At the Toe of the Continent

A t t h e T o e o f t h e C o n t i n e n t

The Albin/Juliars in South Africa

Abseiling

Abseiling is the South African term for rappelling. It's from the German ab "down" + Seil "rope". It's cool, it's fun (ask Anna), and not scary at all. Anna and Michael did it in Knysna (pronounced "nysna"), a popular resort town on the shore of the Indian Ocean about five hours to the east of Cape Town. Susie wasn't interested.

Click on a picture to see it full-sized.

204	Anna roped and ready for the plunge into a 30-meter abyss.
202	Anna hanging above the rocks and waves of the 55-meter abseil.
201	Anna doing very well, so far.
203	Anna, like a spider on a wall.
205	Anna, near the end of this 30 meter drop. She did it twice, and then did the 55-meter abseil twice.
201	Michael at the 55-meter drop.
208	Michael, not doing badly at all.
209	Michael about to do it the wrong way. Well, not really. Going down face first is called rap jumping here. Now that's really cool. At least you get to see where you're going.
207	Michael rap jumping. It is sort of like running down a vertical wall.
2010	In fact, rap jumping is exactly like running down a vertical wall. Until the wall stops.