Surviving Death Road Unscathed

So Bron and I cycled down the World’s Most Dangerous Road (also reffered to as Death Road). It was pretty awesome. We were all kitted out in wind proof pants and tops, bmx style helmets, new buffs to protect the face from the cold, stylish bright orange safety vest, gloves and googles – in short we looked like badasses.

The American Development Bank named the road the Worlds Most Dangerous Road in 1994, as it averaged 200 plus deaths a year. There is now a cealed road that bypasses the road completely, it is now only really local traffic, about 3 or 4 cars whilst we were on it, that still utilise the road.

We started out at approximately 4700m above sea level and descended a bit over 1km in about 3 1/2 hours of cycling. We started out cycling above the cloud level then descended through the cloud, this meant that the road was muddy and that we didn’t really see the view down the side of the road – there was a wall of white rather than the sheer drop. For a lot of it you could only see about maybe 10m in front of you.

Also the government decided that there would be less accidents if the drivers could see just how close their wheels were to the edge of nothingness… it is the only road in side of the single road, which for many parts was 20-30cm away from the cliff edge. There have actually been a few deaths from cycling in recent years so it is seriously a dangerous road that one needs to respect.

We rode through some waterfalls and mini rivers over the road and finished up at an animal refuge La Senda Verde. Animals rescued from neglect or the black market end up here. We met some spider monkeys, Bronnie was befriended by Professor Biggles, a little green parrot that sat on her shoulder. There were heaps of macaws and other bright parrots. The Bolivan law prohibits the release of animals back into the wild so for the time being this is home for these animals. There are no cages and the only animals restrained are those who are a risk to other animals or people.

After lunch we took the flying fox over the valley. It consisted of 3 zip lines up to about 520 m in length. Well built men can reach speeds of up to 85km an hour on it. Our guides, as they had to launch and catch us also had fun zipping through the canopy. A fabulous end to a amazing day!!