Adrenalin Junkie Activities in the Free State

Don't let the fact that the Free State is com­pletely land­locked, and described with  reg­u­lar­ity as 'flat', deter you from seek­ing adven­ture in this hid­den treasure.

The Northern Free State, pos­sibly because of its prox­im­ity to Gauteng, is fast earn­ing itself a repu­ta­tion for per­fect week­end get­aways that include the Vaal River, Vaal dam and numer­ous game farms that together with the Vredefort Dome, pretty undu­lat­ing hills, and the 'golden coun­try' of the Central Free State — dot­ted with fields of corn and sun­flowers and plenty of mod­ern little towns — and not for­get­ting 'Bloemies', as Bloemfontein is fondly known, com­bine for per­fect, sun-filled adven­ture opportunities ...

And the Southern Free State is as beau­ti­ful. The south­ern bound­ary is formed by the Orange River, which rises in the Maluti Mountains, and feeds the Gariep Dam — another source of adven­ture activ­it­ies. Thabo Mofutsanyana, regarded as the most scenic part of the Free State, to the east, lies on the edge of the Drakensberg and Maluti Mountains and includes the Golden Gate National Park, as well as the win­ning vil­lages of Ficksburg and Clarens.

There's little that the Free State, which lies right in the middle of South Africa and many describe as its heart, doesn't hold by way of adven­ture and out­door living.

Skydiving just out­side Bloemfontein:
There is prob­ably little that beats the adren­aline rush of sky­diving. Just out­side Bloemfontein is one of the country's sky­diving clubs, said to be the old­est in the coun­try, at Tempe air­port. Even if you've never sky­dived before, learn­ing how to jump from an aero­plane, in tan­dem, in South Africa is one of the best places to learn – con­sid­er­ing the num­ber of cloud-free days the coun­try enjoys! (par­tic­u­larly the Free State).

Besides the rush of adren­aline and the obvi­ous grav­it­a­tional pull, the aer­ial scenery is up there with the best. Hurtling earth­wards, the blue of the sky behind you, and the undu­lat­ing hills of the Free State mea­gre blips below you is dif­fi­cult to beat.

Contact: Bloemfontein Skydiving Centre on +27 (0)51 451‑1143 or +27 (0)76 394‑6059

River raft­ing along the Orange River:
Rowing the Orange River is at once relax­ing, incred­ibly beau­ti­ful and at the same time exhilir­at­ing, given the mag­ni­fi­cence of peri­odic rap­ids that swiftly bring you into the present. Depending on your needs, there are trails that break away for any­thing from two to six days, includ­ing hik­ing and camp­ing on the banks of the Orange River.

Seeing the Free State from the water's edge is a com­pletely dif­fer­ent view of things, and sleep­ing under the stars makes for an awe­some adven­ture combination.

Contact: +27 (0)83 485‑9654

Mountain bike the Vredefort Dome (Parys):
The beau­ti­ful Vredefort Dome, the world's largest and old­est (2.02 bil­lion years ago) vis­ible blast crater (even if there is still con­tro­versy over whether this giant hole is the res­ult of an aster­oid impact or a blast from within the Earth's crust) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yes, you can hike the moun­tains sur­round­ing the dome or rock climb these heights to view San rock art, but why not go one bet­ter and moun­tain bike the semi­cir­cu­lar moun­tain­ous landscape.

The tops of the hills give one incred­ible views of the Vaal River val­ley, whilst the deep val­leys between the hills are home to cool moun­tain streams and shade from the heat of the day. These trails (Dampoort MTB trails) aren't piddly trails either, but for those want­ing some­thing slightly less tax­ing, try the Hakuna Matata circuit.

Contact: +27 (0)56 818‑1814 or +27 (0)82 475‑8767

Backpacking the Rooihaas trail in Vredefort Dome:
Still at the dome, for those less inter­ested in cyc­ling and more inter­ested in remain­ing on your feet, the Rooihaas Hiking Trail is one of a net­work of hik­ing trails and moun­tain bike trails that make their way in and around the Vredefort Dome. The trail is named after the little rock rab­bit that occurs in these rocky areas.

It's a fairly tough hike, although the ini­tial hour is along the Vaal River banks with ample oppor­tun­ity to spot water birds. From there it's uphill with sev­eral loop options left entirely to the hiker as to what type of walk you're after (for day one, that is). Day two of the hike is rel­at­ively short, by com­par­ison with day one, but filled with his­tory, quiet, beau­ti­ful scenery and a chance to get away from it all.

Contact: Dome Trails/Koepelroetes on + 27 (0)18 294‑8572

Quad bik­ing near Clarens:
Experience the Maluti Mountains on a quad bike, just out­side of Clarens. Rides vary in length from one-and-a-half to two hours, and aside from acquir­ing new skills (if you haven't quad biked before) there is also lus­cious scenery and won­der­ful hills to ride.

Contact: +27 (0)82 491‑9788

Useful Links:
Check out our sec­tion on Things to Do in Free State for more activ­it­ies and fun things to do whilst on hol­i­day in the Free State. Activities range from horse rid­ing to hik­ing to fish­ing and sight see­ing ... the beau­ti­ful Freer State has a lot to offer the adven­ture trav­el­ler! And book your accom­mod­a­tion in the Free State via SA-Venues.com if you want to save some money. You Deal Direct with the accom­mod­a­tion pro­viders — pay no com­mis­sion and no ser­vice fees, sav­ing you money.