Bungee is one of those things that you just look at and wonder, “What the hell were people thinking when they invented it?” A good Yam harvest, that’s what! Here’s the brief, surprising history of Bungee Jumping and why you should too.
Naghol
This jumping tradition dates back to 1950s when David Attenborough visited Pentecost Island in the Southern Pacific.
- Every year, at the start of the yam harvest season, men jump from a wooden tower built specifically for this, with elastic vines tied around their ankles to prove their manhood.
Jumpin Heights
Capt. Rahul Nigam wanted to introduce Bungee in India so it could be perceived as’serious adventure’ and not ‘entertainment’.
Fun Fact or strange Fact?
In April 2008, 37-year-old Carl Mosca Dionisio jumped off a 30 m tower attached to a bungee cord made entirely of condoms- 18500 of them
- You don’t have to be crazy to try bungee jumping.
The First Bungee Jump
On April Fool’s Day, 1979, David Kirke, dressed in a tuxedo, and holding a champagne bottle, jumped off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
- His two friends, all members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club, did the same, and were promptly arrested and turned into overnight sensations.
AJ Hackett
The world’s first commercial bungee jumper made his first jump from Greenhithe Bridge in Auckland, New Zealand in 1986
- He opened the World’s first ever commercial Bungee site
- Kawaru Bridge Bungy – near Queenstown in New Zealand
- Hackett remains one of the largest and most successful commercial operators
