Shepherd's leap

Above video demonstrates the traditional way of rapidly moving across the often difficult and steep terrain in the rural areas of the Canary Islands with the help of a long, pointed, lance-like vaulting pole. This allows the shepherd to move faster than his goats and is called salto del pastor Canario or 'leap of the Canarian shepherd'. It is still practised on La Gomera and it is fascinating to watch farmers move across rocky terrain in the mountains with breathtaking speed when they gather stray goats. The salto is now becoming increasingly popular as an adventure sport activity and classes are on offer sporadically all over the Canary Islands to learn this ancient form of pole vaulting.