What’s the best thing to do with an abandoned power plant stack? Turn it into a playground for adrenaline junkies, of course. Originally the site of a coal-fired power station, the Orlando Towers in South Africa are now the go-to spot for extreme sports like bungee jumping, zip-lining, SCAD falling, and much more. Please, don’t try this at your plant.
According to AWOL: "SCAD, or suspended catch air device, is the name of the game – willing participants are placed in a controlled free-fall harness, which is essentially a belt clipped into a quick release hook. Five seconds later you’re dropped, falling 70 metres down the tower towards a suspended safety net. The elaborate catching device is made of air-filled tubes and a sophisticated brake system so it’s completely safe and you’ll barely feel a thing as you plummet backwards towards the base of the tower."
According to the Gauteng Tourism Authority: "Once the cooling towers for the Orlando Power Station, both of the 33-storey towers are completely covered in brightly coloured murals, one of which depicts scenes and images from township culture and the other with the corporate branding of South Africa’s FNB bank. The Orlando Towers extreme sports site was opened in 2008 by local company Skyriders to develop the neglected cooling towers into a vertical adventure facility and one of the most distinctive tourist attractions in South Africa."
