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Top Billing explores Limpopo & meets Jessica the hippo
Top Billing explores Limpopo & meets Jessica the hippo
Join the adventure this Saturday on Top Billing as Jonathan zip-lines the majestic Letaba River Gorge in Limpopo and falls for a girl named Jessica.
We recently visited Limpopo, took in all the stunning province has to offer, and met a very special lady of the lake.
The lush forests of Magoebaskloof are an oasis in the bushveld of Limpopo. Here the Great Letaba River winds down from the Ebenezer to the Tzaneen Dam and as Julia Maimela will tell you, this canopy tour, plunging down the gorge is the only way to see it.
Scoring nine out of ten on TripAdvisor, what visitors from around the world seem to love about this zip-line adventure is the emphasis your guides put on safety. A no frills no fuss approach which gives you the confidence to experience the thrills, safe in the knowledge that the experts have got your back.
Jon was impressed at how well the rig was built and that the tour is equipped to take adventurers from the age of seven to seventy.
Julia and Marcus start you off nice and gently to get you into the swing of it. Suspended from the rig, between the rockfaces of the Gorge, it feels like you’re paragliding but you’re so close to the river you could also be white-water rafting. It’s a unique thrill. Each of the thirteen zip-lines ups the ante a little more than the last.
If you’re lucky you get to see the magnificent local Giant Kingfisher birds hunting but even if you don’t - the fantastic sweep, clear over the plunging Letaba River gives you the feeling that you’re the one flying.To the amusement of thrill seekers from across the globe, Limpopo locals still modestly refer to this gem as a ‘foefie slide’.
The original, Afromontane forest which you zip through is scarce around South Africa so in between the bursts of adrenaline, our guides also gave us an education on the local eco-system and wildlife.
To meet the area’s most famous animal, we dropped by the home of Tonie and Shirley Joubert. Today, Jessica the hippo is a gorgeous, well-adjusted teenager. When Tonie found her on the banks of The Blyde River, eighteen years ago, she was an underweight new-born struggling to breathe, who had just lost her mother. Now Jessica literally tips the scales.
The great thing about travel is the incredible characters you meet along the way. We’ve come across plenty over the years, but none quite like Jessica.
