Inside the double storey treehouse

looking down the foefie slide

Today I fought my fear of heights and climbed the 6m ladder up to the double storey treehouse. The six Scouts who slept there last night said that they were comfortable and felt safe up there last night. This morning they set up an aerial runway (or as we call them in South Africa, a Foefie Slide) down from the tree, and I took a few photographs while I was up the tree.

This photograph shows how the 'cage' surrounding the treehouse works: a pair of ropes is twisted together, running from the roof to the floor of the structure. Poles are inserted into the twisted bundle (and into others along their length) at a series of heights to close the sides up. One corner was left open to allow the ladder, hoist and zipline to be accessed. All of the Scouts told me that they felt very safe sleeping up here last night, with no coverings on the sides apart from the rope and pole 'cage'.

1. Looking down the rope ladder (tied with marlinespike hitches) to the base of one of the supporting trees
2. Looking from the second floor down into the first floor.
3. The first floor 'bedroom'.
4. The second floor 'bedroom'.
5. Looking down from the top floor to the ground.

And yes, I did ride the foefie slide back down the ground, and it was great fun.