Night Ziplining Near Cape Town: My Full Moon (or No Moon) Adventure with Cape Canopy Tour
It was back in 2023 that I first went ziplining with Cape Canopy Tour, a member of the Cape Country Routes. Located in Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve (part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its fynbos biome), I traversed a gorge on 11 ziplines and a scenic suspension bridge. Not only is an experience like this exhilarating, but it’s also scenically very beautiful - Well, if you can see it!
Once a year in the summer, Cape Canopy Tour organises a full moon ziplining experience, where they take people out at night. And this year, I was among the lucky few who got to enjoy this.
This is why you should add nighttime ziplining to your Western Cape bucket list:
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My Nighttime Ziplining Experience
After an early dinner at Peregrine (it’s not a road trip until you have stopped at Peregrine), we arrived at the Cape Canopy Tour base in the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve. As I did during my first experience, I signed my indemnity form and had a safety briefing which included watching a short video. Then it was time for a precautionary toilet stop (which, yes, probably seems like too much information, but if you’ve seen this video, you’ll understand why I’m mentioning it).
After that, I was very happy to be reunited with my sexy harness AND I was given a brand new hairnet! What? Yes!
It was quite a big group, so we boarded one of three vehicles for an exhilarating 30-minute 4x4 ride through the nature reserve. It was super bumpy, but that’s what makes it fun (and if you didn’t like rides, you probably wouldn’t be here).
At the start of the canopy tour, we were given our gloves and what is, in my opinion, the most important piece of equipment for an experience like this: fairy lights! Despite the excitement, I didn’t even need one of the guides to help me remove my harness so I could re-relieve myself behind the same rock from the last time.
Ziplining Through the Gorge After Dark
The sun was starting to set, but we managed to do the first of the 11 ziplines without turning on the lights, which was probably reassuring for the people who had never done this before.
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| Image: Alfred Thorpe of Vuurtoring Media |
As it started to get dark, we turned them on and lit up the gorge in multicoloured twinkling glory!
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| Image: Alfred Thorpe of Vuurtoring Media |
While the organisers had gone to every effort to organise the event on a clear night over a full moon, it’s the Cape, and it cares not about your weather predictions. Contrary to the weather report, it was completely overcast (and on brand)!
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, instead of a full moon ziplining experience, it was more like a no moon ziplining experience, which actually made it scarier and more awesome! Ziplining across a gorge in the direction of a faint light in the distance, surrounded by pitch darkness, was super exhilarating, especially as some of the ziplines are up to 320m long.
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| Image: Alfred Thorpe of Vuurtoring Media |
Crossing the suspension bridge in the dark was also fun. Unfortunately, some drizzle and a bit of wind meant that our voices didn’t echo in the abyss, so we could neither see nor hear the terrifying vastness of it!
The Final Walk Through the Fynbos
The last part of the experience involves a 1km walk back to the vehicle. This was the only part of the experience where I found myself missing the views from the daytime version, but we did see some cool frogs, so there’s that!
On the whole, watching little clusters of Christmas lights zigzag across the night sky is an experience quite unlike anything I have seen before, and flying 300m across a gorge in pitch darkness was adrenaline-inducing on a whole new level!
What to Wear for Night Ziplining
- A headlamp - This was mostly useful for the end of the tour when we walked back to the pick-up point in the dark.
- A backpack - You can wear this on the outside of your harness and it's very helpful for carrying valuables, water, your phone, and extra layers.
- A warm jacket - They only do it in summer but, as we’ve established, this is the Cape so that means nothing.
- Takkies/trainers/sneakers/hiking shoes/closed shoes - Anything that’s comfortable to walk in and won’t fall off.
- Water - But again, drink it in moderation. (Although, to be fair, if you were to lose bladder control on a zipline tour, the night version would probably be the less embarrassing option.)
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| Image: Alfred Thorpe of Vuurtoring Media |
How to Book the Full Moon Cape Canopy Tour
Unfortunately, it only happens once a year, so follow Cape Canopy Tour on social media so you don’t miss the next one. It gets filled up really quickly.
You can also find out more at the Cape Canopy Tour website.
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