“Relax, there is nothing wrong with you. That’s just your body’s natural reaction to being this high up. Now on the count of three, you are going to go over the ledge and lean forward with your shoulders.”

And before you know it, the people you were talking to earlier on are staring up at you from the ground looking no bigger than little specks on the road. The faster you repel towards the ground, the bigger they start to look and just like that, you are on the ground – safe, sound and in one piece. Although your entire body feels as though you are in shock (depending on how you feel about heights), you realize that the whole thing is not as bad as you thought it would be in the moments leading up to your jump. There are a number of ways you can do it – like walking down, running down or slightly pushing away from the wall so that you propel down but it all goes much faster than you’d expect. It is easier than it looks too.

Now do you have an idea of what I am talking about? I am talking about the “Jump at Maboneng” event hosted by Social Jozi in association with Rap Jumpers SA.

Social Jozi is a community of social adventurers and explorers started by four gentlemen; Mongezi Mtati, Phetheho Mosia, Tshepo Mashigo and Lerato Tshenkeng, and will be turning 2-years-old in November of this year.

The idea for rap jumping came from the desire to zip-line. Mongezi says that zip-lining was very limiting in a place such as Johannesburg so they discovered rap jumping which was a better fit for the environment. It allowed them to focus on whatever building they were using. The downside is that rap jumping is limited to people that weigh 30kgs and over, so you can’t include the whole family but the plus-side is that the harness feels extremely safe.

“Social Jozi is an open community” not limited to adrenaline junkies. It is simply a social community for outdoor adventure for when the everyday activities start to seem mundane and repetetive. The aim was to cater to people who would like to take part in such events and do not always have to rely on their friends for company. “You have the people in the community to do it with you” so you are never alone. Now if getting your adrenaline pumping with a bunch of strangers does not yet sound like your cup of tea, don’t worry. I can honestly say (from first-hand experience) that they ALL live up to the “social” in Social Jozi and are a very welcoming group of people.

The Social Jozi community is currently quite small and caters to a niche market so they organize each event along those parameters. They have about 20 – 40 people attending each event but an event like Rap Jumping can accommodate as many as 50 people for the entire day. Mongezi adds that “the numbers are event-specific though.”

Social Jozi has activities like paintball, sand-boarding and another Rap Jumping event in the pipeline. “There is a lot that we have done but there is a lot that we have not done either” says Mongezi. Activities such as go-karting, quad-biking and zip-lining over a dam filled with crocodiles are the kinds of things they have in mind.

If this has you rearing to go, Social Jozi is open to all. Find them on Twitter , Facebook, their website and Instagram.

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