MANILA, Philippines—A couple of the world’s most successful cliffdivers are well on their way in their preparation for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Season 11 to be held in El Nido Palawan.
World Series Champions Rhiannan Iffland of Australia and Gary Hunt of Great Britain went on a cliff diving adventure in South Africa to prepare themselves for the World Series.
Iffland and Hunt have 10 championships between them and the two looked at Drakensberg encampment in eastern Mpumalanga in South Africa and particulary like Bourke’s Luck Potholes as a potential diving spot.
“It was just incredible,” said three-time Women’s World Series Champion Iffland. “To come here, to experience the culture, to go on a safari and to dive at this mind-blowing location, it’s something special and it’s really something that I’m going to remember.”
The Mpumalanga province is littered with waterfalls and two of those natural resources are the Lisbon and Berlin Falls.
Bourke’s Lock Potholes feature jade-colored water basins and cylindrical rock formations that cliff divers like to execute free-falls at in preparation for the season opener in Palawan.
“The first high dives of the year are always a little bit nerve-racking,” said seven-time champion Hunt. “My goal is to keep the title. It was a very close race last year and it was a shaky start so I would love to get off to a very strong start and stamp my foot down on this year’s title.”
“Each new location is exciting and it makes cliff diving feel brand new, that’s something I really love, to come out into exotic places like this and just explore and really challenge myself as a diver,” added Iffland.