 1pm-10pm week days, 10am-7pm weekends, and costs R55 a day, or you can join the club. The Inn is at 86 Kya Sands Road, Kya Sands. Phone Karin on 083 737 8091 for more details. A different kind of climb...Once you've climbed indoor, safe walls, you may be ready for a different kind of mind-boggling climb: stepping off a 24-storey building face downwards. This is forward rappelling or rap jumping or face-first abseiling. You'll step off a building, face first, and like Spiderman, walk down the building, supported from the top. Pure Rush Industries rap jumps off two Johannesburg buildings: one of 22 floors in Edenvale, another of 24 floors in Braamfontein. And you don't need any abseiling skills - just a few minutes of training on site. And if you get hooked, you can go away for a weekend to Mpumalanga and tackle several cliffs. There's no age limit: the youngest rap jumper was seven years old, who jumped in tandem, the oldest 74. Cost is R150 for three jumps. Contact Marco Caromba of Pure Rush Industries on 082 605 1150 for your next rap jump. Visit the web site.
2.Joburg's mountaineers
While you've got the ropes handy, why not try some mountaineering? Joburg's mountaineers have three favourite spots: Northcliff, Struben's Valley in Roodepoort, and the western section of Melville Koppies. All have great rockfaces to climb, with bolts in place, and all are used every weekend. Parking for Melville Koppies is on the corner of Judith and Beyers Naude Roads in Melville, with entrance through the gate nearby. Northcliff is fenced and entrance is in the car park below the water tower in Lucky Avenue. Struben's Valley is accessible from the vacant lot in Montrose Avenue - follow the path up to the crag on the left. E-mail Mike Grant of the Wits University Mountain Club at mike@wumc.za.net for more details or visit the web site. Tackle those boulders...Once you've got some mountaineering under the belt, the next step is bouldering. The two spots are Lonehill Koppie, which is becoming very popular, and The Wilds in Houghton. Bouldering involves traversing rock faces, from left to right, with no ropes, and about 1-2 metres off the ground. Lonehill is open every weekend, and the top rock of the Koppie offers great bouldering. The Wilds are open all the time, but you should go in a party. Bouldering takes place on the east side, just beyond the bridge over Houghton Drive, where there is parking. E-mail Mike Grant of the Wits University Mountain Club at mike@wumc.za.net for more details.
3.Go ballooning
Now you're ready for a total lift-off. Try a balloon trip over the Magaliesberg, 50 kilometres north-west from the city. Balloon Safaris will take two or more people on a one-hour flight over the mountain and bring you back to a full champagne breakfast. You'll have coffee and biscuits while the crew inflates the balloon, and sip champagne while gently floating over the earth. Cost is R1 730 per person, and the balloon leaves from Skeerpoort near the Hartebeespoort Dam. You'll have to get up early - it's a 6am start. Phone 011 705 3201 to book your flight, or visit the web site.
4.Fly like a bird
If you liked what you saw from up there, why not try paragliding? Paragliding consists of sitting on a seat attached to a large rectangular-shaped parachute, which is controlled by means of strings. You can either run off a hill or be run up into the air, and then catch air currents to fly like a bird. Paragliding Afrika offers an introductory four-day course for R2 500. All equipment will be supplied, you'll have up to 15 flights with training taking place at Wakkerstroom, a two-hour journey from Johannesburg, arranged either as a four-day weekend or two consecutive weekends. Phone Simon Hamilton on 082 600 6485 to arrange for your bit of sky fun. Check out the web site.
5.Orienteering
Back on earth, orienteering skills are fun to learn. Orienteering involves finding your way over unknown territory, often by means of running or hiking, with the help of a map and compass. The Rand Athletic Club meets twice a month, and you'll start with a simple three-kilometre course in a suburban setting, and graduate on to a more difficult course of up to 10 kilometres. You don't need to bring anything along except walking shoes, a hat, plenty of sunblock, and R20. Phone Pat de Klerk on 011 793 5380 for more details or visit the web site for the next challenge.
6.Mountain biking
One skill you might want to hone while still on terra firma is mountain biking. There's two clubs in Joburg: Rock Hoppers for the more competitive, and the Johannesburg Mountain Bike Club for those wanting to enjoy social biking. Rock Hoppers members meet once a month at different offroad tracks on the outskirts of the city, usually to race laps on a 7-8km course. All ages are catered for, and those wanting to do the course as weekend fun, are accommodated too. The club has 16 events a year, some of them qualifiers for provincial races. Phone Ken Davis on 083 331 9380 for details on how to join the club or get more details from the web site. The Johannesburg Mountain Bike Club has weekly rides and an annual race of 60kms. They grade their weekly outings to include families and the serious rider, and usually ride up to 45kms at places like Honeydew or Kyalami. Phone Simon Nash on 082 414 8604 for more information but you can get all the details from the web site or join the Club on the site.
7.White water rafting
You've been in the air, walked down buildings, climbed across boulders, biked across rough country, now you need to get on the water. But you've never been in a boat before, you don't know how to paddle or steer a boat, you can't swim, so you could never go white water rafting. Wrong. You can go rafting on the Vaal River, learn how to paddle and steer the rubber raft, and have a great time. Dimalachite offers various rafting adventures, with or without a meal, with some great rapids to get your adrenalin rushing. Dimalachite is in Parys some 120 kilometres south-west of the Johannesburg, and you can stay the weekend if you wish. Phone 056 818 1860 for the details, or visit their web site.
8.Learn to canoe
That experience may inspire you to learn to glide through the water like a duck. Well, you can, at Emmarentia Dam, with the guidance of Bill van der Walt of the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club. Bill will get you canoeing around the Dam and if you work at it six days a week, he'll take you on a river within three months, to learn the ins and outs of rapids. Bill supplies you with a canoe, and a paddle for the initial paddling on the Dam. He charges R100 an hour per person and training is by appointment. There's no age restriction. Phone Bill on 083 266 7750 or visit the Dabulamanzi web site to get details to register as a canoeist.
9.Caving
It's time now to go underground. Scared of the dark, heights, and suffering from claustrophobia? Well, now you can tackle all three fears in one go by going caving in several dark, tall, and at times tight caves at the Cradle of Humankind at Sterkfontein. There are eight different caves of varying grades, and once you're kitted out with a helmet with torch, hiking boots, some basic instruction in abseiling and rock climbing and a trusty guide, you can tackle the starter cave of 4 000 square metres. Phone Sandy or Neil of Wild Cave Adventures on 011 956 6197 or visit the web site.
10.Get adventuresome
And finally, you can get to combine all these great skills in multi-leg adventure races that top athletes do. Several races have been organised for the year, involving disciplines like hiking, canoeing or rafting, abseiling and mountain biking. There's a range of distances - from 10 to 40 kilometres. You can join the Adventure Racing Club and get involved in lots of fun - check out the details on the web site. Phone Christo Horn on 082 853-0330 or e-mail him at christo.horn@letacla.co.za, for more details.
WELL... what are you waiting for!!