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History of Bungee Jumping – an Introduction
The history of bungee jumping dates back to the ancient times. Though it can be a bit difficult to figure out a specific date when bungee jumping started for the first time as a sport, however, there are some specific instances where this form of sport came from. Bungee Jumping was originally an ancient ritual, associated with the Pacific Ocean Vanuatu group of Pentecost Island. They used to build large wooden towers, collect vines and tie those to their ankles before jumping off from the top of the towers.
As It Started
According to a popular belief, the history of bungee jumping was started with an amazing incident. There was a man named Tamalie lived in the Bunlap village in Pentecost Island. After a quarrel, his wife ran away from the house and climbed up a Banyan tree where she tied her ankles with liana vines. Tamalie ran after her wife and climbed up to the same tree. Seeing him there, his wife jumped from the tree. Tamalie followed her wife and jumped down from the tree. Tamalie didn’t have any idea what his wife had in her ankles. As a result, Tamalie crashed on the ground and died, whereas his wife survived. The villagers of Bunlap were so impressed by this incident that they started practicing such jumps, especially when they fell in similar situation. Later, this practice became a ritual for the rich yam harvest.
The Evolution
It was during the 1950s when David Attenborough and a BBC film crew brought the video footage of the Bunlap people practicing the rituals. The footage showed the skills of Bunlap people who were doing so as a test of their courage as well as passage into manhood. In central Mexico, the similar types of jumping were also practiced during the Aztecs days; though, those had much slower pace for falling. Nevertheless, the video footage had created a lot of interests among the adventure lovers who started thinking the practice as an adventure sports. However, it took some time before it finally came into existence as an adventure sports.
Modern Bungee Jumping
The history of modern day bungee jumping goes back to 1st April, 1979. Impressed by a film on “Vine Jumpers”, some members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sport Club went to jump from the 245-Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol in England. Instead of vines, they used nylon braided rubber shock cord. Dressed in their customary attire, with top hat and tails, the group performed a four man simultaneous jump. Though, they got arrested for their acts, however, they opened up a new avenue of adventure sports for the rest of the world. They hit the headlines the next day and the world came to know about their efforts and the adventure as well.
With no time, bungee jumping started attracting the adventure sports lovers across the world. It has come up a long way since its inception as a sport. Currently, along with the adventure part, the security parts of the jumpers are also kept in the mind. Several new equipments have come up for these purposes as well.
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