A new theme park, ‘JUNGLIA OKINAWA,’ has opened in northern Okinawa!!
Set across a vast 60-hectare site, the theme park offers a wide variety of attractions.
Among them, I tried one of JUNGLIA OKINAWA’s most terrifying attractions, “SKY-END TREKKING,” and I’d like to share what the experience was like.
□ SKY-END TREKKING Experience Report
This attraction has you walking through the sky on a very long suspension bridge measuring about 84 meters in total.
You cross above a ravine with a maximum elevation difference of about 34 meters.
It is the kind of suspension bridge where you have to summon the courage to take that first wide step, trust your own balance, and once you start, there is no turning back.
◇ SKY-END TREKKING Basic Information
Guests under age 10 must be accompanied by someone age 18 or older.
Weight: under 120 kg
Height: 150 cm or taller
No age limit
◇ If you’re afraid of heights, do not take part!
The instant you take even one step from the starting point, all you can see below is the bottom of the jungle ravine.
There isn’t even a safety net visible below!!
The lower part of the image shows “TREETOP TREKKING” for children.
If you’re uncomfortable with heights, I don’t think you’ll be able to take even one step forward.
This is an advanced course, so I think it is best attempted only by people who are not afraid of heights at all.
Even if you wouldn’t call yourself afraid of heights and are thinking, “I’ll try it first and decide,” you really need to be careful!
At the starting point, you’re already 7.4 meters high, and the finish is 11 meters high, so the height feels serious from the moment it begins.
Because there is no safety net blocking your view, you can see clearly all the way down, which makes the sense of height even more frightening.
□ This is not something to attempt casually!
I had imagined evenly spaced boards that you simply walk across, but this turned out to be a full-scale athletic challenge at the highest level!
The handrail suddenly disappears, leaving you to rely on the lifeline attached to you!
You grip it as tightly as you possibly can, and sometimes there is only a rope hanging and swaying in midair on the other side.
There are even sections without that kind of rope, where you are completely dependent on your own core strength and the strength of the one hand holding your lifeline…
And in my case, the lifeline was unexpectedly on the left side, so I had to support almost my entire body with my non-dominant hand…
With sweaty palms, I moved one step at a time, relying on the rope as I “walked through the sky.”
Through the gaps between the footholds, the bottom of the jungle ravine waits far below, looking as though it could pull you in.
You can see the valley floor with incredible clarity, all the way down…
Yes—if you miss a step, you simply drop.
At first, the gaps between the boards only require you to spread your legs a little, but suddenly they become so wide that you wonder whether your legs can even stretch that far.
I honestly think the shorter you are, the more strongly you’ll feel this.
The minimum height of 150 cm has a lot to do with leg length.
Taller people naturally tend to have longer legs.
With longer legs, your stride is also greater, making it easier to span the gaps between the boards.
For women, I think being around 160 cm tall would make it feel easier to stretch across.
Even though I love heights, I was very anxious about whether my legs could reach across some of the gaps. The thought that if I couldn’t make it, I would step off and drop toward the ravine made it hard for me to move forward.
There are also all kinds of awkwardly shaped footholds, wildly swaying pole-like obstacles, and even a seesaw, so the further you go, the more you have to rely on your own balance.
I wanted to enjoy the scenery, but I was moving so slowly and felt bad that people behind me were piling up, so I had no choice but to focus on pushing forward.
There is a section where the footing is slanted, and because there is no rope to rely on there, you have to support your landing entirely with your own core strength.
At that point, I became even less confident about landing and couldn’t move forward, so I ended up crossing with help from a navigator (staff member) who happened to be in that section.
If they hadn’t been there, I honestly think I would have fallen…
I’m not actually afraid of the height itself, so I even reached the point where I thought I would rather fall and retire from the course.
□ Expect a very long wait
This attraction takes quite a while to prepare for because you need to put on a harness and lifeline, and there are many safety checks, including checking the helmet and all final equipment. As a result, each guest takes longer than you might expect.
There can also be a big difference between guests who cross quickly and those, like me, who move carefully.
Your total experience time can vary a lot depending on which type of guest is in front of you, so I recommend leaving plenty of time before any reservation you have afterward.
From the time the equipment is put on until it is removed, you cannot drink anything because you cannot bring items with you and everything must be stored in a locker. Be sure to drink beforehand, and since you cannot use the restroom during that time either, make sure to go before the experience.
There is no shade in the waiting area, so another key point is to make sure you replenish salt with items such as salt tablets while you can.
I think this is unquestionably one of the top one or two most scream-inducing attractions at JUNGLIA OKINAWA, so if you’re confident, give it a try.
JUNGLIA OKINAWA’s Main Attraction: DINOSAUR SAFARI—Escape a T. Rex by Jeep
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