What is Canyoning?

Have you ever wondered to explore the waterfall with your friends? Or have you ever wondered to do some extreme activities around river, giant rocks, and near the waterfall? Worry no more, my friend, because there is a name for that kind of activity. Many people know this kind of activity as canyoning.

As explained before, canyoning is an activity for the people that loves to pump their adrenaline. They do many things, such as exploring the river, giant rocks, waterfall, and of course, canyon. Basically, canyoning is rappelling, scrambling, river-hiking, cliff jumping, swimming, and abseiling around those areas.

Brief History of Canyoning

Canyoning was born in France and Spain, around the 80’s. The founders were doing this activity in order to do some expeditions. As time pass by, people wanted to make this extreme activity into a “safer” activity, yet categorized as an extreme sport, named canyoning. Thanks to the expedition in France and Spain, it led to the discover of many wonderful places that can be explored by many people. Many people can have some extreme and memorable experience through canyoning.

This activity is categorized as an extreme sport, and has been spread all over the world. How hard is it to do canyoning? Basically, each canyon in every spot is categorized by the difficulty scale, namely easy (F) or little difficult (PD). If you are a beginner and wants to know the canyoning experience, you don’t need to worry about it. Canyoning is safe, because you will wear the life jacket, helmet, and many other equipment that support you. But, you still need to prepare your condition before doing this extreme sport. It is better if you can swim (even though you will wear the life jacket), and it is suggested that you don’t have any medical problems, especially vertigo.

Suggestions on Canyoning

Even though it is safe to do, we must always prepare for the worst. As mentioned above, canyoning is an extreme sport. You can imagine, by walking in the river with a strong stream, walking over big rocks, and rappelling on the canyon, sounds dangerous, is it? Not to mention that many dangerous thing can happen, such as bad weather, bad physical condition, flood around the canyon, etc. So, you must prepare yourself for the worst condition in canyoning, and make sure that you have the safety equipment with you.

We must remember that the water temperature in mountain rivers is lower than our body temperature. So, it is suggested to use a wet suit. Even though it might be a bit hot and you are not used to the wetsuit, it will protect you. The wetsuit can protect you from hypothermia, a condition where your body temperature is below the average. Besides the protection from cold temperature, wetsuit will also protect you from the scratches of rocks. Canyoning wetsuit is basically the same as scuba wetsuit. But in addition, the canyoning wetsuit usually added by elbows and knees, in order to protect yourself from rocks.

Some Beautiful Places to do Canyoning

There are many places in the world that can be a perfect spot for canyoning. The famous places around the world, namely Zion National Park (USA), Kawasan Falls (Philippines), Blue Mountains (Australia), Jalbire (Nepal), and many places in the world’s biggest archipelago country, Indonesia.

 If you are looking for the best spot to do canyoning in Indonesia, Bali is the right destination to choose. Canyoning Bali is a good choice for you, who seek for an adventurous yet safe canyoning spot. There are Gitgit, Wanagiri, Sambangan, and Kerenkali Canyon that can be a perfect spot for canyoning. These spots are some of the best spots to do canyoning in Bali. It is suggested to go canyoning in Bali, because you will feel the beauty of many spots in this island. You can travel there by yourself, or even better with your companies.

It is better to do canyoning in a group. No, not a group that is filled by random and unprepared people. The group that is suggested is an organized and well-prepared group, plus an experienced guide on canyoning. Why an experienced guide? Because he/she knows the condition of your canyoning spot. They also well trained, so they will help you and your group in many situations. Most of the experienced guide have prepared the safety kit for you. But if you want to bring your own safety kit, make sure that it is in a good condition, and can help you to protect yourself during the canyoning.

That is some introduction to canyoning. It is an extreme yet fun sport to do, especially if you want to experience the beauty of canyon. Make sure to be in a good physical condition, put on some safety kit, and happy canyoning!