Victoria Falls Bungee Bounces Back
On the 31st of Dec 2011 Victoria Falls Bungee had a major incident when a bungee cord broke and a tourist fell into the Zambezi River. Luckily the lady concerned survived the fall and suffered relatively minor injuries. This was the first serious incident in 17 years of operations, during which time 170,000 bungee jumps were carried out.
Since the incident Victoria Falls bungee has reviewed all of its standard operating procedures and introduced a number of new measures designed to ensure that the incident is never repeated. Earlier this month Victoria Falls Bungee held a series of Agent Workshops to demonstrate its safety procedures and to showcase the new bungee cord testing and inspection standards.
Essentially three new measures have been implemented that will ensure bungee cord safety in the future.
Firstly – all rubber is now tested before it is used in a bungee cord. This testing ensures that the rubber is of the required strength and elasticity for bungee jumping purposes.
Secondly – the cords, once in use, are subjected to regular load testing. This test involves stretching the bungee cord to a predetermined length and recording the force it applies to a digital load cell unit. This test confirms the strength of the cord and that this is within required parameters.
Thirdly – the cords are subjected to periodic inspections where all of the outer “bindings” are removed so that the core of the cord is revealed and can be examined. This inspection confirms the structural integrity of the cord.
In addition to these critical measures Victoria Falls Bungee have strengthened their safety through the following measures;
• Victoria Falls Bungee will be subjecting itself to twice yearly independent safety inspections.
• Victoria Falls Bungee have installed a CCTV system to help management with the monitoring of safety procedures and security of the equipment.
• Bungee cords will be retired, regardless of their condition, at 500 jumps or sooner.
• The bungee cords will be checked by staff before and after every jump.
Victoria Falls Bungee is also delighted to welcome back Garth Fowler who has recently returned from two years in New Zealand working in the adventure tourism industry in Queenstown, the home of bungee jumping. Amongst other roles Garth will be acting as our safety Officer
The workshops were designed to show agents the equipment Victoria Falls Bungee use and also to educate agents about the safety measures, tests and inspections that are in place.
All the demonstrations were up close and personal and the agents were able to get “hands on” and ask any questions they might have had. Feedback from the workshops was very positive. Thank you to Paddy from Victoria Falls Safari Lodge who responded as follows:
“Thanks to the Bungee team for a very informative workshop regarding the bungee safety operations. We now have every confidence in informing clients about all the safety measures that are in place for Bungee jumping. I am very impressed at the lengths you go to for the Bungee jump and all the backups that are in place.”
Victoria Falls Bungee is now arguably the most rigorously tested bungee operation in the world, ensuring that Bungee Jumping at Victoria Falls is both safe and fun.
Read More »Wild Lion Captured – Livingstone
Press Release Courtesy of SafPar
On the 22nd of January staff of Mukuni Big Five (MB5) alerted Lion Encounter that a large lion may be present in the Songwe area of Livingstone. All Lion Encounter and ALERT lions were confirmed to be present and accounted for – as were those belonging to MB5. It was clear this was a wild lion – and from the size of the footprints – a large male at that. The following day a team of Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) scouts and MB5 staff found further spoor and a dead cow in the area, indicating that he had not moved away from the area overnight. Lion Encounter in conjunction with ALERT sought permission from ZAWA to capture and relocate this lion. We believe had we not taken this step he would have likely been destroyed. Dr Ian Parsons, wildlife vet and an expert in game capture was called and headed urgently to Livingstone arriving on Tuesday the 24th.
Whilst waiting for his arrival Lion Encounter provided bait in an effort to keep the lion in the same area to facilitate capture and to stop it venturing into villages looking for livestock. Lion Encounter General Manager, Richard Leach, headed the operation with Dr Ian Parsons, and over the next few days the rescue team attempted to track the lion on foot. The team saw him on a couple of occasions but were not presented with an opportunity to dart him. The team decided to construct a hide, up in a tree, in an area that the lion was believed to be, as a further two killed cows were found here. At 2036 on Thursday the 26th of January, the lion was successfully darted. Once asleep he was transported to Lion Encounter’s secure facility in Dambwa Forest, facilities there boast a double electrified fence suitable to contain big five species. Lion Encounter and ALERT will continue to work with Dr Ian Parsons and the Zambia Wildlife Authority to determine the origin of this animal that was found to be wearing a GPS collar, as well as what is the best next course of action for this lion. At the forefront of all decision making throughout the operation was the safety of the people of Songwe and the greater Livingstone area.
We are pleased to have been able to keep the local communities and their livestock safe by capturing this wild lion – and simultaneously saving the lion’s life. Lion Encounter and ALERT would like to sincerely thank Mukuni Big Five, the Zambia Wildlife Authority, Batoka Sky and Overland Mission for their continual assistance throughout the operation.
Read More »Victoria Falls Bungee
Courtesy of Shearwater on behalf of the Victoria Falls Bungee
VICTORIA FALLS BUNGEE.
Travel Agent / Press Release & Update;
Bungee jumping to recommence on the 2nd February 2012.
Further to our previous releases on the incident involving an Australian tourist which occurred on the 31st December 2011 and whereby the bungee cord she was jumping on broke, we now wish to update you as follows;
Firstly we would like to advise that the lady concerned has recovered very well and has now returned to Australia. We continue to wish her well now that she is back home.
Secondly we are pleased to announce that following a thorough investigation into the incident bungee jumping will recommence on the 2nd February 2012.
Since the incident a full and thorough investigation into the cause of the bungee cord failure was conducted which amongst other things included;
- A detailed safety audit and inspection of the bungee jumping system at Victoria Falls.
- Subjecting the broken bungee cord to forensic analysis and testing.
During this process of investigation we chose to suspend bungee jumping operations so that the inspectors could carry out their work without interruption and to allow time for the forensic analysis to be carried out. Unfortunately this process took more time than we anticipated due to the availability of the experts..
The international qualified IRATA safety auditors who have audited and inspected our system and equipment, have advised that after inspecting all components of the bungee system they found our safety standards prior the incident to have complied with the international standard ( AS/NZS 5848:2000) for bungee jumping. We have been carrying out bungee jumping in accordance with this code from the Victoria Falls bridge for over 17 years where approximately 150,000 jumps have been done without there ever having been a cord failure.
As safety is of the utmost concern to us, together with the safety auditors we have developed certain new procedures to improve safety standards. With particular regard to the management and handling of the bungee cords, a safety auditor expressed the opinion that the standards we now apply are unparalleled in the industry in all probability industry leading. We are of the opinion that they set a new standard in terms of safety internationally.
The inspection of the cord which broke was carried out by a team of experts based in South Africa which was lead by two Professors in Structural Engineering. In their investigations the team amongst other things, compared the rubber used to make the bungee cord that broke against the latest batch of rubbers we obtained directly from our normal supplier. Our understanding of the investigation findings is that the rubbers from the cord which broke were not as strong as they should have been and were weaker than the newer rubbers. We will be taking this up with the rubber manufacturers. The newer rubbers which we will now use were found to be far stronger than the “Code of Practice for Bungee Jumping” requires. To ensure as best as possible the strength and integrity of all rubbers we use, we are arranging to have samples from every future batch of rubber tested before being put into service.
In light of the investigations and the opinions of both the safety auditors and the forensic investigators we are satisfied that the cause of the broken cord has been established and that the new standards, testing and inspection methods we have introduced will prevent a recurrence of the incident.
We are therefore pleased to announce that commercial bungee jumping operations will recommence on the 2nd February 2011.
Read More »Escape to the neighbours
The World Cup is certainly going to generate plenty of heat, but if you need to escape the South African winter there are plenty of opportunities for short breaks to the warmer climes of our neighbouring countries and to the game parks and beaches of East Africa.
Read More »Afloat on a great African river
” The concentration of wildlife is beyond belief and nothing is scared. The elephants actually come down to look at our boat, they put their trunks up and try to work out what it is. That is kind of special, don’t you think? ” Jacob Zuma From the roof comes the professor’s cry: “Red-billed ox-pecker on the left! Make that two ox-peckers!”
Read More »HEDONISTIC CRUISING ON THE ZAMBEZI QUEEN
A happy singing chorus welcomes you aboard the Zambezi Queen. She is an extremely luxurious houseboat that cruises the Chobe River. The Queen is in pristine condition as she was only launched in November 2009. Capacity is 28 people in enormous en suite cabins; while 4 of the 14 cabins are suites.
Read More »A River Runs Through It
Waking up on-board the Zambezi Queen houseboat is a blissful experience. Soothed by the gentle rocking motion of the Chobe River within my luxurious cabin, the sounds of nature are all around. Hundreds of species of birds thrive in this wildlife paradise between Botswana and Namibia, as well as some of the densest populations of elephants, hippo, buffalo and giraffe in Africa.
Read More »Save Hwange Trust
The Need to Act
The Trust was set up in response to the crisis in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. It has no political or national affiliations, but is a purely humanitarian response to an intolerable situation which had developed in the park because of drought and the lack of funds, fuel and water.
Read More »Brett Mc Donald sells his 50% share of the Zambezi Queen
As Flame of Africa, we would like to announce the successful sale of shares in the Zambezi Queen from our MD Brett Mc Donald to the Mantis Group.
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