THE NEW TRENDS IN OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES #2

Our journey in the new outdoor sport trends continues. In this section we will talk about yet more unusual activities perfect for those mixing craziness and joie de vivre.

Tired of the usual five-a-side match? Go for Bubble Football! This sport has more or less the same rules as five-a-side, with one difference: players are inside a large inflatable ball, leaving only the legs out. This avoids full contact as, in case of contact, players fall and roll around

until their legs find the ground again and they can get up!

The kick off is truly spectacular: once the referee whistles, all players start from their area of the field towards the ball at the centre, hitting ball against ball, their bodies far away and protected.

Another sport involving balls is Zorbing or Globe-Riding, whose name is pretty explicative: This involves rolling down a hill inside an enormous transparent plastic orb called zorb.

This activity was invented in New Zealand by Dwane van der Sluis and Andrew Akers in 1994. Usually zorbing is practiced rolling down a slope but it can also be carried out on flat ground as this allows greater control. Moreover, it is divided into dry-zorb, which includes a harness, and wet-zorb, which doesn’t.

Very popular lately are also Obstacle Course Races, i.e. races that include facing obstacles of various types. Indeed, these are divided in Mud Runs, Spartan Races, Inferno Races, Strongman Races...

These are sporting events inspired by military training courses which include runs with both natural and man-made obstacles. The trail develops along dirt roads, paths, streams, sandy stretches with mud, water, and man-made obstacles such as walls, heavy objects to move, balance tests, ropes to climb on, walls to climb, and anything the organizer can think of.

After all, it’s the obstacles that make it fun, getting you to test yourself and compete with others and with your own limits, with the main goal of having fun.

The love for animals and for dogs in particular has been growing lately and activities which can include both owners and pets are getting increasingly popular.

Agility dog is indeed geared towards our pets, which carry out exercises using obstacles and in which training and the relationship between man and dog take a front seat.

This sport originated in England in 1970, when Agility Dog was created as a way to show off a dog’s skills. Today it is one of the most popular sports to keep one’s dog fit. It can be practiced by dogs of all breeds and sizes. The best way is to get in touch with an expert trainer who will help you start the activity safely.

Another variant is Disc-dog, where dogs play frisbee with their owners-trainers.

Yet another unusual activity is Llama hiking, i.e. a walk with the famous South-American animals, known for their sweetness and docility. This consists in an excursion leading the animals with a rope. The animal can carry pic-nic baskets and all that is needed to spend a day in the open air. These hikes are suitable for young and old, families, summer camps, and schools. They can also be used as a team building activity, unusual but effective.

After burying the legend of the big bad wolf, here comes Wolf Howling, a technique used to have a census of this majestic predator, which allows to find single animals or packs using the wolves’ natural tendency to howl.

This consists of playing prerecorded howling through specific equipment or in person, causing the wolves to answer and thus helping to determine the presence or absence of these animals, to estimate the minimum number, and to verify the presence of cubs. 

As this is an outdoor activity, it includes excursions, preferably nighttime ones, inside woods and forests.

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