SALON

Sunday, Aug 21, 2011 3:01 PM UTC

Adventures for your inner daredevil

From bungee jumping in China to para-gliding in Peru, these gravity-defying activities will get your heart pounding

By

Topics: Trazzler, Slide Shows, Travel, slideshow,

Adventures for your inner daredevil

View the slide show

“Relax, keep your eyes open, and don’t be alarmed if you have an uncontrolled bowel movement the first time — it happens,” advises the not-quite-half-joking skydiving instructor as the jittery would-be jumpers cling to the rim of the open cargo door. While many other sectors of the tourism industry are lagging, the adventure business is booming. What used to constitute fringe activities by a band of “crazies” is increasingly regulated, mainstream and safe enough that families or co-workers can now go zip-lining or bungee jumping together (which is pushing the fringe to new and much more dangerous, incontinence-inducing extremes).

Many cultures have rites of passage that could qualify as extreme sports. Bungee jumping is rooted in the ritual jumping in Vanuatu that takes place as a fertility rite during the yam harvest. Young men climb to the top of a wooden tower to dive off with vines tied around their ankles, hoping to just graze the ground. In the 1970s, Oxford University’s Dangerous Sports Club tested the idea from a bridge with more modern equipment and the new sport spread to New Zealand, the spiritual home of the world’s adrenaline junkies and their boundary-expanding guru, A.J. Hackett.

We now know that these kinds of experiences trigger a fight-or-flight response, bathing our brains in adrenaline and dopamine. A drug-like rush ensues: People who engage in these activities on a regular basis report an ephemeral and transcendent sense of timelessness and immortality. While some consider it a Freudian manifestation of the death wish, there is an increasing body of research that suggests that safely creating these discrete experiences of “controlled danger” provides a beneficial release for the sensation- and novelty-seekers among us who feel stifled by an increasingly sedentary and virtual existence (which is fraught with its own health risks).

It’s certainly not for everyone, but odds are there’s a zip line, bungee jump and/or skydiving center within driving distance of where you live. These 14 may not be the biggest or scariest, but they are all set in beautiful places that were recommended by our writers — we don’t directly endorse any of them — caution and common sense are always advised! You can find more places to jump on Trazzler.

View the slide show

More Megan Cytron.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

    View the slide show

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

    View the slide show

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

    View the slide show

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

    View the slide show

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

    View the slide show

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

    View the slide show

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

    View the slide show

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

    View the slide show

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

    View the slide show

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

    View the slide show

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 4 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

Every Sunday, Salon presents a feature from Trazzler spotlighting surprising travel stories from across the globe. Unexpected discoveries and strange, wonderful treasures are condensed into slide shows that entertain as much as they educate.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations