Where Else But South Africa?

One of the (many!) amazing things about South Africa is that you can do activities and experience things that you typically cannot do in your home country (or anywhere in the world for that matter).

Where else can you jump off a bridge on the highest bungee jump in the world, dive in a cage and watch Great White Sharks inches from your face, or pat a lion? Some countries would not let you get anywhere close to these experiences, even if they were available.

I assume liability concerns play a big part (along with a culture that says I will sue you if you do anything at all to hurt or offend me). I am certainly not an expert in this area - hope I don’t wade into deep water on this one! But it appears South African culture allows people to pursue these activities without (reasonable) fear of being sued.

When I was child (many years ago!) I loved to roam my grandparent’s Texas farm for hours. My mother would give me two warnings – watch out for snakes and stay away from the bull in the pasture. And when I walked to the creek I would steer clear of the water moccasins (very poisonous snakes) sunning themselves on the bank and I always checked the cattle to make sure one of them was not a bull (from a very long distance, of course!). I never had any major issues and the experiences will be with me for a lifetime.

Fast forward “XX” years and the world is very different (at least in my country). Parents would not think of letting their young children roam a pasture that contained snakes and a mean bull (which is understandable, to be honest! – I grew up and became a parent myself…). Still, liability concerns shut down even the most innocuous activities.

For example, I enjoy railroad history and like to ride historic steam trains. There are some good places to do that, but many companies cannot even operate their vintage trains for fear of being sued in the event of an accident. Hey, some of them don’t even go much faster than 20 mph – but there could still be an accident…

Fast forward back to South Africa – where you can jump off bridges (bungee cord supplied!), pet lions, and dive with sharks. All of these activities are safe – each organization could not remain in business without this assurance. And they seem to operate without fear of being sued – providing the experience for many is more important than fear of the few.

And that is a very special privilege I hope does not change in the future (in my opinion). Where else but South Africa?

What do you think? Please click on the above title to add your comments (“Where Else But South Africa?)

Raymond Pechacek lives in the U.S. and is married to a wonderful South African lady (BG!). He writes about the people, customs, wildlife, and places of South Africa, runs a consulting firm to help companies improve their global trade processes, and imports products into the U.S. - with an emphasis on supporting South Africa!