While some people enjoy relaxing and love to watch the world from afar, others constantly search for daring adventure sports, exotic destinations and thrilling experiences. We all know an adrenaline junkie, but you only live once, right? Too true. Life is short, so scuba dive, traverse scenic canyons, or jump out of a plane! This post is dedicated to all adventure sports enthusiasts and highlights the adventure sports capitals of the world.
Adventurous sports destinations
Some of the more daring among us who are traveling the world aboard MV Narrative are looking forward to adventure sports around the globe. These include adrenaline-inducing watersports such as whitewater kayaking, shipwreck free-diving, or braving 15 minutes in an underwater cage with saltwater crocodiles!
Others among us will be experiencing thrilling adventures in the air, such as paragliding, skydiving and hang gliding. While the more down-to-earth seek extreme sports on land such as mountain biking, ice climbing, and bungee jumping! Several world-renowned adventure capitals cater to various adventure sports, and we'll take you to a few.
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a scenic ski resort village located toward the bottom of New Zealand's South Island at the base of the mountains on Lake Wakatipu. As such, Queenstown is an excellent winter extreme sport experience where you can snowboard unmarked terrain with backcountry ski guides.
But the great thing about Queenstown is you do not have to be there in the ski season to have a fantastic time. The tiny village is jam-packed with great restaurants, bars and adventure sports, including wakeboarding on the lake, exciting river trips and whitewater rafting, and many other extreme sports.
When you arrive, you should first catch the Skyline Queenstown cable car up to Bob's Peak. Hikers can trek up; however, you must be hike-fit as it's a steep climb. A luge ride at the peak runs down a section of the mountain. It will make you feel like a kid again when getting up to high speeds. Speaking of which, it's the perfect activity for racing your children to the ground. After that, you can do a canyon swing (like bungee jumping) from the top of the mountain. And all this within two hours of arrival!
Queenstown adventure sports:
- Jet boating
- Whitewater rafting
- Bungee jumping
- Kayaking
- Heli-skiing
- Snowboarding
- Mountain biking
- Rock climbing
- Hiking
- Luge
Victoria Falls, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall by volume of water in the world, is located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Viewing the Thunder that Roars is worth the visit to Victoria Falls in itself. But it has more to offer than just the falls, the most renowned being white water rafting down the Zambezi River. Not to mention it's one of the world's best places to see wildlife.
While there are rapids worldwide, the Zambezi has that extra African wild and dangerous element, where capsizing is almost guaranteed. You may even spot the odd crocodile sunning itself on the banks of the river. Not kidding, this writer saw it with his own eyes! You also see incredible wildlife at the falls, including baboons (watch out for those sneaky creatures) and elephants riverside, making Victoria Falls one of our top adventure sports destinations.
Victoria Falls adventure sports:
- White water rafting
- Bungee jumping
- Canyon swing
- Zipline
- Jet boating
- Micro flights
Yosemite National Park, California, USA
Besides being one of the world's most breathtaking national parks with some of the most scenic walks around the world, Yosemite has a cult-like history of rock climbing, free climbing and base jumping. Rock climbing history in Yosemite goes back to 1930 when Robert Underhill introduced the sport to Californians. Over the coming decades, the sport evolved with more and more climbers attempting the thrill of conquering the vertical granite cliff faces of Yosemite.
In 2014 the hugely popular documentary, Valley Uprising, was released, telling the story of the peculiar fusion of hippies/rock climbers carving out a counterculture lifestyle of illegally camping and free climbing. They were the first to conquer the Dawn Wall, considered the most challenging free climb in the world, and their dangerous activities drew ire from the park rangers who would chase them out.
And then came the Oscar winning Free Solo, telling the story of Alex Hannold, who attempted to become the first person ever to free solo climb the infamous El Capitan (pictured), a sheer vertical towering rock face. And free climb means no ropes, which means you make a mistake and fall, you die. Did he achieve it? Guess you’ll have to find out. 😜
You can legally camp and climb these days by obtaining a Yosemite Wilderness Climbers permit. However, climbing in Yosemite is for the experienced, and rigorous training is required.
Yosemite National Park adventure sports:
- Rock climbing
- Base jumping
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- White water rafting
Voss, Western Norway
Every June and July, top athletes and visitors from around the world descend on the small Norwegian town of Voss for Ekstrem Sport Veko, turning it into the extreme sports capital of the world. Ekstrem Sport Veko is the largest extreme sports festival worldwide. You may recognize the name Voss from the fancy water in a beautiful cylinder-shaped glass bottle (that makes for a perfectly reusable water bottle, mind you). That's where the water comes from and sums up Voss. It's a mountainous region of fresh air, untouched natural resources, and, you guessed it, adventure sports.
Any time of the year is good for adventurous sports in Voss. The region is known for its skydiving, cliff jumping, hand gliding and more. If you can get there during Ekstrem Sport Veko, you can watch the best of the best compete in these events. The festival draws competitors worldwide in extreme sports such as rapids kayaking, wake foiling, cycling, wingsuit flying, free fall and downhill skateboarding.
The event and site are well organized with accommodations, children's activities, live entertainment, knowledgeable staff and plenty of safety equipment. Ekstrem Sport Veko should be on your bucket list if you are an adventure sports enthusiast and need speed.
Voss adventure sports:
- Kayaking
- Wake foiling
- Cycling
- Wingsuit flying
- Kite foiling
- Downhill skateboarding
- Skydiving
- Paragliding
- Cliff jumping
- Hand gliding
- Mountain biking
San Gil, Colombia
You may not be familiar with San Gil, but it is the secret gem on this list. Tucked deep into the Colombian countryside, forest and jungle, it is a nature and adventure sports paradise. In fact, its motto is "La Tierra de Aventura" (The land of adventure). It is known as the tourist capital of Colombia. To paint a pretty picture of San Gil, the region was used as inspiration for the recent Disney Pixar movie Encanto, one of those films that make you want to travel.
Like Queenstown, the small town of San Gil punches has a lot to offer. San Gil's 300-year-old town square and village are surrounded by nature reserves, including the Parque El Gallineral on the Río Fonce. It is on this river where world-renowned white water rafting takes place.
Different types of adventure sports include rafting, canoe-rafting and paragliding, to name a few. Even if you don't make it for an adventure sports trip, just exploring the rivers, waterfalls, mountains, natural caves, and the great Chicamocha Canyon makes the trip worthwhile.
San Gil adventure sports:
- Rafting
- Canoe-rafting
- Paragliding
- Caving
- Torrents
- Rappelling
- Canyoning
- Bungee jumping
- Mountain biking
- Motocross
About Storylines luxury residential community at sea
On Storylines' private residence ship, MV Narrative, your home takes you to your next escapade. The adventure starts the moment you wake up and look out the window. You can now access the most breathtaking adventure sports destinations at your doorstep! This kind of lifestyle is available to you every day.
We know that having an adventurous soul can't be tamed by going places a few days or weeks at a time. Storylines provides you with a unique lifestyle, not a vacation. Say goodbye to jet lag and stressful logistics. Your adventurous lifestyle includes exotic exploration such as kayaking down the Amazon River, hiking through the Forest of Knives in Madagascar and hot air ballooning in Burma.
Choose to take the road less traveled and do it at your own pace. Go off-roading to see the wildlife in Botswana or trek through natural reservation lands in Cuba. Perhaps you would like to step into a different world with snow-shrouded landscapes while nordic skiing in Lapland. Experience it all - flyboarding, rock climbing, rafting, you name it. Wherever in the world you may find yourself, you’ll have a plethora of adventurous activities to choose from. With Storylines, you're not just in for the adventure of a lifetime - you're in for a lifetime of adventure.
Visit the Storylines website to learn more about our floating homes, continuously circumnavigating itinerary and our community of global citizens.