If you are a restless and adventurous soul looking for a worthwhile first-time adventure, this bucket-list is for you. These first-time adventures were made with you in mind.
We at Getaway have had our fair share of notable first-time adventures and we highly recommend getting your heart pumping with adrenaline with these experiences.
1. Flying with sharks (cageless) off the Cape coast
Blue sharks are tactile and inquisitive, making frequent physical contact with divers. Photo by Poelzer Wolfgang
There’s nothing quite as magical as being suspended in a warm, cobalt ocean with friendly blue sharks. The Blue sharks are tactile and inquisitive, making frequent physical contact with divers. This first-time adventure is gauranteed to get your heart pumping and is certainly not for the faint-hearted.
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2. The only gorilla trekking story you’ll ever need to read
It was Darrel Bristow-Bovey’s bucket-list wish to see the gorillas of Virunga. We sent him, and there he discovered a surprising, beautiful kind of heartache. Although he did spot the gorillas, he also learnt that “it doesn’t matter if we don’t find them, I told myself. It’s the quest that matters: to be out here walking the Mountains of the Moon, halfway between the crater lake and Dian Fossey’s gravesite. You don’t have to see the gorillas to feel them: it’s enough just to be here, just to look for them”.
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3. A biker’s three-day dream trip from Joburg to Cape Town
You’ll climb this glorious mountain pass between Merweville and Sutherland. Read on to find out what it’s called.
Driving to Cape Town? Try this three-day route from Joburg. It’s packed with great gravel roads for adventure bikers, but you can do a tar version in your sedan too. Bikers who love passes that promise stunning views and gravel roads are in for a treat.
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4. Skydiving over the West Coast
Our first few seconds of free fall before the parachute opened.
Skydiving over the West Coast with Mother City SkyDiving offers views that stretch from the Cederberg, Table Mountain and Robben Island through to Cape Point. The drive up to the jumping point is a 25-minute flight and is so scenic that you will lose yourself in the lusciously green patches of farm fields that make up Malmesbury. We were spinning at first as if falling into a massive green patchwork of Malmesbury farms with the ground seemingly moving closer to our faces. Soaring through the wind on our way to the ground, I felt like Superman.
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5. Paraglide over Cape Town like a bird
Wondering what it’s like to glide over the ocean like a bird while enjoying the best views of Cape Town? Our journalist Ondela Mlandu went paragliding for the first time to get a glimpse of what the birds encounter daily. It’s an adventure she still remembers with fondness.
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6. Fat-biking through the coastal paradise of Mozambique
Day two starts off on the beach. Photo by Tyson Jopson.
I had just recently learnt to ride a bike (yes, I didn’t ride bicycles growing up) and like anybody with a new skill, I wanted more. So I set off to explore Mozambique’s best-loved holiday coastline by fat-bike! As a novice cyclist, I was was challenged sufficiently and still had the time of my life.
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7. ‘Hiking’ on a horse
A glimpse of the Kouga River.
A new hike allows the not-so-fit to ride alongside those on foot into the depths of the Baviaanskloof. Kati Auld was the first to test it out and found that there’s a magic that happens when you explore this wilderness from a saddle.
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8. Namibia’s Tok Tokkie Trail
Our desert suites are low-impact and environmentally-friendly. Here, we slept under the open sky without a tent obscuring the view. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.
The Tok Tokkie Trail is one of Namibia’s most wonderful and affordable walking safari experiences and makes for a first-time adventure in the Namibian sand. Just you, wide sands, big skies and superb sundowners. It’s also more affordable than you think.
Read more about uncovering secrets in the sand on Namibia’s Tok Tokkie Trail
9. Take to the waters at Ballito Cable Ski Park
Laurent Bauwens hovers in the air on the flyboard. Image by Teagan Cunniffe
There’s a new aquatic playground near Durban – good for cooling down and getting a good dose of adrenaline. Teagan Cunniffe visited the Ballito Cable Ski Park to try out a flip on a fly board. As the days warm up, this activity promises thrill-seekers a time to remember.
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10. Swimming with Cape fur seals
On this particular day at Duiker Island on South Africa’s cold Atlantic coast, the water was clean and the Cape fur seals weren’t coming very close but still surrounding me. By Steven Benjamin.
Thrill seekers come to the cold Cape waters to see great white sharks, but the growing popularity of swimming with seals is giving sharks a run for their tourist money. You might want to go for a splash while you still can with these friendly creatures.
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