The UAE’s adventure emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, is home to the longest zipline in the world and an insane mountain toboggan. Buckle up.
By Peter Frost
Two minutes of glory and a rock toboggan
‘Comfortable?’
Comfortable? Not a word I would have chosen. Kitted out in a full harness, helmet and headcam, about to Superman down the equivalent of Table Mountain to the Waterfront, “comfortable” wasn’t really front and centre.
‘OK, face forward. Good. Now on your knees. Great. Now pretend you’re doing push-ups. That’s it. I’m going to ask you to lift your legs. Perfect. I know it feels odd, but I’ve got you. You’re attached to the wire by your harness there at your lower back, as well as a second failsafe by your bum. All you have to do is face forward and enjoy. Do you want me to take a picture of you?’
Three, two one, have fun…’
The wind roars, the platform floor falls away and I pick up speed unerringly quickly. The zeeee of the line above my head intensifies to a shriek, I look down and instantly regret it. Below there is nothing but a distant switchback pass, ancient valleys and hard, unforgiving rocks. A very, very long way away. The zipline boast – the longest in the world – looked entirely possible from the launch platform.
They didn’t say anything about how high it was though. Stretching nearly three kilometres to the suspended landing dais below, it’s actually all about what isn’t beneath you rather than how far or fast you’re sliding. Blue blistering barnacles – why would Captain Haddock’s words suddenly come into my hyper-alert brain?
Two very fast minutes later the suspended landing platform comes into focus. If flying at 150kph across a two-million-year-old gorge is singularly unsettling, scrabbling onto a Mad Max assembly of canvas and wires 500 metres above the valley floor is no less disconcerting. So too is the “shortest zipline in the world” which takes flyers from the suspended platform a few metres to the Terra Firma cliff face.
The Sledder – even more ridiculous
‘Welcome to the Sledder, sir, comfortable?’
What’s with the obsession with my comfort up here? Earlier, I had arrived at the take-off station, only to be told I needed to drive down the mountain a few kilometres. ‘That’s where the experience begins.’
Indeed it did. At the bottom station, you climb into your sled, buckle up and then sit back as the tiny module ascends a kilometre, nearly vertically, all the while absorbing the knowledge that soon enough you’ll be belting back down here, hair like Medusa, screaming like Fay Wray in King Kong.
‘Yes thank you very comfortable’, I say, wholly happy, why not, I’m about to toboggan off the side of a near-vertical mountain, strapped into a mechanical sled. The youngster explains that I need to hold these two handles down either side of the sled and if I want to brake – if – I only need to let go of them. Dead man’s handle. It just gets better.
‘Enjoy yourself!’.
More climbing, the rak, rak, rak of an ancient fairground rollercoaster, feet in the air, wills and Hail Marys until finally, the inevitable slow left-hander and…
I didn’t brake. Mostly because I was frozen in place. 40kph doesn’t sound particularly fast but taking a 80 degree bend at that speed produces a professional amount of G-forces. Those bends do take your mind off the precipitous descent and the empty chasm below; halfway down I realised, too late, that my white knuckle days are over. Pushing limits is for the young and venturous.
Ras Al Khaimah quick guide
- Ras Al Khaimah is one of seven emirates of the UAE, an hour’s drive north of Dubai on the Musandam Peninsula. Jebel Jais is a further hour north on good roads.
- South African residents need a UAE visa before flying, obtainable online, which costs R3000.00
- The UAE drives on the right-hand side of the road. Hire car companies are plentiful, most operating from Dubai.
For more information
For details on hotels, destinations, attractions and itineraries, visit Ras Al Khaimah’s official tourism site: visitrasalkhaimah.com
Pictures: Peter Frost
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