Pensioner (78) breaks Vic Falls bungee jumping record

A 78-year-old pensioner from the United Kingdom is the new record holder for an elderly person to bungee jump off the historic Victoria Falls Bridge.

Mr David Roberts' jump defied the myth that the popular adrenalin raising 111-metre free-fall into the gorges of the mighty Zambezi River below the bridge is for the youthful "adrenalin junkies".

Other notable elderly persons to jump from the bridge include Chief Mukuni from Livingstone in Zambia who was about 67 years old when he jumped, the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Advocate Eric Matinenga (60) and the Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Given Lumumba (49).

After the jump, Mr Roberts, who had been an avid rock climber in his younger days until a climbing accident resulted in knee fusion surgery, said he had had a fantastic experience.

"This was a fantastic experience," the ecstatic jumper said.

Mr Roberts made his jump even more remarkable by having the cord attached around his waist thereby plunging backwards into the rainbow above the Zambezi River with the mighty waterfall rumbling by his side.

Shearwater Adventure public relations manager Mr Clement Mukwasi said the jump by Mr Roberts showed that the activity cut across race, age and cultural divide.

He said it also confirmed that it was a safe activity that could be done by any person of any age.

"This is an all-age product unlike the myth that it is not meant for the old. It is also a reassertion of how safe the product is and all one needs is the heart for it," he said.

As well as bungee jumps, Victoria Falls Bridge Company also offers the Bridge Swing, Bridge Slide (Zipline) and the Historic Bridge Tour — the story of the Victoria Falls Bridge — full of amusing anecdotes about the incredible feat of engineering that resulted in this historical Victorian masterpiece.

Additionally, the Victoria Falls Bridge Café extends an invitation to dive into a lazy lunch with the best views around.

The Victoria Falls Bridge Café is the facility in the area with direct views over the Victoria Falls from which to watch all the action on the bridge.

The bridge, which links the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Livingstone in Zambia, also turns 107 years this year amid reports that it has become the second most visited tourist attraction behind the mighty Victoria Falls rainforest.

The bridge took 14 months to construct and was completed in 1905.

Victoria Falls Bridge was part of Cecil John Rhodes' dream of a railway line linking Cape Town with Cairo, which was fuelled by investment and speculation about the potential of Central Africa.

It was built at a cost of £72 000, the highest amount spent on a bridge in the world at the time.

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