Monkey bars and dreams beneath Africa's highest bridge

The challenge beneath Africa's highest bridge

Thomas van Tonder crossed more than six hundred monkey bars suspended beneath the Bloukrans Bridge in the Western Cape on October twenty-sixth. The bridge stands two hundred sixteen metres above the Bloukrans River gorge.

Following the arch, not the straight line

Van Tonder followed the natural arch of the bridge rather than crossing straight. He climbed the uphill arch, crossed the flat crown, then descended the far side, making the challenge significantly harder.

A first in human achievement

When Van Tonder succeeded on October twenty-sixth, he became the first human to achieve the feat. A straight line across the top would have been easier, but he chose the more difficult option.

More than a year of planning

The project required more than a year of planning to solve problems no one had faced before. Van Tonder said the planning itself was a major challenge, involving the right people and meticulous detail.

“The whole project was more than a year of planning to just figure out how to do it.”

A decade of obstacle racing experience

Van Tonder is a veteran of six OCR World Championships, finishing inside the top ten in five of them.

National and international victories

In South Africa, Van Tonder has claimed more than twenty Warrior Race Black Ops Elite victories and national titles in two thousand sixteen and two thousand eighteen.

A Guinness World Record for rope climbing

In November two thousand twenty, Van Tonder set a Guinness World Record for the fastest fifty metre rope climb.

Mental struggle on the bridge

Despite his confidence from past achievements, Van Tonder struggled mentally during the crossing. About a quarter of the way through, he realised the challenge was significantly harder than he had imagined or prepared for.

“The bridge looked like an infinite railroad of monkey bars.”

Inspiration for his three children

Van Tonder undertakes these gruelling challenges to inspire his three children to chase their dreams.

“Kids don't do what you say, they do what you do.”

Why obstacle course racing suits him

Van Tonder said he was never particularly good at any individual sport, even with a black belt in kickboxing.

“I'm really, really good at it. I wasn't really good at anything else.”

Chasing dreams, no matter how strange

Van Tonder said whatever a person's dream might be, they must feel confident enough to chase it, even if it does not make sense to other people.

“Whatever a person's dream might be out there, they must feel confident enough to chase it.”