Riding the Highline

Tim Slab highlining in Boven
Mayhem Highline Festival with 7 lines
Highline over the ocean in Mossel Bay
Antonia highlining across Victoria Falls
Lukas Irmler highlining across Victoria Falls
Slackliner Interview:
Slackliner Interview:

Tim Slab is a climber and slackliner living in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has shared slacklining and highlining with many beginners through ‘slacking in the city’ meetings and Mayhem Mountain Festivals.

Read Tim’s Interview Here
Mayhem Mountain Festival Highlining in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Highlining at Mayhem Mountain Festival in Mpumalanga, South Africa

This is a highlining festival with excellent climbing and a party over the Easter Weekend. It took place in 2021, and I attended again in 2022. You’ll want to add this event to your ‘to-do’ list.

MORE ABOUT MAYHEM
Interview with Photograph Jacques Marais
Interview with Photographer Jacques Marais

Easy to listen to his adventure stories all day. We are proud to share the following interview with one of South Africa’s most impressive outdoor photographers

LEARN ABOUT JACQUES
Mossel Bay 460 Meter Highline
Mossel Bay 460 Meter Highline

We aimed to establish South Africa’s longest highline in Mossel Bay. The line spanned across a 460-meter-long gap and four people were able to send it including many other notable mentions.

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT
Slackliner Interview:
Slackliner Interview:

Antonia Rüede-Passul is a slackliner from Miesbach in Germany. We met in Zimbabwe during a ‘dream’ highline project. Learn more about this adventurous slacker in our interview.

READ ANTONIA’S RESPONSES
Slackliner Interview:
Slackliner Interview:

Lukas Irmler is a professional highliner from Freising in Germany and has been slacklining for more than 16 years. Thanks to his sharing spirit, Lukas opened the invitation to Cary, Leighton, and myself to lend him and Antoina a hand on a dream project.

Full Interview Here
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Slacklining in South Africa

Riding the Highline shares African slackline adventures through stories, interviews, and articles. We hope to inspire beginners to learn to slackline, and look forward to creating a welcoming environment for highliners from around the world. Our local scene is growing, and with it interest in highlining too.

While the influx of beginner slack liners excites us, we would like to remind everyone to have an experienced pair of eyes check your slackline or highline rig first. The first concern would be the use of dangerous or sub par equipment. A hardware store tow rope is not suitable as a slackline, with injuries reported due to the large metal objects becoming projectiles under tension.

We recommend you buy a slackline from a reputable brand, and support your local community or slackline business. A primitive slackline kit is light weight, simple to set up, and ideal for any beginner slack liner.

Our passion for South Africa’s incredible natural spaces and slacklining has led us to explore and share our passion with others. If you are looking for a slacklining community you can join, contact us and we will happily put you in touch.

highliner walks on Table Mountain overlooking False Bay in Cape Town, South Africa.

Highlining in South Africa

Highlining in South Africa is second to none, despite only a handful of dedicated slackers taking part. A core group in Cape Town and Johannesburg help to keep the scene alive and growing. Annual meetings at Rocklands and Waterval Boven help to introduce new ‘adrenaline-junkies’ to the sport in a safe and social way. The Rocklands meeting was my first experience of highlining, which I feel incredible grateful for.

People are the most important part of the highline sport in South Africa. While we have unconquered peaks and valleys in all corners of our country, the lines that have been established have been done safely by small, dedicated teams. We encourage you to make contact with the community in South Africa, and include them in your own projects.

The community member’s local knowledge of places and people will be invaluable in assisting you to establish your dream project in South Africa. So what are you waiting for, let’s go highlining!

Read our Interviews with slackliners and highliners

Our interviews with slackliners, highliners, and photographers aim to celebrate the legends who have walked ahead of us. Let us know if there is a story you feel needs to be shared.

Read about slackline and highline events

Find out about the highline and slackline events in South Africa below

Map of South African Highlines

Explore the map below to see the location of our posts. Click on the marker to read the related story about the highline project.

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