RAK launches longest and highest zip line
At more than 2.2km long, the daring attraction on Jebel Jais will help lead the emirate’s adventure tourism drive
Ras Al Khaimah is flying into the record books with the launch of the longest and highest zip line in the world, on which thrill seekers will travel prone, like Superman, at speeds of up to 120kph.
The as-yet unnamed attraction has been two years in the making and follows the success of RAK’s via ferreta experience, which mixes rock climbing with three smaller zip lines on Jebel Jais, the UAE’s highest mountain.
The exact length of the zip line has not been revealed but it will be 1,900 metres above sea level, 500m above the road below and will “surpass by some distance” the existing record holder, the 2.2-kilometre Monster in Puerto Rico.
It is part of a continuing development plan to build a zip line park at Jebel Jais, which is 1,934 metres high. The park will consist of eight to 10 zip lines, one of which, 1km in length, will launch alongside the record-breaker in December.
“This zip line will be like no other experience out there,” Haitham Mattar, chief executive of the RAK Tourism Development Authority, said yesterday.
“Once harnessed to the zip line in a horizontal superhero position, participants will soar through the sky as if they are a bird for about two and a half minutes. It is the closest you can get to the experience of flying.
“The flight will take them to a suspended landing platform where they will be transferred to a second line to complete the journey back to the ground. In its first phase of operations the zip line will be able to accommodate 250 people a day – that is 100,000 in a year.
“Nothing like this exists in the world, let alone this region. It is a true first for Ras Al Khaimah and adds another amazing attraction to the UAE’s diverse tourism portfolio.”
RAK is in the process of capitalising on its natural attractions to lure more adventure tourists to the emirate.
The tourism authority is in the middle of a three-year plan to increase visitor numbers to one million by next year. It is already well on its way, with 900,000 visitors so far this year, up from about 500,000 a year ago, when the project launched in January last year.
The longer-term goal is to increase these numbers further to three million tourists by 2025, which would put the northernmost emirate on a par with Oman.
“New attractions are key to growth,” Mr Mattar said. “Our goal is to attract tourists seeking adventure, nature and cultural heritage.
“Through studies we found that the first motivation for travel was the beach, sun and sea, but the second motivation for travel was adventure, so we were looking for diversity for our tourism, as we were very highly dependent on beachgoers.
“Focusing on Jebel Jais and building an adventure park we started on the via ferrata, which was running at about 80 per cent occupancy even during weekdays and chock-a-block on weekends, so we wanted to expand that.
“The new zip line represents RAK’s most significant tourism product opening since Al Marjan Island, our coral-shaped leisure tourism archipelago. This key product launch will further enhance our unique mountain-beach-desert offering.”
The first target for the new attraction will be domestic tourists, who account for 35 per cent of RAK’s visitor numbers.
Dr Jolly Antony, founder and chief executive of Al Safina Travel and Tourism in RAK, said the zip line would further increase the emirate’s popularity.
“RAK was not such a famous location up until 2010, but from then on big growth started, with the opening of four and five-star hotels and flights direct from Saudi Arabia and India,” Dr Antony said.
“This new attraction will boost tourism. The tourism board in RAK is very strong at exhibiting at travel shows across the world and, with more hotel brands coming in the next two to three years, RAK will continue to boom.”
The zip-line park is being built and operated by Toro Verde, the company that runs The Monster, and it is being billed as an eco-tourism project that will use local building materials and have a minimal impact on the environment. The zip line will use body weight, not engines, to propel people.
The first two zip lines to open are expected to cost up to US$2.5 million (Dh9.1m) and, once completed in June next year, the entire park should cost about $6m.
“Jebel Jais’s dramatic and beautiful landscape offers an iconic backdrop for what will be a bucket-list experience for people all around the world,” said Jorge Jorge, the chief executive of Toro Verde Ras Al Khaimah.
Ricardo Lizano, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “The Jebel Jais zip-line experience will consist of two lines, allowing friends and family to take part in the flight together.
“On arrival at the welcome centre, which has a lounge, restaurant, lockers, equipment storage and offices, participants will be given a briefing and then escorted to the launch platform and fitted with a special suit and equipment for this adventure.”
The first paying customers will be able to try the experience on December 1, while VIPs will be taken by helicopter to the location where they will have their own lounge before trying the zip line.
You can book in advance online, over the phone or through travel agents, although exact details have yet to be released.
The zip line will be open to all ages, providing participants meet the minimum weight of 35kg and maximum of 150kg, and are at least 120 centimetres tall.