For an exhilarating experience and a new perspective on nature, it's hard to beat a canopy tour.
All the glitz and glamour of fast living is not for me, mainly because I don't have the style or the money to back it up. So it was nice to discover that I could have a chance at being a "high-flyer" - even if it was just for three short hours in the Karkloof Forest, outside Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. This was real, true high flying in the deepest, most meaningful sense of the word.
Even though the Karkloof Forest is a shadow of its former self, it is still one of the most important indigenous forests in the province and to have the opportunity to pass through it - admittedly sometimes rather fast - is a privilege.
"Canopy Tours originated in the lush rainforests of Costa Rica where adventurous biologists, desperate to learn more about the diversity of animal life inhabiting the upper canopy levels, devised a system of cables and platforms that would allow them to explore this previously inaccessible ecosystem," explained Mark Brown of Tree Top Tours who, together with Anton Barnes, designed and built the Kirkwood canopy tour.
Having seen how the Costa Ricans developed these tours into a popular eco-tourism activity that not only provided visitors with a holiday highlight, but also raised awareness of the plight and beauty of the world's endangered indigenous forests, Mark returned to South Africa. He teamed up with Stormsriver Adventures and launched the first canopy tours in the Tsitsikamma forests on the Garden Route.
The second South African canopy tour was built in Karkloof. Young men from the local community were trained by Mark's team and Anton, the owner of the property, to become guides. The "tour" consists of seven platforms joined together by eight steel cables. Four platforms have been built on sturdy steel towers standing on the forest floor. One tower rests on a large boulder and two other platforms had to be fixed to the side of a cliff. The distance between the platforms ranges from 40 to 175 metres and the cables hang up to 30 metres above the forest floor. I found the idea of this rather daunting, but the reality was awesome. Before heading off into the forest, our group was gathered together by lead guide Africa Maldonado.
Africa has been intimately involved in Karkloof Canopy Tours since its inception, first with the building and then as a guide. He explained all the safety gear and procedures and then we were "kitted out" by safety guides Raphael Thusi and Busizwe Mbokazi before being driven out to the drop-off point.
A short walk through the forest took us to the start of the trail, called the "Rabbit Hole". The first section of the trail is called "Last Chance". It is quite short and gives the guides a chance to see whether you are going to manage doing the trail on your own or whether you will need to go tandem with one of them for the rest of the trail. After this, there is no turning back.
I don't like heights so I decided to bite the bullet and go first after Raphael, who would be there to see me safely onto the next platform. I simply would not have managed to watch everyone else go, listening to their yells as they whizzed off down the cable, not being sure whether it was delight or terror. Just to reassure you - there were yells of delight.
From Last Chance there is a magnificent stretch of cable, up above the deep, dark forest canopy to a platform perched on the side of the cliff. "I tie you up here … like a dog," teased Busizwe (a little too gleefully I thought) as he immediately clipped me onto the safety cable as I landed. However, you feel anything but like a dog standing there, and more like an eagle surveying the expansive view over the forest and down across the Karkloof farmlands. It is totally awe-inspiring, especially after the minor adrenaline rush of flying out over the tree tops. The safety procedure takes place at each platform and is to prevent you going over the edge as the platform fills up - and you would be totally safe in the unlikely event of a platform collapsing.
Having made the first stretch I got a taste for it, but was then torn between joy of speed and the possibility of enjoying the scenery en route. I was first to arrive at the fabulous Waterfall Platform, and enjoying the water splashing down the cliff face into the forest just a few metres away made me decide that from there on I would go tandem so that I wouldn't need to concentrate on speed or stopping. I did one more short stretch over "Bums Up", where you need to go slowly so as not to crash into a rock or a thick tree branch, and from then, down the N1 to Bees Platform to Stinkwood and the beautiful, secluded River Platforms, Busizwe took control.
He pointed out small waterfalls, white ironwoods, orchids, sunbirds and many of the joys of this ancient forest that I might have missed otherwise.
He did have me laughing at one point, when halfway down the N1 I heard him chuckle and then saw his hands on either side of me as he yelled, "Look ma'am, no hands," as we accelerated down the cable. I screeched and yelled as we tore across the sky above the canopy.
Waiting for the other "flyers" to arrive on the platforms, Raphael and Busizwe pointed out old man's beard, snake lilies, wild cucumber creeper, massive Cape chestnuts and tree fuschias, climbing sage, wild peach, carrot ferns and red stinkwood. They explained some of the medicinal uses of many of the plants, giving a whole new dimension to the tour through the forest.
Even once we had been unclipped from the cable and begun our walk out of the forest back to the camp for lunch, I still felt exhilarated. This has got to be the best kind of high.
