Adrenalin Junkie Activities in the Eastern Cape

If you are after the unusual; that excit­ing exper­i­ence that will get the blood pump­ing and the exhil­ar­a­tion bub­bling up to behind the teeth. If it's adven­ture with a cap­ital 'A' that takes you out in any weather on any ter­rain, then the Eastern Cape of South Africa is a good place to begin.

You won't struggle to find adven­ture in the country's second largest province. The Eastern Cape is one of the country's most diverse and inter­est­ing provinces to visit – from the mag­ni­fi­cence of the rural Wild Coast, the semi-arid plains of the Karoo, the Sunshine Coast's effort­less hours of sun­shine and pearly beaches, to Big 7 game view­ing or bun­gee jump­ing off one of the highest jumps in the world, there is little that will not meet your expectations ...

Even the food is an adven­ture of sorts, if you have not yet sunk your teeth into lamb bredie, samp and beans, biltong, spring­bok carpac­cio or braaied sea­food, and, whilst going to the beach is why most vis­it­ors head to the Eastern Cape, those intent on sand board­ing, diving, hik­ing, sky­diving, river exped­i­tions, heli­copter flips, horse trails and walk­ing the paths of the strand­lopers have come to the right province.

On the backs of ele­phants
The Addo Elephant Park, one of the province's main attrac­tions, becomes a whole new ball game when done on the back of an ele­phant. Get into the swing of the bush on the back of a sway­ing ele­phant just out­side Port Elizabeth. A couple of tour oper­at­ors offer this awe­some com­mune with these large, intel­li­gent giants.

Check out South Africa Elephant-Back Safaris for gen­eral info, see here for actual options avail­able or see Addo Elephant Safari Lodge for a 5* Elephant Back Safari experience.

Free fall­ing in Grahamstown
If sky­diving is your thing, then tan­dem sky­diving with a 35 second free-fall before your para­chute opens is your kind of thing. What's more, you don't need any exper­i­ence for these nail bit­ing tan­dem thrills. And the breath­tak­ing views from 10 000 feet up are sup­posed to be unspeak­able. Skydiving is about as thrill­ing as it gets. Attached to a tan­dem mas­ter, the fear of going it alone is lost and one can give one­self over to the joy of leap­ing into the sky.

Contact EP Skydivers (the Eastern Province Skydivers Club) on +27 (0)82 800‑9263

Sandboarding in Jeffreys Bay or East London
In many ways like snow­board­ing or even skate board­ing (without the wheels), sand­board­ing involves bal­an­cing with two feet on a rather thin board whilst slid­ing down a sand dune. One can build up to unbe­liev­able speeds once you've been doing this for a while, so it's under­stand­able that sand­board­ing has made its way onto the list of things to do for adren­aline junkies.

The good news, for those unsure about try­ing sand­board­ing, is that if you can stand, you can sand­board. More and more places with access to ver­tical dunes are offer­ing sand­board­ing, although East London's Bonza Bay and Jeffrey's Bay def­in­itely offer this fun activity.

Contact Jay Bay Sandboarding on +27 (0)42 296‑2974
or SugarShack Backpackers, East London on +27 (0)43 722‑8240

Walk the Woody Cape Hiking Trail
That no-one under 16 should attempt this hik­ing trail should give you an indic­a­tion of the level of fit­ness required to con­quer the hike through the largest act­ive coastal dun­e­fields in the south­ern hemi­sphere – the Alexandria Dune Field.

The hike meanders through the Woody Cape Nature Reserve, now com­bined with the Addo Elephant Game Reserve. Whilst the two-day hike isn't dif­fi­cult, it does demand a high level of fit­ness, par­tic­u­larly as in the heat of sum­mer it can get darned hot.

Contact the Matyholweni Rest Camp for book­ings on +27 (0)42 233‑8621

Hogsback Trail
Whilst on the sub­ject of demand­ing trails, the incred­ible views of the Hogsback Mountains over­look­ing the indi­gen­ous forest below makes this trail more than worth the effort and level of fit­ness required to com­plete it. Hogsback is a magical world of moun­tains and forests in an area dom­in­ated by three ridges that look like the bristles on a hog's back.

Find out more about Hogsback — where to stay, what to do, events, etc.

Kayaking on the Kromme River
Kayaking trips on some of the local estu­ar­ies, like the Kromme River in Cape St Francis or the Kowie River in Port Alfred is another way to exper­i­ence exhil­ar­a­tion of a slightly more sed­ate kind, although you need to be reas­on­ably fit to tackle a trip out to sea to swim amongst dol­phins and whales. Kayaking is one of the fast­est grow­ing sports in the world and a won­der­ful way to exper­i­ence and explore rivers. Certainly you get the unspoilt ver­sion of the rivers in this way.

Contact Kromme River Expeditions on +27 (0)84 506‑6396

Snow ski­ing at Tiffindell
From sand­board­ing to snow board­ing, all within one province sounds pretty idyllic, and it's also do-able. The snow park at Tiffindell offers snow for about three months of the year. Tiffindell lies in the south­ern Drakensberg on the slopes of Ben Mc Dhui, the highest moun­tain peak in the Cape.

Of course the resort does enlist the help of some par­tic­u­larly good snow­mak­ing sys­tems, and you can­not com­pare this to the peaks of Europe, but for a coun­try known for its sunny skies and hot cli­mate, Tiffendell is a wel­come sur­prise and offers a workout non­ethe­less with bum board­ing, ski­ing, snow board­ing and even moun­tain board­ing, horse rid­ing, fly fish­ing and 4x4 trails in summer.

Find out more about Tiffindell Ski Resort

Useful Links:
For more extreme adven­ture options (and the less extreme)  see the fol­low­ing:
Extreme Sports in the Eastern Cape
Sports & Leisure in the Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape Hiking Trails

If the above options are too extreme or "not your thing", see Things to Do in the Eastern Cape where you will find many options ran­ging from water sports (learn to surf, canoe­ing etc), hik­ing trails, horse rid­ing, cruises, scenic flights ... and plenty more options to keep you you busy for days on end ... Enjoy! And don't for­get, book your accom­mod­a­tion in the Eastern Cape via SA-Venues.com — No com­mis­sions, no ser­vice fees, nudda — you Deal Direct and Save!