A Little Adrenaline

From terrifying, world class surf breaks at Ulu Watu to the beginner-friendly swells on Kuta Beach, from one of the world’s easiest and most satisfying wreck dives at Tulamben to high-adrenaline drift dives amid lethal currents off Gili Selang, Bali packs a lot of adrenaline into a very compact island…

I’ll be posting a lot, lot more about Bali (including some great dive sites) once we return there in January. After almost three months in Indonesia, we’d barely scratched the surface, so rather than heading for Latin America we’re going back to the archipelago, thence to China, Nepal and India by way of Laos… But more on that later.

Still, if you like a little adrenaline, without the ocean channel risk to life and limb, read on for probably the best waterpark in South-East Asia, rafting down 12km of almost constant white water, and a chance to leap through the trees, zipwire, balance and Tarzan swing up to 30m above the ground. Oh, yeah, and a gorgeous double waterfall with enticing rope swing too.

Few things in life offer as much concentrated fun as a waterpark, and for value and scale Vietnam’s Dam Sen waterpark (in Saigon) and Ho Tay (in Hanoi) are, frankly, hard to beat. But Waterbom, Bali, positioned amid the package tour hell of Kuta, has probably the best waterslides anywhere in South-East Asia.

Highlights? The Boomerang, down which you soar in a double-tube, to rebound terrifyingly close to the top of the slide; the Superbowl, which sends you spinning solo into a circular vortex that dumps you in the pool below; the Smashdown, which drops you from 21m in a couple of seconds; and the aptly-named Climax, a slide so steep you start in a cage, from which the bottom is ripped away, drop 15m in under a second at an angle of 70 degrees or so, then whizz round a complete full loop and out the other side before you’ve even had time to scream…

There’s a gentle lazy river, a host of leisurely, windy slides, and a hilarious kiddies pool with miniature slides, water cannon, and a giant bucket of water which dumps unpredictably… And, if you can face the trip to Kuta, it’s a highly entertaining way to spend the day.

The landscape of Bali, with its dramatic central mountains and river gorges, makes it a fun place to dabble in whitewater rafting. Tours run to the Sungai Ayung, with rapids which never exceed Grade II, making it perfect for the nervous and young families, but probably rather dull for the rest of us, and the Telaga Waja, whose Grade III rapids offer quite a bit more drama as they race through gorges and rice terraces, populated by the odd head of cattle, the occasional monkey and those crazy-ass water lizards they call iguanas in these parts.

The Telaga Waja rafting course spans 12km of almost constant whitewater — with one dam you have to portage on foot. You whirl down this little river through a beautiful rural landscape, under bamboo bridges (lean back flat!), bouncing off canyon walls and soaring down chutes between dark rocks, pausing occasionally to hang vertiginously from the top of a rock.

Its undisputed highlight? Shooting the 5m-high dam at the end of the course. You will be glad you had your helmet…

In beautiful Bedugul, amid botanic gardens set on a crater lake in a climate so damp and cool they grow not only strawberries but apples, Bali Treetop Adventure Park takes the zipwiring concept several steps further. You’re not just whizzing (harnessed) at high speed down wires strung between trees up to 30m above the ground, but scrambling along an aerial assault course to reach them.

There’s climbing walls, high wire balances, scrambles through barrels, complicated balancing acts over moving bars at great heights — secured at all times by a pair of safety carabiniers you attach yourself. There’s six different courses (and a training course) with one course suitable for age 4-up, four for age 8-up, and the remaining two for persons over 12 with a raised-arm reach of 180cm or more and a degree of physical fitness. (The 7m climbing wall is relatively tough.)

Oh, yeah, there’s also the occasional leech. But don’t let that put you off… And stop at the nearby waterfall of Gitgit if you’re headed north or east, where you can swing from a Tarzan swing over a beautiful waterfall set amid idyllic countryside with coffee, cacao and vanilla nestling among hibiscus and bananas.