Film icon takes a leap of faith into the Zambezi River

An adventurer, writer and television presenter Grylls put his stamp of approval on Victoria Falls Bungee on Monday.

He becomes one of the high profile people including Zambia’s Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism, Mr Given Lubinda to jump off the bridge after an Australian tourist’s bungee cord snapped on New Year’s Eve.

Erin Langworthy miraculously survived the jump after a bungee cord broke, resulting in her plunging into the mighty Zambezi River from a height of about 20 metres.

Langworthy managed to swim to the Zimbabwean side of the river where she was rescued by the bridge crew and a local medical response team.

After the jump, Grylls said: “I had to come and test this out for myself since your widely publicised incident. The jump was an awesome experience.”

Some of Grylls adventures include crossing north Atlantic Arctic Ocean, in an open rigid inflatable boat.

In 2005, Grylls created a world record for the highest open-air formal dinner party, under a hot-air balloon at 7 600 metres dressed in full mess dress and oxygen masks.

To train for the event, he made more than 200 parachute jumps.

In 2007, Grylls claimed to have broken a new world record by flying a Parajet paramotor over the Himalayas, higher than Mount Everest.

Grylls, along with the double amputee Al Hodgson and the Scotsman Freddy MacDonald, set a Guinness world record in 2008 for the longest continuous indoor freefall.

In an interview yesterday, Shearwater Adventures group public relations manager Mr Clement Mukwasi said the activity was going on well adding that they had since implemented new measures to prevent a similar mishap in future.

“The steps we have taken include the daily load testing of the bungee cords to confirm their strength and thorough inspections of the bungee cords after every 75 jumps,” he said.

Source: Film icon takes a leap of faith into the Zambezi River (23/02/12)