I Conquered the World's Longest Zipline Certified by Guinness World Records 2018
16th February 2018 marked my 26th year of existence. The past 25 years has been awesomely bumpy yet happy life that I could not ask God for more. The downs which mold me to who I am today and the lessons it taught me. The people who stayed fought my battles, and who are true where I am so grateful of. Above all, I am thankful to God for the gift of a family who is my reason to live.
To mark my first day of the year, I decided to do another Adrenaline flight. As so you know, I love adrenaline as whenever I do it, I am always reminded that fears are only created by your mind. If you let your fears defeat you, then you won’t be able to enjoy life. As for me, no matter how many times you do extreme adventures, you will still feel scared and anxious. They say “money fill your pockets and travel fill your soul” but for me We should strive hard to fill our pockets for us to fill our souls by travelling and doing extreme fun stuffs.
Jebel Jais Flight - The World’s Longest Zipline Certified By Guinness World Records
I already tried ziplining a few years ago but still, I wanted to take this as another challenge. You need not to ask me why. Jebel Jais Flight is the World’s Longest Zipline certified by Guinness World Records and When you think of “Guinness World Records” it means it’s the most outstanding! This Zipline is just outrageous as it is located in The Mountains of Jebel Jais in Ras Alkhaima which is the highest peak in the entire UNITED ARAB EMIRATES! Yeah mate! Each wire is measured 2,831.88 meters (7,814.59 ft) and you’ll fly across the mountains 1,680 meters above sea level which is much higher than the tallest building in the entire earth- Burj Khalifa (828 meters)! Uuughhhh! The thought of it makes me shiver. On my previous experience, the wire is just short and the height did not exceed 100 meters above sea level! This experience is really unforgettable.
I booked my ticket at Toroverde WebSite one day before my flight for USD 185.50. Costly eh? But For the services I received and for the great experience I had, I must say it’s worth the price. If you are planning to do it during the weekend, I suggest that you should book a week before your flight as they accommodate limited slots only. I’m lucky enough to get the last slot of the day - it’s really meant for me!
When I received my ticket confirmation via email, I realized you cannot cancel and refund it. LOLS. This made me so anxious. On my previous Zip Line experience, I was scared to death already. Just imagining its far difference from my previous experience, it made me scared and my heart began to palpitate. Try as I might, I called the car rental shop to book for a car. As you know, there’s no public transportation like buses going to the mountains. And since I came from a far place, renting a car is huge budget wise rather than hiring a private car with driver. But if you want to travel with comfort, you can hire the latter but it will cost you more.
Preparations
Things to Bring:
1. GoPro :
2. Mobile phone :
3. Sunblock :
4. Ticket :
Things to Do:
- Be there an hour before your flight. Stick to your schedule.
- Wear comfortable clothes or sports attire. No skirts and revealing clothes.
- Wear shoes that have a strong grip. No sandals or slippers baby.
- Avoid wearing necklace and other accessories
The Experience
My flight was scheduled at 9:00 to 10:00 am and since Jebel Jais, Ras Alkhaima is 3 hours’ drive and almost 310 kilometres away from Abu Dhabi, we started our way at 4:30 in the morning as I need to be there at least 8 o’clock in the morning. Yeah, driving back to back for a total of 6 hours isn’t easy. Good that I love long drive otherwise I’ll feel so exhausted 😂.
1. Arrival at Toroverde Parking Lot (Meet – Up Point)
I drove 15 kilometres up the mountain of Jebel Jais and parked the car at Toroverde designated parking lot. You will know it’s the designated parking area as you will see flags and banners just along the road. There’s a booth in the area where you will be greeted by the host and they will ask your ticket to confirm reservation. From there, the host will assist you towards the van that will bring you to the welcome centre.
2. Welcome Centre
Finally, after 8-10 minutes’ drive, we reached the welcome centre where we were greeted by a couple of hosts. Upon entering, you will be directed to the height measurement and weigh scale area just beside the reception to confirm if both your weight and height will allow you to fly. By the way, you should weigh between 45 – 122 kgs and at least your height is 1.22 meters. If you fail this physical criterion, you will not be allowed to fly. Once done, you will reconfirm again your booking and then they will let you read and sign the 3 pages waiver. Oh yeah. I had done quite numbers of adrenaline rides and zip lining but this is the only company (ToroVerde) that requires all the pilots to sign a waiver. This zip line experience will be indeed extraordinary for me. After I signed the waiver, they gave me a wristband where a number is written. BTW, this Zip Line opened only last 31st of January and I am the 714th pilot who did the Zip Line as indicated on the wristband! Amazing!
Now is the time for the instructors to buckle us up with the necessary gears and gave each one of us a backpack where the other materials needed like hand gloves and Zipline gear were put inside. If you have a couple of things with you, you can put it in the bag otherwise, lockers are also provided.
3. Launch Platform
From the Welcome Centre, we again rode the van that will take us to the Launch Platform. The platform was built beautifully with its open air area at the top of the mountain which is the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates. Its structure is simply amazing with its glass floor which you can see the ground invisibly. And Oh MY! THE VIEW IS JUST SO PERFECT! For height lovers out there, you should really try this experience!
One of the instructors instructed us what we will do during the flight. They also assisted us in wearing the ZipLine equipment so we can lay down during the flight.
Rules
- Hands must be on your side all the time. Due to the strong winds, hands should be laid still to avoid getting stucked in the middle especially for the light people.
- During landing, relax your body to not counterstrike the pressure of the break. It will lessen the impact and hurt your body less.
- Open Your Eyes and Devour the View.
- SCREAM AND ENJOY THE RIDE.
This is the time and my nervousness is getting out of hand. Looking at the distance of the landing platform where I can’t barely see makes me feel so anxious. Well yeah. I’ve done a couple of adrenaline yet this still scares the whole out of me. Just imagine traveling all by yourself hanging in the wire with a speed of 120 to 150 kph really freaks me out. I took multiple deep breathes and eventually decided to be the next one to fly. I stepped in along with my partner. We were scaled so they’ll know which side we are going to ride. The left one is for the lighter and the right one for the heavier persons. Find your balance LOL. Proud me :D I’m assigned to the left side of the zip wire. But here’s the thing, light weight people are the one who has the possibility of being flew and getting stuck so they added weights in me so I won’t fly like a hanged clothes in the air. LOL.
Here we go, they positioned me and attached the buckles. No Backing up. No way to turn. Oh my poor pounding heart! And then suddenly the instructor detach the clasp and before I knew it, I was running out of breath! It’s exhilaratingly very fast! The wind is too strong that I even swirl in the middle and my body starts to turn around. The wind is so strong that it’s very difficult to catch your breathe. I swear my whole face where distorted during the flight the good thing is I did not faced the GoPro facing at me. LOL. I tried my very best to control my body to fight the wind so I won’t spin like a fan. But as what the instructor told us, I really enjoyed the view and screamed a lot! The Rock Mountains, the sun and the speed are perfect combination. In a blink of an eye, the fear was gone and I enjoyed devouring the view of the mountains.
4. Landing Platform
Before I knew it, I am already approaching the landing platform. This platform isn’t ordinary as it is hanging in the air 53 meters above the grounds. And the platform itself is too pretty as you will step on the glass floor. Urrggghhh I love it here! Can I just stay here forever?
When I landed, the instructor detached my buckles from the main Zip Wire. He then led me to the other side of the platform where the instructor attached me to the other Zip Wire. One by one, in sitting position flew towards the base land form but before flying, the instructor taught us how to control if the wind will turn our body. And woooohhhh here we go for the last zip!
5. Final Landing Platform
As much as I want it not to stop, the exhilarating ride must end. This is the last platform. After removing all the buckles, straps, head gears and hand gloves; we rode again the van to go back to the Welcome Centre. When we reached there, we were welcomed of congratulatory greetings! So nice of them. They took our email addresses as they will send the certificates in a short while. And they give each one of us our pilot badges with our pilot number. Hooray! What a wonderful experience!
Reflection
Again, I conquered such adrenaline ride. And I was reminded that fears are only created by your mind. If you see things that scares you, then you should fight it as you may never know what it brings. Being able to do extreme adventures is very self – fulfilling and it boost my confidence. So Come out of your shell and fill your soul with fun things! It’ll be worth it!
Wishing you all the best!
nice blog po...:)
Thank you po
Wow! I doubt if I can ever dare to do it. So brave! Happy birthday!
Thank you Te! 😊
Such an ADVENTURER...
Followed all your trips and travels. Birthday well spent.
Thank you for sharing.
❤️❤️❤️
Salamat po. ☺️
whaattt... will be going there on 9th March and planning to do it... but with that video... ohh ohh... now im having 2 minds 😂😂😂
but congratulations, such a brave girl!! you're no longer our baby... big girl ka na!! 😂😂😂
Sama ako! 😂😂😂😂 thank you po ate. 💕
wow! job well done! looking at the photos and the video itself made me think that I was right ever since that I cannot do it! so scary! but you go girl! so brave!
Thank you po. ☺️ Mawawala po yung takot pag nasa actual moment ka na. Masaya po sobra
No way! That's too scary!
😁😁😁😁
Wow napuntahan mo agad-agad! Hahahah I'm planning na din jan pumunta! bilis mo tlga hahah congrats!😄😄😄
Hahahaha paregalo sa sarili ko po. Salamat po ate 😘
Wow! Congratulations! Priceless experience 🙂
It was indeed a priceless moment. Salamat po. 😊
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