The majority of WildWeb’s clients are in the tourism business – lodge owners, travel agencies etc – and are scattered across Africa. This usually means that, for the most part of the year, we rarely get to see them.
In May, when the Tourism Indaba comes to Durbs, it all changes. During Indaba week the majority of our clients fly in to the ‘Fun-Sun-Sea’ capital of Africa, which affords us some face to face time with most of them. For the most part we talk business, but, we realise that Indaba is also an opportunity for our clients to let your hair down, relax (or party) and have some fun. So, being a good sport, we at WildWeb decided to rope in some of our clients for some fun and games, on the side.
During this year’s Indaba, it just so happened that Durban’s favourite son’s, the Sharks, were playing host (of a different kind) t0 Perth’s Western Force, in the Super 15 rugby tournament. Our head huncho, Paul Changuin, decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to invite our Rugga loving clients to join us, for box seat views of the game. It goes without saying that the idea was a hit, thanks mainly to the Sharks smoking the visitors, putting all in good spirits for the jorl that took place afterwards.
A few day’s later, we had planned something a lot more exciting. The plan was to end Indaba on a high. Feeling adventurous we decided to invite a few of our clients to join us for a free diving course, down the coast at Rocky Bay. The course was to be held by free diving guru Hanli Prinsloo (you might have seen her on Carte Blanche or Discovery TV) .
Hanli, our Free Diving instructor, playing with some of her aquatic pals.
Honestly, we did not know what we were in for. The day’s itinerary started off with some stretching and yoga to open up our chests. Then it got interesting. We spent an hour doing some serious breathing and breath holding exercises. Before this, on average, most of us could only hold our breath for an average of 1 and a half minutes. Hanli, promised that she was going to double that. She did.
Amazingly, Hanli talked us through the gag reflex we all get when we hold our breath for ages, and eventually had some of us knocking on 4 minutes. No jokes! The longest breath was held by WildWeb’s boss man himself, Paul, who held his breath for 3 minutes 49 seconds.
After this, we were feeling invincible, and kitted up for a pool session where we did some more breath holding. Soon after it was time for the real thing and we headed to the beach, launched a ski boat and were wisped out, 10 kilometers, out to sea. In the care of Hanli we jumped overboard where she instructed us on our first free diving attempts. Suddenly things were serious. We were instructed to climb down a rope, anchored to a bouy on the surface and heavy weights below. Holding your breath on land is one thing, in the pool it gets a little more interesting, but on the horizon, with weight belts, pulling yourself into the abyss, was another experience in itself.
Hanli (far left) and the Indaba Free Diving rookies celebrate after some lung busting fun.
In the end we all managed to push past our own personally boundaries and returned to land feeling like champions. Beaching the skiboat marked the end of a great Indaba. We had a great time entertaining our clients and we bet that they will be looking forward to returning next year.
