A day of danger: chimps and cliffs

A quick post because I am soo tired. Today we saw chimps and jumped off a cliff.

In the morning a group of us went to the Jane Goodall Chimp Eden, where abused chimps are taken care of by a dedicated staff in an incredible facility. They have about 30 chimps in all. I had no idea how dangerous chimps are until the guide showed us her stump of a finger where a chimp had bitten off half. Apparently they also like to hurl rocks at tourists (video to come!)

In the afternoon we headed up to a gorgeous gorge (cliche, I know...sorry) with an incredible view...and jumped off of it! It's an attraction called The Big Swing. First, you do a zip line across the gorge, then you do a 68 meter, 3 second free fall backwards into it from another platform. That's like a 23 storey drop. All I can say is that the experience was dreamlike. I often dream of flying and the free fall into the gorge was as close as I've come to the sensation in reality as ever. I laughed the whole way down. And yes, I was scared shitless at the moment I jumped.

After the incredible gorge experience (I am still laughing every time I think about it -- it was THAT good) we headed up to God's Window -- which was also incredibly beautiful. It's a high point and canyon with a celestial view of South Africa.

I have some great photos and video (thanks to Chris, Zach and Caroline) of Anil, Scott and myself on our high-speed journeys into the chasm, which I'll post later -- just putting up a few shots now because it's late and tomorrow we are getting up very early to go for a day trip to Mozambique.