Throwing Ourselves off 25m Waterfalls for Fun

Our group - Steve, Sam, Sarah, Lauren, Eva and Denise (Rob's taking the picture)
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Getting to the Central Highlands town of Dalat was a bit of an adventure all by itself - the winding road leading up 1500m into the clouds made for some spectacular views from the bus during our 6 hour ride from Nha Trang.

Denise and I had differing first impressions of Dalat town.  She found it charming and intriguing...I found it quite dirty and full of construction sites and rubble.  Once again our 'Open Tour' bus dropped us at their company hotel - and once again we declined to stay there, choosing instead to walk through town to try to locate our first choice accommodation - the Dreams Hotel.  After quite a trek (at least it felt that way with heavy packs) we found the sign for the Dreams Hotel...and a pile of construction rubble...it seemed that the owners decided to 'renovate' (read: knock down) without telling the Lonely Planet authors! (We later found out that there are 2 Dream Hotels - same operators - just in different parts of town).  After searching around and looking at a few other options we chose to check-in at the Peace 2 Hotel (see seperate review).

We Survived the Dalat Canyoning Adventure

Pretty steep & slippery trails
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Dalat is usually recommended as a good 'extreme adventure' destination so we decided to investigate the offerings.  After meeting up with Steve, Lauren, Sam and Sarah (all from the UK - again former acquaintances of Eva's) we settled on the Groovy Gekko outdoor tour company in D Truong Cong Dinh.  Professional and much cheaper than many of the other operators they proposed a Canyoning trip (we would call it Kloofing in South Africa) that included a transfer to the river and back, abseiling training, two 'dry' abseils, two 'waterfall' abseils, two natural waterslides, a cliff-jump, and lunch for $22 per person (after a 10% discount).  We decided to 'take the plunge', paid and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening wondering if we were being crazy.  We also used the evening to explore the local night market (great fresh produce, fruit and flowers) and also to grab a late night-cap on the banks of the local manmade lake.

This is not even the abseiling part yet!
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The next morning we all met up at the Groovy Gekko, boarded our mini-bus and met our three local river guides, Thang, Lam and Thach.  They drove us to the Datanla River where, after being issued cycling hard-hat helmets for safety, Denise and I chose to take the "Alpine Racer" rollercoaster down the hill from the parking lot to the river itself (the rollercoaster is like a bobsled on rails with speed controls for you to set your pace...it was great fun for 20 000 Dong each).

A good balance training
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At the river we took a short walk to a gentle slope of about 35 degrees where we were all given abseiling (sometimes called repelling) instructions.  For those of you who have never done it it requires very little strength since the right technique places the strain on your waist harness not your arms.  Eva, Denise and I mastered the basics quite quickly, as did our UK friends, so then it was on to the real thing - an 18 meter cliff face plunging into the jungle below!  It was superb!!  We all managed it without any problems - and watching our guides drop in only two jumps made us all hungry for more.

Our group all geared up
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Next was a 'practice' waterfall abseil of about 14 meters.  The 'wet' abseils differ from the dry ones in that you are descending not only down a cliff but also in the very heart of the flowing waterfall itself (making things much more slippery and challenging - not to mention the pressure on your legs and body of the river flow!).  Again we managed without major incidents - although it was more nerve-wracking.  Our third activity was a natural water-slide formed from the erosion of the river's waters - lying on our backs we all slid speedily down the chute and into the waters below.  Then, after another short walk we reached our second 'dry' abseil - this time a 20 meter drop right into the river - this one was tougher since the rock face was quite mossy and slippery.

Denise with harness
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Stopping for lunch our guides unpacked their bags and prepared a feast of fresh French baguettes, cheese, ham, salads and fruit while we all warmed up after the long water-logging.  After lunch we hit the trail again and reached our second waterslide - this time much higher and even more fun.  After we all went down we climbed back up and redid it...head first!!  Denise rocketed down the chute and overshot the mark - tumbling headfirst over a much rockier section ?(and getting some very impressive bruises in the process!).  The final abseil was a killer - a massive 25 meter high waterfall with a waterflow that made the rest of the river pale in comparison - we almost balked!

First trial run off an easy slope
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Our guides, assuring us it was no more challenging than what we had already accomplished, went first.  When their heads disappeared under the cascade of water we came close to calling it off...until they showed us that is was possible to breath in the airspace below the falls!  We each took our turn - with MANY slips and falls - but all made it down in one piece with a sense of major achievement!  The final cliff-jump off a 6 meter ledge into the waters below was tame by comparison.  All in all it was a phenomenal adventure, and one we were all proud to have survived (relatively) unscathed (not counting a myriad bruises, scrapes, aches and 'falling' dreams!).  We loved it - and our guides were amazing, we highly recommend the Groovy Gekko to future travellers (not least for the 6pm 'Happy Hour' homemade rice wine after the trip!).