DURBAN (South Africa)
27 November - 30 November 2017
It’s only a 2hr flight from Cape
Town to Durban, but, you notice straight away the difference in climate and the
environment shifts into something altogether different from its southern cousin. I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprise, when you think that two hours flying
time out of Melbourne will put you on the doorstep of Brisbane, an altogether
different experience, then the Cape Town to Durban difference is perfectly in alignment.
Warm and temperate, with a
significant amount of rainfall during the year, you immediately get that hint
of humidity in a subtropical environment upon arrival. The vegetation here is lush, abundant and
very different in look to that of Cape Town. In fact Durban is known to be a hotspot in terms of being an area that
has some of the richest and most threatened collection of plant and animal life
on earth. To extend that even further, South Africa is considered to be the
third most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil & Indonesia, and
Durban, provides in itself, 2000 plant species, 82 terrestrial mammals and 380
species of birds.
As for the urban part of Durban,
well, it’s not an overwhelming inspiration.
Inga & I booked into a hotel
on the beachfront. An expansive area at the eastern edge of the city that has
one of the city’s busiest concentration of restaurants but somehow doesn’t
quite seem to be pulling it off. To me it felt as though this strip of
abundance was a long way past its glory days. A little run down, disheveled and
uninspiring. Sure, it still draws its share of locals and tourists alike, and
its kitsch and surfeit family entertainment areas make utilisation of space, it appears, for the sake of it, resolved without thought or reason. It’s a bit of a hodge podge and
mismatch of things that serve to
negate that value of a reasonable beachfront area. Not that it’s a mess, and not that its so
completely underwhelming, but certainly the potential here has not been
realised. Not even close.
South Beach - Durban - South Africa
South Beach - Durban - South Africa
South Beach - Durban - South Africa
Many times I heard Durban referenced as encompassing gritty urbanity. Many I believe use this
term interchangeably with having
character, but to me just seemed to typify the distinct schism there was
in the cultural distribution of the city.
The South Beach area, where Inga
& I were hanging during most days, had a distinctly African and Indian feel
to it. A mix of small shops, restaurants and basic bars that were culturally distinct. Interesting in their own way but you could see that in comparison to
other areas, this part of the city had been rather neglected. With that said,
all major cities have areas like this, but to underline my point, most cities
have areas that are like this because of the distinct cultural and wealth
divide. Racism in South Africa, whilst
now societal, was for many years a component of government policy where
institutionalised racial segregation was the norm. It’s going to take centuries for that to be
resolved, that type of hatred and bitterness ends up becoming part of your DNA.
How Africans can ever lift themselves above the dehumanizing nature of their
one time oppressors is not a discussion for here, other than to say the
challenge will be colossal and additionally to say that these divides in cities such as Durban are distinctly obvious.
North Beach - Durban - South Africa
North Beach - Durban - South Africa
North Beach - Durban - South Africa
Our evenings were spent on Florida Road, an area in the north of the city that had a
wonderful mix of restaurants, galleries, bars and boutiques. Without question,
one of the trendier areas of Durban, the energy, vibrancy and interest here
makes it a compelling area to head to for a night out. This was also where we
were introduced to the famous South African dish known as bunny chow.
Florida Road - Windermere - Durban - South Africa
Not to be confused with rabbit
food, bunny chow, is a dish
consisting of a hollowed out loaf of bread that’s filled with a curry, be it
lamb, chicken, beef or vegetable. Not a culinary extravaganza but one that could
be both tasty and desperately filling. No surprise that there appeared to be quite a strong demand
for bunny chow in most pubs.
This part of the Durban
experience now brings me to THE
CHALLENGE.
Since that day we arrived in
Durban and the moment that I picked up the pamphlet in our hotel room advertising
the BIG RUSH experience at MOSES MABHIDA
stadium, I had been goading Inga into doing it.
To get an understanding of what this form of insanity this is, you can either
take a look at their website https://www.bigrush.co.za/
or just read a few facts about it here;
- The Big
Rush Swing, officially named as the
tallest swing in the Guinness Book of World Records since 14 MAY 2011
-
The launch bridge stands 80m+ above the football
field – you are effectively jumping in from outside of the stadium
-
The swing provides you with a massive 220m arc
Moses Mahbida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Moses Mabhi Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Every time I
read the details however and saw photos of people taking their leap of faith, my palms
got sweaty. The pictures are you see online seem unbelievable. Standing high above the canopy style roof
of the stadium and looking out to the Durban beaches and the Pacific beyond, there you
stand, tethered to a piece of fabric, only some 5-7cms in width. That’s all that's going to be in the way of you plummeting 80mtrs to the field below.
Each time I
thought about completing this task I would stand up against the window of our
hotel room in Durban, look straight down from the 18th floor and
imagine myself stepping off the edge. The only problem of this style of visualisation was that I needed to double the
height in order for that feeling to be accurate. There was much further to fall than just the 18 floors.
As our time
drew to an end in Durban, Inga kept prompting me on when we’d go and do the
jump. I found excuses of course. Somehow attempting to visual the jump was the
perfect method of talking myself out of doing it.
On our final
day in Durban I hardened up a little and committed to Inga that we would
go to the stadium and at least have a look. But even before that, we decided to commence
our day by taking a 30km drive down the road and doing a cage dive with sharks.
Shark cage diving - 40kms south of Durban - South Africa
Near Durban - South Africa
Near Durban - South Africa
Now for Inga
this was the bigger challenge. Being in the water, which was not a comfortable
environment for her, and then floating around with these beasts within touching range, well, there was a certain amount of anxiety involved in that scenario.
On the morning
we went out the water was calm and the sky slightly overcast. We took a dingy
ride a few kilometres of the coast with a group of shark enthusiasts. I say
enthusiasts, I mean this was their business, but I think their love and
somewhat warped view of the nature and mentality of sharks, in some ways, made
the experience a little disconcerting. When people start talking about ‘sharks being our friends, and asking us to ‘spread
the word on the placid nature of sharks' all I wanted to say to them was ‘Dude, but their teeth!!’.
Truth be told
however, the real threat to our experience wasn't to come from the sharks but rather, appeared in the form of sea
sickness. For me personally I’ve never had it in my life but being in the
water, a few kms off the coastline with the incessant rolling of the waves and
I was a goner, I produced my own fish chum for the sharks to discover.
As an
experience it was pretty good. We didn’t encounter any Great Whites and truth
be told, I think everyone would have completely shit themselves if we did. But
to be in their space for a little while and see them up close, well, that was
pretty damn cool.
So the Shark Experience was the start of our
final day in Durban. After returning home, packing our bags and leaving them in
storage we headed out to Florida Road again
in order to discuss our destiny for the afternoon.
A few drinks
in and after a bit of lunch I was almost ready to leave the BIG RUSH experience behind, but Inga to her credit,
talked me into doing the walk to the stadium at least, if for anything, just to
have a look.
Now, as you
approach the stadium the fantastic arch, all 105mtrs in height, 305mtrs in
span, tower proudly high above the ground. If you focus more intently towards
the southern side of the stadium then you can actually see the platform from
which these idiots jump off, and you can see the tenuous lifeline that ties you
up to that are….F***!!!!
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
In all honesty,
prior to arriving my mind was made up, I was going to be satisfied with walking
away from this one. It just looked to insane for me to capably handle. But yet
again, Inga just pulled me within her sphere of inspired confidence and said, ‘lets have a look what times that have
available’.
Not surprisingly
it was quite easy to rock up and book in. Inga was just ready to go, no
fear, nothing even close to looking like the idea was affecting her. She locked
in her time whilst I stood in the reception area, choking on my own fear. From memory I paced back and forth for some
10 mins, forcing myself to just go to the counter and pay up, at least that
would commit me to actually having to do it.
What I also
know about myself is sometimes I need to step over the line where mentally I
just say ‘F*** it, lets go’. I recall
the moment that happened and it was when I was standing in front of the guy at
reception like a complete wimp still deliberating about taking this on. I just
handed him over my card and said ‘OK,
lets do it’.
Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
For the
unlearned in all things World Cup related, this was the stadium where Spain
beat Germany 1-0 in the 2010 World Cup (8th of July, 2010), to earn
their first spot in a World Cup final. I recall that at the time I was with my
parents & Janelle in Barcelona, watching that game in an Irish bar. Who the
hell would have thought that 2702 days
after that semi-final, some 7 years and 5 months, that I, Henry Elisher, with
my wife Inga Kelpe, would be jumping into that same stadium from above the
roof. Strange revolving universes.
The arch of
the stadium starts at ground level and is effectively a giant staircase to
above the roof. Now whilst this type of walk is not particularly taxing, the
anxiety I was feeling was obviously ripping through my levels of oxygen more
than anticipated, I started puffing within about 20 steps.
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Without
question, the view on the way up was incredible, and I tried with all my might
to appreciate what was going on around me, but still, the thought of impending
doom within minutes hit me like a tonne of brings when we got to our drop off point.
From the arch
there’s metal ladder that you climb out onto, clipped in at all times of
course. This then leads to a grated metal bridge that spans the width of the
stadium. It’s all incredibly exposed. It’s the openness that catches you
completely off guard at first.
Inga had
decided that she wanted to attack the jump first. She tells me that the fear
didn’t really catch up with her until the point in time that she was standing
on the bridge……WHAT!!!????? From my
vantage point, as #2 jumper, I watched as my wife was clipped in and took
nervous steps towards the edge of the ladder. Talking to her assistants I could
see that she was asking them to triple check everything, and that she herself
was looking at everything possible to ensure a safe outcome, although I think she would admit all too
readily that she didn’t really know what safety elements she was looking for.
Perhaps ‘frayed’ rope lines or something.
This for me the descent down to the bridge was freakin' hair raising
This is the part where you think, 'I really hope my wife will be safe but thank God I'm going second'
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Inga doing her own safety checks - doesn't the site just look surreal, you are literally jumping into the stadium!!
That first tenth of a second when your heart exits your mouth!
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
The moment
Inga launched, it was like the world stopped turning for a second. I could see
that the breath was completely sucked out of her. I guess when the ground
rushes up at you from 80mtrs above the ground with just a rope to hang onto, that’ll do it.
As Inga swung
completely through the arc, safely to the other side of the stadium and back
again, I knew what it meant. I NOW HAD NO
CHANCE OF BACKING OUT, ABSOLUTELY NONE.
Climbing down
onto the metal ladder my hands and legs were shaking. The ladder is literally
40cms wide and on its right hand side is your 80mtr drop, which of course you’re
about to encounter in the next 5 mins in any case. Passing Inga on the bridge
was a lesson in visual extremes, exhilaration and relief from the person who had survived
and mild terror from the one about to encounter their fate.
Again,
something I do know about myself is that mental point of no return where my mind takes the logical step to the other side. Usually when
I hit that point there’s a fair sense of calm. This happened to me the moment
that the assistants clipped my harness into the rope from which I was going to be swing. At
that point I was set. I looked around the stadium, looked at the roof, the
empty seats and just thought ‘Wow, this
sh*t really is bananas’. What caught me most of all was when I moved the edge and the complete emptiness in front of me. The jump was a literal leap into the abyss.
With my feet
on the edge and me positioned to jump, I got counted in.
Five, four, three, two, one…
….and then
free fall
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
Your Australian Ninja!
Big Rush - Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban - South Africa
I'm holding onto the rope for dear life, 'like' its going to help me now!?
That first
second was literally the most breathtaking experience of my life. For a moment I felt suspended, that was before gravity took over and started reeling me in at an alarming rate. In
those moments you're surprisingly conscious and aware of the surrounds, actually
falling below the line of the roof and noticing the stadium seats rushing into focus was something I was certainly aware of. For me, in the moment, I particularly focused on the goal posts a little in front
of my feet, which was directly in my line of vision.
Then from absolutely
nowhere I let out a guttural type of scream that was completely unexpected. There had been no plan in the 'hero pack' for that.
The arc of the
swing and its smooth transition was actually surprising. As the rope started to
take more of my weight and it became taut, my brain equated it more and more to reaching a position of
safety. When the harness completely took my weight then I knew I’d made it. So
by the time I’d reached the opposite end of the stadium, suspended some 10 mtrs
above the turf, I was just laughing hysterically. Laughing from the complete exhilaration,
laughing from surviving something so stupid…laughing because the rush was just
so intense and amazing.
One of the
most difficult parts of the experience was actually getting hoisted back up to
the bridge. Unexpectedly that end of the ride doesn’t take place by them
dropping you off on terra firma, but rather, they hoist you up, agonisingly
slowly, all the way to the bridge at the 80 mtrs mark, allowing you to
encounter a minor sense of fear once again.
The question,
was it worth doing?
Hell yes! The rush more intense than
anything I’d encountered previously and for that Durban will remain in my
memory for a long, long time.
For that I’d like to thank Inga for being
the driving force on the day, for pushing me just enough to know what I’d take
on the challenge and for knowing somewhere deep inside me it would have been a
major disappointment for me to simply walk away from.
