Zip lines were not invented for exhilarating eco-tourism through rainforest canopies, but were originally utilized as a highly practical method for transporting cargo across treacherous mountainous terrain.

A closer look

Zip lines were not invented for exhilarating eco-tourism through rainforest canopies, but were originally utilized as a highly practical method for transporting cargo across treacherous mountainous terrain. In remote regions of the Himalayas and the Alps, carrying heavy supplies down a steep valley on foot was dangerous and exhausting, so locals simply strung up a cable and aggressively hurled their goods to the other side using gravity. Biologists later adopted the method in the 1970s to study the jungle canopy without constantly climbing trees, completely unaware they were laying the groundwork for a massive vacation industry. Now, you pay hundreds of dollars to strap yourself into a harness and scream your lungs out while zipping past a monkey. It is a fantastic example of taking a completely mundane logistical solution and rebranding it as an extreme sport for adrenaline-starved office workers