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I have always been scared of heights. I’d seen a few videos online of the world’s highest bungee jump in South Africa after I started exploring things I could do once I arrived. Once I had booked my tickets to volunteer on an elephant park for four weeks in the summer of 2017, I decided it would be something I’d tick off of my bucket list. I wanted to face my fear of heights. 6 out of the 9 volunteers I stayed with, including myself, drove an hour from Knysna Elephant Park to Bloukran’s Bridge, giggling with excitement and adrenaline in our rental car. Nerves were pumping through my body as we walked up to the reception and began to get harnessed up by the staff. I could hear screams in the distance. The bridge was in full sight from the café we waited in near the reception. A body was flung upside down from the bridge, attached by what looked like string from where I stood. A shriek descended into the gorge with them. My mind could not process that that would be my body next. We filled out the consent forms and each of us were weighed to determine the order in which we would jump. A member of staff led us down an uneven and narrow path surrounded by trees and gravel. My heart was racing as we approached a caged walkway which would lead us to the bridge. I was the first out of around twenty people to step onto the walkway. I could see to the bottom of the gorge, hundreds of feet below me. I froze. My legs would physically not move. My heart pumped faster and faster. I couldn’t catch my breath. Whispers and murmurs behind me made me panic more, I didn’t want to be 'that' person. People began to walk past me, tapping me on the shoulder with sympathetic apologies in their eyes. My mind had gone into overdrive. This is something I wanted to do for so long, but my inherent fear of heights had taken over my mind and body. Two of the volunteers I was staying with had taken my hands and led me slowly across the bridge. A five-minute walk took me around twenty minutes to achieve, tears streaming down my face into the drop below me. The thought of being so high up turned my stomach, I couldn’t believe where I was standing. Finally reaching the platform, my panic had completely faded into the cold air around me. I looked up at the picturesque view of South African mountains in front of me. Nature had completely taken over my emotional state. It was absolutely beautiful. I was one of the first to jump, and after watching some of the other guests jump to the end of the bridge and disappear into nothingness, the panic began to creep up on me again. Everyone told me it’s okay if I didn’t want to jump, but this was a mental challenge I knew I had to overcome. I sat on the bench where they tied my feet to the bungee, and hopped to the end of the bridge, gripping the shoulders of the two men that escorted me to the edge. This was the only moment in my entire life that I managed to entirely clear my mind of all thoughts and worries. The two guys either side of me pushed my chin up, telling me not to look down and to enjoy myself. ‘Don’t close your eyes, or you’ll miss everything’ they told me. They screamed ‘3…2…1… bungee!’ And I flew. Arms stretched out either side of me, I plummeted into complete bliss. The first five seconds was free fall, the most terrifying five seconds of my entire life, flying at what felt like the speed of light. And then, I just hung there. Swinging upside down in the most beautiful place in the world. The space surrounding me made me realise how small we are within this world. I have never felt so at peace.