If you come to South Africa, you go to Kruger National Game Reserve. You go to Cape Town. And if you have any time left over, you go along the Garden Route, a 300-ish-mile stretch of some of the most beautiful coastline in the world, where I spent the last six days with 12 friends hopping between vacation towns.

Because it’s so well-traveled, it’s one of the easiest areas to get around, but also one of the most touristy, rife with “attractions” from Monkeyland to ostrich races. You can rappel off cliffs, bounce down canyons (known as “kloofing”), snowboard down sand dunes, zipline through forests, Jeep through grasslands, jump out of airplanes—the list is endless. My companions took advantage of a healthy selection of these activities, including the world’s highest bungy jump. For some reason, I just felt no desire.

“But it’s the highest in the world!” they protested.

“So?” I replied.

I wasn’t completely alone. Two others joined me in not taking the plunge, and we talked about why we didn’t have the urge to throw ourselves off a bridge in the way that the rest did. For me, there’s the moral problem of dropping 80 bucks on a purely personal activity when we still pass shacks where they can barely pay for electricity, when it’s even available. But more importantly—since it’s not like I’m doing anything particularly virtuous with that money–I’d rather spend a day walking through a beautiful place on my own two feet, rather than waiting in line for 30 seconds of absolute bliss. I don’t need or want strips of nylon and bits of metal mediating my experience with this beautiful country. I spent every day hiking, with people and without, and couldn’t have asked for anything better.

The jumpers came back completely in awe of what they’d just done—it was like some shared religious experience, as they talked over the parts of the jump again and again. Two girls even jumped twice, the second time backwards. I watched the DVDs from the jumps, and I know this is something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. Neither of us regret our decisions one bit.

Stay tuned for the Garden Route, Part II: Nights.