BUNGEE JUMPING 

 Bungee has quite an old origin. The idea of this way of jumping comes from the ancient ritual "Gkol" performed in the Pentecost Island in the Pacific Archipelago of Vanuatu. The legend says that in the village Bunlap a man called Tamalie had a quarrel with his wife and she ran away and climbed a Banyan tree where she wrapped her ankles with liana vines. When Tamalie came up to her, the woman jumped from the tree and so did her husband not knowing what had his wife done. So he died but the woman survived. The men of Bunlap were very impressed by this performance and they began to practise such jumps in case they got in similar situation. This practice transformed into a ritual for rich yam harvest and also for proving manhood.

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1979 when group of students from the Oxford University Dangerous Sport Club, impressed by a film about "vine jum

pers", jumped from 245-Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England. Using nylon braided, rubber shock cord instead of vines, and dressed in their customary top hat and tails, they performed a four man simultaneous jump .The enthysiasts promptly were arrested for this. But at least hit the world press the next day. The new adrenaline mania has been started. The D.S.C. performed many other jumps, including one off the Golden Gate Bridge. In early 1988, A.J. Hackett and Chris Allum, opened the first commercial jump site in Ohakune, New Zealand. Hackett also made a great commercial show in 1987 when he jumped from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iZlagT6MwY