Jump! Jump! Jump off of canyon walls into clear blue pools of mountain water! This is canyoning, the sport of navigating down mountain streams without a boat. You only live once, so dive into this life-altering grand adventure and experience the fun and excitement for yourself.
Mountains make up nearly two thirds of Nara Prefecture, and the Odaigahara mountain area in the southeastern part of the prefecture receives as much as 5 meters of precipitation per year! The high rainfall makes watercourses plentiful and the remote location keeps them as pristine as any fairytale fountain of youth. A canyoning tour with an outdoor outfitter company, which encourages participants to slide or rappel down waterfalls, cliff dive into the natural pools and swim and float down the serene blue waters, is one of the most fun and exciting ways to see and experience these mountain streams. The Mount Yoshino-based Wild Wind outfitter offers several different canyoning tours of varying difficulty, and has at least one English-speaking guide (ask to speak to Azu-san). Their canyoning tours range from ¥11,000+tax per person to ¥18,00+tax per person, and include all the necessary canyoning equipment and two or more guides to keep everyone safe and capture the fun on camera. A car is necessary to reach the tours’ starting points, and guests must provide their own easy to carry lunch, which the guides will carry in a waterproof bag.
The beginner level Kitamatagawa Minami Matadani Canyon tour a coworker and I participated in did not disappoint. There were multiple opportunities to get behind the curtains of the waterfalls along the tour, also several lazy swimming and floating pools, two slideable waterfalls (and two other canyon wall slides), and numerous cliff jumping and diving spots. The highlight of the day was a 7 meter cliff jump into the final pool of the tour. There’s even time for multiple jumps if you’re brave enough to take the plunge. Canyoning is one of the greatest outdoor adventures one can experience in Japan, and one of the most exciting and fun ways to beat the humidity and the sweltering summer heat.
