Canopy tours in South Afrika

Flying trhough de trees of South Africa
 

Canopy Tours in South Africa are one of the most amazing ways to see nature: ancient forests, rocky gorges… basically places that you are normally on ground level at, looking up. Here you are up in the sky looking into the heart of the forest.

It’s a very different and thrilling perspective.
A canopy tour involves sliding from one high level forest platform to another along steel cables suspended up to 30 metres above the forest floor.  The idea originally came from biologists who used similar systems to access forest canopies in order to study the hard-to-get-at plants that live high up in the trees.The first tree top canopy tour to be developed in South Africa was the one still operating in the Tsitsikamma Forest near Stormsriver on the Garden Route. The tour consists of 10 platforms and 10 slides, the longest of which is 100m.

The second tree top canopy tour to be built in South Africa is in the Karkloof Forest, near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. This one consists of 8 slides; the longest one is 170m and can be quite fast. Like its predecessor, the emphasis of the tour remains firmly with the forest plants, ecology and birds.

The third tour to be developed in South Africa can be found at the Magaliesberg Mountains near Johannesburg. This one isn’t really a tree top tour, but a spectacular canopy height tour with platforms set against spectacular cliffs offering amazing views of the Ysterhout Kloof. Here one is mostly above the trees instead of within them so the view is the key element as opposed to an up-close experience with forest life.

The two latest additions include the Drakensberg and Magoebaskloof Canopy Tours. The Drakensberg Canopy Tour in Central Drakensberg includes the Dragon Mountain’s spectacular scenery and Africa’s first elevated rock face walkway. The Magoebaskloof Canopy Tour is also unique in that it has slides and viewpoints over 3 giant waterfalls among ancient cliffs and the stunning indigenous forest.

With so many excellent options, who can choose?

 

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