Adrenalin Junkie Activities in Cape Town and Western Cape

Cape Town and the Western Cape make it to the top of most lists when vis­it­ing South Africa, and the province is one of the most beau­ti­ful in which to seek adren­aline related thrills.

Table Mountain, the lap of Cape Town, and the city's most fam­ous land­mark, seems to set the scene as part of an effort­lessly glor­i­ous land­scape teem­ing with wild seas, moun­tains, effort­less val­leys that boast some of the most incred­ible wines, the arid spaces that make up the Little Karoo, the beauty of the Overberg, the lit­any of nature reserves and green spaces, and the wild West Coast that all com­bine to make this an adventurer's ulti­mate destination.

And if you want to do extreme Cape, there is enough on your menu to ensure a rather long stay. Whether you are here simply to hike Cape Town or seek even greater thrills, the Mother City and the Western Cape are where it's happening ...

Dive the Two Oceans Aquarium:
It doesn't get much bet­ter than this. Diving the I&J Predator Exhibit at the Two Oceans Aquarium and join­ing ragged-tooth sharks and a turtle named Joshi, along­side another host of pred­at­ory fish is one up on going out there in a cage. This way there isn't even a metal bar between you and them!

Those with advanced diving qual­i­fic­a­tions can tackle the Kelp Forest, one of the most beau­ti­ful exhib­its in the aquar­ium. You will need to book ahead.

Contact: Two Oceans Aquarium on +27 (0)21 418‑3823.
Note: Diving by appoint­ment only. Open Water One or Discover Scuba qual­i­fic­a­tion required.

Abseil Table Mountain:
Views from the top of Table Mountain are incred­ible (see our gal­lery at View from the top of Table Mountain), but this way, you get to repel your­self from 1 000 metres up over the Atlantic. Known as Table Mountain's 'Long Drop', this is the world's highest com­mer­cial abseil and a once-in-a-lifetime exper­i­ence. You don't need any climb­ing know-how and all the equip­ment is sup­plied for you, so head off for Table Mountain when the sun is shin­ing and take in the city from its heights.

Contact: Cape-Xtreme on +27 (0)21 788‑5814 or +27 (0)76 016‑9696

Ride horses at sun­set on Noordhoek beach:
Also known as Long Beach, the beach at Noordhoek is 8 kilo­metres long and one of the wild­est beaches in the city. This is not where people come to swim. Rather it's where people walk their dogs and ride  horses along the wide stretch of soft sand dunes with some of the most incred­ible scenery that includes the Kakapo ship wreck. A num­ber of local stables offer rides on the beach between 9am to 8pm, and rid­ing schools in the area also give les­sons for those want­ing more than just the requis­ite beach gallop.

Contact: Imhoff Farm on +27 (0)82 774‑1191.
More options: See plenty of other oppor­tun­it­ies to ride at Western Cape & Cape Town Horse Riding.

Learn to surf at Big Bay, Bloubergstrand:
Bloubergstrand is one of the most pop­u­lar beaches for surf­ing, kite surf­ing and wind surf­ing. But bet­ter still, it comes with the view over Table Mountain and Robben Island most often seen in post cards. This is a great place to learn how to surf (you don't need to have any exper­i­ence to try this one) and you should be able to catch a wave within the first lesson.

Take a heli­copter flip over Cape Town:
If you have ever been con­fused about which side the moun­tain is on, when in Cape Town, then an exhilir­at­ing heli­copter flip will indelibly carve the Geography of the pen­in­su­lar on your mind. There are a num­ber of routes you can fol­low includ­ing the Atlantic route, over Clifton, Llandudno, the Twelve Apostles etc, or the Inland route over Fish Hoek, via Muizenberg, over Constantia Valley to Table Mountain and the City Bowl.

Contact: Makana Aviation on +27 (0)21 425‑3868
Also See: Cape Town Scenic Flights for many more options.

Go ostrich rid­ing in Oudtshoorn:
Whilst it takes a little more than mount­ing an ostrich and hold­ing on tightly to the base of each wing, this is a fun thing to do.

Ostriches are strong and rid­ing them takes a little more than one go to get it right, but a num­ber of the Ostrich show farms in Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo, fam­ous for its ostrich farm­ing, offer ostrich rides as part of a visit to their farm. Ostriches are amongst the tallest liv­ing birds on Earth. Better still, watch an ostrich derby and see how the pro­fes­sion­als do it (see photograph).

Contact: Cango Ostrich Show Farm on +27 (0)44 272‑4623.

River raft­ing in Robertson:
Head along Route 62 to the town of Robertson and the Breede River val­ley, where you can ride the Breede River – argu­ably one of the most scenic rivers in the Western Cape, with some awe­some moun­tain scenery. You won't be sorry you included this item on your itin­er­ary, par­tic­u­larly if you couple it with a visit to the odd wine farm in or out of the valley.

Contact: +27 (0)23 626‑1280 or +27 (0)72 447‑5991

Go moun­tain bik­ing in Langebaan:
The beau­ti­ful West Coast is home to a num­ber of (nearly) undis­covered coastal towns, like Langebaan. It's a beau­ti­ful part of the Western Cape, and a won­der­ful place to go to ride nar­row single­track trails down moun­tain tracks, just before sun­down, with the beach (and a beer) but moments away. There are a couple of gruelling options for those dead keen on earn­ing their beers. Contact: Live2Ride on +27 (0)22 772‑1793

Go paraglid­ing in Porterville:
Just one more quickie. Porterville is one of the best places in the coun­try in which to paraglide or hang glide, at the nearby Dasklip Pass. Contact Wallend-Air Paragliding on +27 (0)21 762‑2441.

Swim with Sharks in Gansbaai:
The main­land of Gansbaai together with seal pop­u­lated Dyer Island flank a nat­ural naut­ical aud­it­or­ium show­cas­ing the Great White Shark cap­ital of the world street named 'Shark Alley'. This dense con­cen­tra­tion of apex pred­ator is only 20km into Indian Ocean swell where float­ing at prey level encap­su­lated in a steel barred cage will leave you swim­ming in a surge of adrenalin ...

Contact: +27 (0)21 418‑0134 or +27 (0)83 675 4043
Also See Things to Do in Gansbaai for more Shark Cage Diving options.

Shooting in Stellenbosch:
An exhilir­at­ing exper­i­ence and accur­acy train­ing for those who have never fired a gun or for fine tun­ing the skills of an exper­i­enced shooter. An array of shoot­ing activ­it­ies is explored at vari­ous tar­gets. Shooting com­mences with formal tar­get shoot­ing, then the shoot­ing of steel plates, fol­lowed by brick bust­ing, shat­ter­ing clay pigeons and blow­ing up water bottles... because you can 'Bullseye!'.

Contact: Shootopia Shooting Range on +27 (0)83 709‑7092 or +27 (0)83 411‑0174.

Paraglide off Lions Head:
During the flight you can relax and enjoy the view from your bird’s-eye per­spect­ive. You can take pho­tos while in the air and your pilot is also equipped with a cam­era to take pho­tos (optional).

Pure sim­pli­city and free­dom is the true beauty of paraglid­ing. Within minutes you and the glider can be ready and in the air. It is a truly awe­some and unique experience!

Contact: +27 (0)21 762‑2441

Useful Info:
If these adven­ture activ­it­ies are too tame for you (or too extreme?) browse our selec­tion of Extreme Adventure in Cape Town or Things to Do in Western Cape. Options range from extreme adven­ture and sports to water sports, horse rid­ing, hik­ing and moun­tain and mamy many more. If you still need to book a place to stay, see Cape Town accom­mod­a­tion and Western Cape accom­mod­a­tion for a no-commission, no-service fee book­ing option. You deal dir­ectly with accom­mod­a­tion pro­viders and save!