SA world champion Thomas van Tonder takes on over 600 monkey bars beneath Africa’s highest bridge

OObstacle course racing world champion Thomas van Tonder will attempt to cross more than 600 monkey bars suspended beneath Bloukrans Bridge in Tsitsikamma. The roughly 280-metre suspended course follows the bridge’s full arch. That means climbing uphill, crossing the crown and coming down the other side using nothing but his hands. Red Bull Bridge Bars will be streamed live on Red Bull TV and YouTube.

Thomas could have taken the easier, straight line across the top; however, he chose the arch. “This is by no means something I know I can do,” he says, “which means it’s the right challenge.” He’s no stranger to a big ask either. In 2020, he set a Guinness World Record for the fastest 50m rope climb between Johannesburg’s famous Soweto Towers.

A stage nature built first Bloukrans has been testing people’s nerves for years. Its 216-metre bungy is a bucket-list staple, and a suspended Skywalk lets the rest of us take in the gorge from the bridge. Planning for this attempt took years. The structure, built by Cape Town-based Vertical Safety Systems, doesn’t touch the bridge itself. The team didn’t drill holes, bolt anything to the bridge’s structure, or install anything permanent, ensuring they leave the bridge as they found it.

Sithembile Ndaba, CMO at South African Tourism, says some places don’t need a set built for them, and Bloukrans is one of them. “People around the world will tune in to watch a South African champion take on something nobody has done before, with Tsitsikamma’s forest and gorge in every frame. That’s the kind of invitation money can’t buy.”

Come for the bars, stay for the forest Tsitsikamma is a Khoisan word that means “the place of much water“, and one look tells you why. The forest rolls right down to the Indian Ocean, rivers cut deep gorges through it, and the Western and Eastern Cape meet in the Bloukrans gorge.

From Storms River Mouth Rest Camp, a boardwalk winds through the trees to a 77-metre suspension bridge strung across the river mouth. The five-day Otter Trail also starts here, hugging the coast all the way to Nature’s Valley. Add canopy ziplines and an 800-year-old yellowwood known simply as the Big Tree, and you’ve got a long weekend that plans itself.

“Thomas will go hand over hand, but our visitors don’t have to,” says Ndaba. “You can jump off Africa’s highest bridge in the morning and be walking under ancient yellowwoods by the afternoon. Behind every one of those experiences are the guides, crews and communities who call this coastline home. We’d love visitors to stay long enough to meet them.”

Tune in on 26 October, hold your breath with the rest of the world, then come and explore Tsitsikamma for yourself.

Come find your joy.