High flyers
The Garden Route is now not only home to the longest overocean zip line in the world, but also one of the highest in SA.
SANParks, in collaboration with SA Forest Adventures, opened what has been dubbed the Knysna Ziplines on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay on Monday.
The zip line will see adrenaline junkies sailing across 2.2km of cables above the Kranshoek gorge in the Garden Route National Park, 250m above indigenous forest and along one of the most spectacular views of the region’s coastline.
The same company opened the world’s longest zip line over the ocean, a 1.1km colossus in Mossel Bay, in January.
Ironically, completing the Knysna Ziplines has been slow going.
The devastating 2017 Knysna fires, which swept through the Harkerville section of the national park where the zip line has been installed, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic have hampered progress.
Park manager Megan Taplin said the project, driven by SANParks, went to tender about four years ago and was awarded to SA Forest Adventures in 2017. The fires brought the project to a standstill until late 2018.
Just weeks before the project was to be launched in 2020, the coronavirus struck.
“Tourism was one of the industries hardest hit and therefore such an activity brings a welcome boost.
“It also fits with SANParks’ vision of linking sustainable national parks with society,” Taplin said.
Taplin said the project was environmentally friendly and complemented the area’s existing hiking and mountain bike trails.
It also showed off the area’s rich fauna and flora, which includes an indigenous forest in the gorge and rare and rich fynbos on the ridges.
SA Forest Adventures MD Clinton Lerm said the zip line provided an experience of a lifetime for visitors.
Guides are being sourced from Kranshoek, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, and will be trained by qualified adventure guides with many years of experience in safety protocols.
Materials and products, with the exception of specialised equipment, were sourced locally. Lerm said the cable used for the project was made of a special plastic. Though five times more expensive than the traditional cables used for zip lines, it would drastically reduce noise pollution. More than R4.5m has been invested in the project so far and there are plans to extend the zip line in the near future to include another two lines. It will then span more than 3.2km.