fox-klubz

Images of James Bond jumping from an airplane and free falling in a tuxedo seem very appealing. But it’s easy to forget that this is a movie stunt, and every precaution is taken to make something that looks dangerous actually be as safe as possible. In fact, your probably more likely to get hurt walking to the shop or up and down stairs. In the real world there are no retakes or directors shouting ‘cut’! So whilst some of us are content on taking our usual yearly virgin flights to Spain but others aren’t as willing to lay on a beach for 7 days. Instead, they look danger in the eye and laugh. In fact, the more dangerous the better! And they probably consider themselves real life James Bond’s.

So what do they do instead of soaking up the Marbella rays? The first man to climb Mount Everest is credited with explaining his reason as, because it’s there. And he’s still there – he died on that mountain and his body was never found. Yet this doesn’t act as a deterrent it seems. The popularity of extreme sports plays into the thrill seeker’s desire for risk. They push themselves to the limit and beyond because they get an extreme high from the adrenaline rush. The risk high is as addictive as alcohol or drugs. So what are the latest extreme sporting addictions?

Lets take a look….

Cage of Death, Darwin

Fancy Plunging into the ‘Cage of Death’ and swimming with some of Australia’s largest saltwater crocodiles!? This latest attraction is perfect for those who dare to get up close and personal with these amazing prehistoric creatures.

Theme park Crocosaurus Cove offers tourists the chance to come face to face with saltwater crocodiles from the safety of the “Cage of Death”. Tourists spend 15 minutes inside the 2.8m high acrylic cage while Choppa the croc tryies to take a bite out of them.

Covert Ops Training, Arizona

Live the life you have only seen in movies or read about in novels. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to train for a covert mission in hostile territory!

Each trainee at the covert ops spy camp will experience all the thrills and excitement of the clandestine life. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to train for a covert mission in hostile territory. At a not-so secret training base in Arizona Airport, a hand-picked group of Green Berets and contract mercenaries from the world’s toughest special operations will train you in high speed evasive driving, combat pistol shooting, unarmed self-defence, explosives, espionage techniques, counter-surveillance, and booby traps.

Everest Skydive

Everest Skydive is entering its third year of extreme aerial adventure. October’s 2011 Everest Skydive Expedition will be made from Tara Air’s Pilatus Porter aircraft at Syangboche.

British adventure firm High and Wild offers skydiving trips over Mount Everest. Skydivers jump out of the plane at around 8848 metres high, the same height as the summit of Everest. So do you fancy freefalling past some of the world’s highest mountain peaks and landing on the highest drop zone in the world whilst Experiencing the Himalayas from above and below?! I’m not sure I do. The trek alone to the camp takes 9 days!

Snake Massage

For a mere 300 shekels (US$70) you can walk into Ada Barak’s health and beauty spa in Northern Israel and have a few snakes slither across your body.

Performed in Northern Israel by therapist Ada Barak, a therapeutic snake massage involves having six non-venomous serpents slip and slide down you spine to release your tensions and relieve your aching muscles. The snakes used in the treatment are a mixture of corn snakes, milk snakes and California and Florida King snakes. According to Barak if people can get over their revulsion of serpents they usually find the sensation very soothing. Errrm…no!

Cocaine Tours, Columbia

Imagine a six-day trek through the Colombian jungle, crossing eight rivers and 40 km of treacherous terrain and climbing 1,200 ancient steps to reach the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida in Spanish), an archaeological site in Sierra Nevada, Columbia?

It is becoming the destination of choice amongst backpackers who are taking in guided tours of the cocaine making process. These take you along the Caribbean coast to La Ciudad Perdida – The Lost City. On the trail, the guide points out the many coca plants used to make cocaine, then it’s off to a cocaine lab to learn how the drug is made.They get to see the whole process from The Coca Leaf to Cocaine Base which is then usually sold on to Traffickers! Details of these tours are spreading by word-of-mouth almost as quick as the drugs are being exported.

Terror Trek China
Mt. Huashan is famous for its breath-taking cliffs and the dangerous 12-kilometer-long winding path up to the top. Mt Huashan has only one path and it doesn’t help when the path looks like this.

Described as the most dangerous tourist route in the world, the sacred Mt. Huashan in Huayin City, China sees people clinging to rusty iron chains, whilst dangling over a 2090 metre cliff face with no safety barrier. The path doesn’t become precipitous until Qing Ke Ping, where there is a huge rock engraved with Chinese characters meaning “the point where the horses turn back”. It warns that the challenges ahead and those who are not well prepared both mentally and physically should retreat.

KGB Torture, Lithuania

A Soviet Union theme park, located in an old bunker, offers tourists the first-hand experience of a KGB interrogation.Visitors pay to be beaten, interrogated and shouted at by tour leaders dressed as agents of the Russian secret police.

That’s just far too weird for words!!

Enough said.

Human Remains, Belize

Trek through the Belize jungle, wade through rivers and explore the claustrophobic cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal to witness the skeleton of a teenage girl. The famous human remains, known as The Crystal Maiden, are believed to be those of a young Mayan princess.

This experience involves a full day of exploration. But here’s the thing: you don’t just walk into this cave.  You have to swim. After a jungle hike that involves sloshing through rivers and streams, and being shown all the incredible plant life around and being told what everything is used for, you swim into the cave, in trainers and helmet with a headlamp, and start the long wade/swim/hike into the darkness!

Free Running Paris
Parkour involves running, jumping and vaulting over urban objects, leaping from walls, swinging from buildings and the like in a fluid and graceful combination of movements.

In the spirit of the James Bond flick Casino Royale, every last weekend of the month thrill-seekers can undertake a Free Running training session at the Dame du Lac monument in Lisses, Paris, with coaches offering tips on how to run, jump and vault over urban objects.

Jallikatu, India

So, if you think that running with bulls is dangerous enough then you haven’t heard of Jallikatu.

The bull taming game that dates back 3,500 years. In ancient Tamil Nadu, the sport was known as “hugging the bull” (Yeru Thaluvudu), though there’s nothing loving about it. “Be gored or be spared” is the mantra of many a brave/stupid man at the Harvest Festival of Pongal, held every year in January. The goal of the main event is to chase down a pissed-off bull unarmed and grab the bundles of money tied to its horns.