Sky Dining: Sundowners in the SKY!

Do you love sundowners with a view? Me too! I'm an absolute sucker for watching the sun set with a drink in my hand and one (or two or three) of my favourite people by my side. Which is why, when I heard about Sky Dining, I had a mini heart attack of excitement. Food and drinks IN THE SKY?! I had to try it.

If you've never heard of Sky Events, you're probably wondering what on earth I'm going on about. Let me fill you in: imagine a table with 22 seats attached to a very large crane. You take your seat (and get well and truly strapped in), and then the crane lifts the table off the earth and into the sky! Once you're over the initial OhMyGodWe'reInTheSky feeling, you're served food and drinks while you take in the view! Doesn't it sound amazing?

The Sky Dining team agreed to take us on a Snacks In The Sky lift, which happens at 5pm, just in time for sundowners! The lift is 30 minutes long (which doesn't sound like a lot, but time seems to slow down when you're in the air, drinking in every moment). They also offer a breakfast lift (45 mins), a lunch lift (60 mins) and a three course dinner lift (90 mins). At the moment, Sky Dining is situated at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, but it moves all over the country (you can check its current location here).

We arrived a little early and were greeted with a complimentary welcome drink at the Indaba bar, overlooking a lake with an abundance of colourful bird life. We filled in our indemnity forms and admired the Dinner In the Sky coffee table book, with photos of all the incredible places Sky Dining has happened all over the world. With more than 40 countries participating, you can dine in the air overlooking the Eiffel Tower, the London Bridge, and thousands of other amazing views and events (Shakira concert, anyone?)!

Once we'd finished our drinks, we were escorted to the red carpet by our super friendly host (who kept saying "who's ready to get high?!"), from where we were allocated seats and began the very thorough process of being strapped in. The straps are super secure, so that you're all but immobile except for your arms and legs. I felt quite safe (and immensely glad that my drink was within reach of my arms). Being a bit of a daredevil, I was super chuffed to find that the seats rotate, so that once you're strapped in, you're free to turn 90 degrees in each direction, letting your feet dangle (and possibly yelling "weeeeeeeeeeeee!" to the utter horror of the terrified old man next to you. Oops).

Our hosts and barmen were quite lovely and happy to take photos of us while pouring us drinks from the bar. Another highlight (did you see what I did there?) is that the table has a pretty awesome sound system that plays music throughout the lift. With my body strapped securely to the chair, I had little leeway for dancing, so I spent 30 mins kicking my feet in time to the music and singing along to the chorus (again, to the horror of the man sitting next to me. Sorry dude).

Once the novelty of yelling "WEEEEEEEE" and spinning on my chair wore off, I turned to the food. The snacks lift includes a basket of German sausages, crumbed chicken strips and samoosas, served with sweet chilli sauce and mustard (the website mentions mini caprese skewers with basil pesto, but sadly we didn't get any of those). The middle of the table is stocked with two cash bars, so that you can order drinks while you fly. Be warned though, drinks are more expensive in the sky. Makes sense (Inflation. Or something).

The view from the top was absolutely gorgeous, and it felt like we could see FOREVER. Unfortunately the sun went behind the clouds, so we didn't quite get to see it set, but it was still a magnificent time of the day to be in the air! Halfway through the lift, the guys on the ground (wearing super cute hot-pink tees) rotate the table by 180 degrees so that you get to see the view from both sides - awesome if, like me, you have FOMO and are convinced that the view in the other direction is better (it's not, but I still like to know that).

If you love a great view, you have to try this, at least once! The food is ridiculously average and the experience isn't cheap, but let's be honest: it's a table.in.the.sky. Dining just doesn't get cooler than this. You can get more info on the Sky Events page, or details of the different lifts on the Indaba Hotel Sky Dining Page. Thanks bunches to Hillary from Sky Events for this brilliant experience!