Cooling Towers Bungee Jump. Another Excuse to Blow Your Adrenal Glands

Back in 2010, I did a press trip to South Africa and I did two insane bungee swings within three days. The first one was off the arch in Moses Mabhida Stadium, ‘only’ a 50 metre freefall. The second one was the Oribi Gorge bungee swing – a terrifying 70 metre freefall. But now there is the Cooling Towers bungee jump in Soweto, just outside of Johannesburg.

You can see the bungee jump bridge between the two Cooling Towers from Soweto itself. This photo was taken at the Hector Pieterson Memorial which commemorates the 1976 uprising there.

These Cooling Towers aren’t in actual use any more – but back in the day, they were used as part of a power station. They are used to remove heat during the electricity generation process where steam drives a turbine. This steam must be condensed before it can be returned to the boiler to continue the cycle of steam and electricity generation. These big beasts sometimes look intimidating when they’re viewed from afar with steam pouring out of them, but they’re needed so that we can keep the lights on and charge all of our electronic crap.

The Cooling Towers Bungee Jump in Soweto!

I haven’t done this bungee jump myself, but Tim Charody, who I’ve interviewed previously, has given this a go. He told me is that all you can see is a big concrete slab rushing up towards you, so I’m guessing that this Cooling Tower Bungee jump has a fairly high ‘crap your pants’ factor.

You can also be lowered down to the bottom inside one of these cooling towers itself. Lucky they’re not still in use, otherwise you’ll resemble the barbequed meat at Mzoli’s in Cape Town as well.

So there you go. If you’re looking for an excuse to blow your adrenal glands (again!) in South Africa, the Cooling Towers Bungee Jump in Soweto might satisfy that crazy urge!