Equipment Outfitters

Clearly, one place where it is not wise to venture alone is onto a river or lake, but if you can swim and are used to the water, canoeing makes a delightful basis for a camping holiday. You can either set off to explore the waterways near home (and it is surprising how many discoveries you make when you see a familiar landscape from this new angle); or the canoes can be transported to your starting point on a roof rack or trailer. Read the rest of this entry »

More commonly, many people have their own bicycle and by undertaking a lightweight camping tour at Easter or midsummer can explore further afield than on individual day trips. On such tours it is not sensible to carry anything on your back while cycling — why burden yourself with the weight and make yourself dangerously top heavy? Read the rest of this entry »

A question of Tent Size

Apart from the windows, the outer covering of frame tents is almost always made of canvas, with the roof of a slightly heavier grade than the walls. This traditional material is better than totally air- and watertight fabrics such as nylon and rubberised cloth because it `breathes’ and causes fewer condensation problems inside the tent. It does however have the peculiar property that while it is totally waterproof under normal circumstances, if you rub against it when the outside is wet from rain or dew, the wetness will begin to soak through. Read the rest of this entry »

Parachutists have long experimented with different ways of using their bodies to steer them through the air during free fall. By stretching out in a horizontal fashion, sky divers found they could zoom about in different directions at remarkable speeds with quite a bit of directional control. It was, of course, simply a matter of time until someone tried free falling using a flat surface that could add to their speed, control, and push the limits of what had been done. Read the rest of this entry »

Free-falling from an aircraft is one of the extreme sports that millions around the world take part in every year. The excitement of plummeting to earth with the time to think and enjoy the view is what attracts so many to jump from what most would consider a perfectly good airplane. Over the years, sky diving has evolved from what was once a necessary skill of self preservation to the source of inspiration for other sports like sky surfing and B.A.S.E. jumping. Read the rest of this entry »

These are considered the ultimate experience for the more adventurous and less fainthearted among us. If you’re to enjoy yourself in these harsh environments — for example in the remoter parts of the country or in the mountainous regions accessible only on foot — you need some knowledge of the bush and a good level of physical fitness. Venues such as these almost always require special vehicles — not to mention special people!

Conditions in these camps can be severe, especially if they’re situated in the desert or at high altitude, and in many cases there are no facilities at all. Visitors to the Richtersveld National Park in Southern Namibia, for instance, are expected to arrive in more than one 4×4 vehicle (you may need one to rescue the other) and be totally self-sufficient — you even have to supply your own water and firewood, and make sure you leave absolutely nothing behind. Read the rest of this entry »

Specialized Travelling Tents

If you intend travelling in a large vehicle such as a Kombi, you may wish to try a tent that fits snugly over the vehicle, extending its interior by several square metres. It works somewhat like a carport, and you can still drive the Kombi away — the inside door of the tent matches that of the vehicle, which allows access between the two without them being attached.

For school groups or sports tours of 20 people or more, look in the army surplus stores. The tents you’ll find there are very big, and although they are sometimes used by campers they’re more suited to caterers who hold large functions. They are sturdy but also very heavy, and require many strong hands to put them up and take them down. Such tents are usually associated with school outings, outer-fringe religious group gatherings and soldier-of-fortune reunion weekends. Read the rest of this entry »

Dome Tents

The most popular tent shape is the dome. It is the result of extensive research, and dome tent designers make the best of many modern materials such as carbon fibre and Ventex to produce ranges in all sizes. These materials make use of advanced technology to provide shelters of unparalleled resilience — in many cases they have a strengthto-weight ratio that can only be described as phenomenal. The dome shape is intentionally aerodynamic, and the stiffeners provide a good degree of flex; such tents can survive strong winds, even if these are accompanied by snow, hail and sleet. Many come with a built-in wind-deflector as part of the fly sheet, which, if correctly positioned, provides additional shelter and helps keep gusts away from the main opening. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re even thinking of going camping, you must like the idea of living in a tent. The good news is that there is an enormous range of tents, and the number continues to grow; every year seems to bring some new innovation.

The right tent will provide adequate shelter from the elements, allow reasonable freedom of movement inside and still have enough space left over to store sleeping bags, clothing and supplies. It will be easy to pitch and not take up too much space in the car or trailer. Read the rest of this entry »

Just about every kid has attempted to jump their bike off something when they were growing up. Those that didn’t certainly never became extreme sport athletes. The small and cruiser-style bikes of the Sixties and Seventies began a shift in how people viewed bicycle riding. Kids found that they were quite maneuverable, and the smaller wheels and fatter rubber tires made them more capable of enduring the thrashing a hard-riding kid could deliver. These new bikes redefined what could be done, and soon kids jumping things found they could jump bigger things, and could ride on softer surfaces, and the idea of dirt racing and jumping just kind of evolved naturally. Read the rest of this entry »

Large Resorts

These are not necessarily the first choice for everyone. They’re highly developed, usually on prime land and are close to major tourist attractions, so they quite rightly pride themselves on being able to satisfy the most demanding holidaymaker. Accommodation may range from the simplest of camping sites, situated under shady indigenous trees, to luxurious fully serviced bungalows commanding views of the surrounding countryside. They may have several well laid-out ablution blocks so that no one has to walk too far or stand in a queue to shower or wash dishes. They may also offer a full gym, large pool, TV room, games room, trampolines and waterslides, and have a well- equipped shop and various pieces of recreational equipment for hire (or for free, with the cost built into the price of the site). Some even go so far as to hire minor celebrities who wander around from site to site in the evenings, joking with the guests and telling amusing stories! Read the rest of this entry »

Like most things in life, what you get out of an activity is indirect proportion to what you put into it from the start. Vacation time is a precious commodity and it’s worth going that extra mile so that everyone gets the most out of the time spent away from home.

In Search of a Destination

The first decision is obviously where to go. The most important factor here is geography — and how it has been exploited for your advantage. Coastal destinations are fine if you live inland, but people who live close to the sea may hanker after something different. In South Africa we have a wonderful variety of recreational places, and although many offer similar-sounding activities, the experiences can be very different for each one. Read the rest of this entry »

As an alternative to staying in a ready-erected tent, it is possible to hire the tent and other equipment before setting off from home. This has the advantage that you are not tied to staying at a particular campsite and it also disciplines first-time campers into cutting down on the amount of baggage that they take with them.

Considering the huge packing problems that the beginner faces, he might wonder exactly where the advantage of the latter lies, but it is an odd fact that above a certain basic level the family’s comfort and happiness on holiday do not increase in proportion to the weight of paraphernalia that has been dragged along. Read the rest of this entry »

To begin with, there has to be a motive for selecting an outdoor holiday. Why live in a tent, caravan or motorhome when there is the alternative of living in a high class hotel?

If you are like the majority of people, the answer to this question is initially a matter of cost. Hotels are expensive, especially for large families, and now that annual holidays tend to last for three or four weeks, not many families feel that they can afford to spend the whole of that time at an hotel. Accommodation for an outdoor holiday may cost less than a tenth of accommodation in an hotel, so that what is saved on overnight charges can be spent on sightseeing, entertainment or dining-out — or simply not spent at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Once you have decided that you would like to try an outdoor holiday, you may be tempted to plunge in at the deep end. You may want to go back to nature, enjoy all the extremes of freedom, explore the wilds of Alaska or, at the very least, witness the first rays of the sunrise from the summit of the Matterhorn. These things can of course be done, but it is essential to gain some experience first, otherwise you might end up like Captain Scott! Read the rest of this entry »

The ground broken by skateboarders over the past three decades has been invaded by a new group of urban athletes. Aggressive inline skaters have co- opted much of the style and culture of skateboarding into their sport. Aggressive skaters have taken what were initially just fitness and training devices and transformed them into urban assault vehicles that have been embraced by pop culture.

Inline skates can trace their roots back to the Chicago Skate Company, and perhaps further, as evidence of wheeled boots dates back to the early days of bicycling. But it wasn’t until brothers Scott and Brennan Olsen created the first Rollerblades in their Minneapolis basement that the sport took off. The brothers stumbled on a pair of Chicago Skate

Company’s inline skates in the bargain bin of a used equipmentstore while looking for a way to trainfor hockey in the off season. Theskates offered minimal support and awful wheels. The Olsens added greater support and urethane wheels, and the rest is history. Read the rest of this entry »

I doubt many people would argue that triathlons are not grueling tests of an athlete’s physical conditioning and mental toughness. For the unfamiliar, triathlons are events where competitors face off in a combination of swimming, biking, and a running race. Triathlons vary considerably from venue to venue. The original triathlon and the triathlon most deserving of the word extreme is the Ironman, an event that draws the world’s top triathletes from 75 countries to Hawaii each year in October.

What makes the ironman the most extreme triathlon is not its distance—many world class triathlons have similar distances—it is the weather. Temperatures, with highs averaging 88°F (31°C) and humidity Levels between 40-85 per cent, are sometimes accompanied by 60 mph (97 kph) winds. Athletes can expect to endure conditions that make this one event more torturous than most. Read the rest of this entry »

Walking, scrambling on all fours, and crawling on your belly into the moist darkness of a cave is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but it is certainly extreme. The labyrinth-like tunnels that can lead to huge sheer drop offs or expansive chasms are not for the faint of heart. Those prone to nightmares from watching too many reruns of Dracula also may not appreciate the propensity of caves to attract legions of bats.

Appropriately, those who do cave (serious cavers do not refer to their sport as spelunking or potholing) always travel to the inner depths of the earth in groups of two or more. Not surprisingly, cavers are subject to many dangers that one would expect could occur in a cave, such as death by starvation, falling, asphyxiation, drowning, and hypothermia from exposure. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Sailing began hundreds of years ago in China when it was discovered that the power of the wind could be harnessed to make tasks like plowing and moving objects easier. Many historians believe the Chinese were the first to attempt to harness the wind for purposes of transportation, though there is reportedly evidence that the ancient Egyptians may have beaten them to it.

Modern land yachts are capable of attaining speeds approaching 100mph (160 kph)—the world record is 95.5 mph. Many modern land yachts are designed to swap out their wheels in the winter for ice blades. Ice yachts, with less friction to inhibit their speed, are now exceeding 150 mph (240 kph). Land and ice sailing designs are generally limited to modern three-wheel machines. There are some other approaches to land and ice sailing, such as skateboard-like systems employing either wheels or blades mounted to windsurfer rigs. These systems do not reach the velocities of their larger counterparts, but are none-the-less exciting and challenging to sail. Read the rest of this entry »

The Obstacles—riders now weave their way through a series of turns that lead them over several obstacles (jumps), ranging from fairly easy to difficult and technically challenging. The jumps are designed to challenge a rider’s ability to the fullest, create close racing, and maximize airtime. Jumps come in many sizes and are linked to create varying degrees of difficulty throughout he course. The jumps are categorized as:

• SINGLE JUMP – rider jumps 20-60 feet (6-18m) onto a flat landing
• DOUBLE JUMP – rider jumps off one obstacle and lands on the far side of the next, usually covering 20-70 feet of terrain
• TRIPLE JUMP – rider must get through three consecutive jumps and may choose to jump them as sets of two and one, or as a group of three (launching over an entire triple requires the rider to catch up to 25 feet (7.6m) of vertical air over a distance of 75 feet (23m) or more. Triples are real crowd pleasers) Read the rest of this entry »