One of the world’s most ambitious zipline projects, the K3 was inaugurated in 2024 as a joint venture between SA Forest Adventures and Mossel Bay Zipline. It took six years of planning, getting approvals, and setting up the installation, but the Western Cape is now home to one of the most thrilling ziplines ever created, capable of sending people flying through the majestic Overberg Mountains at speeds of 120 km/h – 150 km/h (depending on their weight and weather conditions).
“I spent two years searching for suitable sites all over South Africa. The location had to be both logistically practical and easily accessible,” Clinton Lerm, owner of SA Forest Adventures, told TimeOut Cape Town. “One day, I drove past the mountain from where the K3 zipline starts and saw towers on top, indicating that a road had already been built to the summit. I later rode up the mountain with a farmer and immediately knew this was the perfect spot for the world’s longest zipline. But I had to do thorough calculations and consider factors like wind direction – it’s not just about spanning a cable for ziplining.”
Thrillseekers can trek all the way to the departure platform (called The Nest), or they can take the convenient route and jump into a 4×4 truck. After going through all the safety drills with a member of the staff, riders are clipped in on the cable and sent down 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) for the ride of their lives.
But don’t expect an instant adrenaline rush. If anything, the ride starts out deceptively slow, at least for the first 100 meters or so, but then you start to pick up speed, and before you know it, the trees and the rest of the gorgeous mountain landscape start to get blurry. Depending on their body weight, K3 riders can reach speeds of up to 150 km/h (93 mph). The zipline is designed to slow down as you approach the end, and a staff member is there to safely get you down, in case you pass out.
Riding the world’s longest zipline will set you back R1800 (about $100), but keep in mind that there are certain conditions that riders have to meet. You have to weigh at least 40 kg and no more than 120 kg, you must be sober, and you mustn’t suffer from any physical disability or heart condition.
Interestingly, to ensure that it keeps the title of ‘world’s longest zipline’, SA Forest Adventures is currently working on a 5km-long installation.
