On the hunt for a meaningful and eye-opening holiday experience with his teenage son, Richard Holmes finds wildlife, water and soft adventure in Zimbabwe I took a deep breath and then stepped off the platform. Out into fresh air, my body momentarily weightless, the earth dropped away beneath my feet. My ears filled with the roar of the Zambezi River somewhere below, hopefully drowning out my involuntary yelp of fear.
In that split second, I was debating the wisdom of my choices. For many travellers, there’s a similar sensation when leaping off the bungee platform that sits midway along the famous Victoria Falls Bridge. At a height of 111m above the Zambezi, it is one of the world’s most thrilling bungee jumps, drawing thrill-seekers from across the globe.
But, not me. I had come to Victoria Falls – formed as the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-largest, plummets into the Batoka Gorge in a headlong rush to the Indian Ocean – to discover a different side of this World Heritage Site. For while the Falls is often marketed as Africa’s adrenalin capital, there’s far more to this charming destination than throwing yourself off bridges or hurtling headlong down class-five white-water rapids.
That’s not my idea of a good time. READ MORE: How to make a South Africa safari as cheap as possible The platform I’d stepped off was part of the Wild Horizons treetop canopy tour; an adventure-lite excursion that had my 13-year-old son and I zipping between platforms tucked into .
