For Africa» Aviation

PARAGLIDING & HANG GLIDING

Editor — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:24:25 +0000

In order to have a good non-powered flight, you need one of two things – thermals or mountains with good ridge lift – and southern Africa has both. The coastal areas and escarpment, generally, have excellent ridge soaring, while the flatter interior produces fantastic thermals on hot summer days.

Lions Head flight

©South African Tourism

There are loads of good launch sites, but here are a few of the classics. Lions Head, in Cape Town, is a convenient, immensely scenic launch site. It’s a short walk up a good path to the launch, and the flight offers views over the city and the Western Seaboard beaches, while Table Mountain looms at your back. You land on a convenient grassy field next to a beachfront pub. Wilderness is another classic site, with fabulous ridge lift on the dunes facing the sea. You often see whales and dolphins from the air. Tandem flights are offered at both these sites.

Wilderness paragliding

©South African Tourism

The mountains of Porterville in the Western Cape offer truly spectacular flying. It’s a high take off with some good ridge lift, but you also get fabulous thermals from the flat valley below, so it’s a great cross-country site. The Drakensberg, particularly at Bulwer and Oliviershoek, is another great spot, and the Mpumalanga escarpment also offers some great flying. The dry Northern Cape town of Jan Kempdorp is a favourite winch launching destination, as the thermals are fantastic.

Obviously, there are loads more launch sites, and almost every hill and sand dune is a potential flying site. There are paragliding schools in most of the major cities and some smaller centres, and the South African Hang gliding and Paragliding Association (SAHPA) oversees all the admin-type stuff – licensing, registration, safety, etc.

Hang gliding in KwaZulu-Natal

©Silent Wings

South Africa is a great place to learn to fly as you could complete all your required flights in a relatively short time because of the fabulous weather and flying conditions. And the exchange rate means it’s quite a bit cheaper than learning in Europe or North America.

Sky Diving

Editor — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:48:24 +0000

Let’s face it, you can skydive anywhere there is a plane, a runway and a reasonable drop zone, so what makes South Africa special? Well – maybe the price, which is significantly lower than in Europe or North America, but more likely the weather and the scenery.

Gliding above the clouds with wing-suits

©Skydive Ceres

If you just want to try it out and get a photo for your desk or desktop, do a tandem jump. Most of the clubs offer tandem jumps but you may as well choose somewhere pretty so the best options are near Cape Town, where you can have your photograph taken while hurtling earthwards with a background of Table Mountain, or Plettenberg Bay, where you’ll have the lovely Robberg Peninsula as a backdrop. You could also do a standard solo first jump at most of the clubs, and some offer AFF (accelerated free fall) courses.

If you’re a serious skydiver, Skydive Ceres, (Western Province Sport Parachuting Club) near Cape Town is one of the more scenic and social of the skydiving clubs but, if you want to do some big formations, the Pretoria skydiving club is the best bet as they have big planes.

Fourways formation!

©Skydive Ceres

Skydive Ceres – Ailsa Burns
Info & Bookings: 021 462-5666 or 083 462-5666
Tandem bookings: 072 561 5782

Windsurfing & Kitesurfing in South Africa

Editor — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:33:33 +0000

All you need for windsurfing or kitesurfing is a nice stretch of water and some wind, and you’ll find that in dozens of places all along the coast. But – like anything – some places are just that little bit special, and Cape Town and the nearby West Coast town of Langebaan are the big leaders in the kite surfing industry.

Wavesailing a clean Scarborough wall

©windsurfingafrica.org

Bloubergstrand, on the opposite side of Table Bay from Cape Town, has some great windsurfing and kitesurfing with – best of all – the classic view of Table Mountain as a backdrop.

Catching the wind in Port Elizabeth

©Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism

Langebaan, which is situated on the edge of a huge lagoon, is just perfect. The mornings start out dead calm and wind-free so you can sleep late and then, when the wind picks up just before noon, you can head out onto the water. The town has a great kitesurfing operator and retail centre, and local guest houses are geared up for kite surfers, some even having gear drying areas in the rooms.

Port Elizabeth kiter

©Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism

There are windsurfing and kitesurfing schools in almost all the main coastal centres, so you can arrive in South Africa never having sailed and as a pretty proficient wind jockey.

For more information please see www.WindsurfingAfrica.org and www.KitesurfingAfrica.org.

Windfinder.com

Flying Adventures in Southern Africa

Editor — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:42:04 +0000

Aerobatic flying

If you’re into flying, you’ll find that – in South Africa – the sky’s the limit. That’s because we don’t offer rocket flights out into space, but that’s about all we don’t do.

South Africa is one of the few places in the world, where you can ride as a passenger in a supersonic military jet – either in Cape Town or near Sun City. There are hot air balloon trips near Johannesburg, near Hazyview in Mpumalanga, near Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo, in the desert in Namibia and – in summer only – in the Western Cape’s Winelands.

Hot air ballooning in Mpumalanga

There are scenic flights in most places along the coast – in either fixed wing planes, helicopters or microlights. For a real whirl, though, you could watch your stomach do flick-flacks from the seat of an aerobatic plane in a number of centres, including Cape Town and the Garden Route. Air transfers can be more than just transport – most game lodges have landing strips and flying in is one way to ensure you see your chosen destination from every possible angle. The Mozambique islands in the Bazaruto Archipelago also offer scenic transfers. One of the most flown over places in Africa has got to be Victoria Falls. You can do a helicopter flip or a microlight flight over the falls, which are absolutely spectacular from the air. The gliding in South Africa is great, with immense thermals in the warm, flat interior – particularly in summer – and good wave and ridge soaring near the coast. You could learn to glide at one of the many clubs, or just do a scenic trip in a glider. Bitterwasser in Namibia and Gariep Dam in the Free State are two awesome destinations where international glider pilots often spend the summer doing long cross country flights or setting personal records.

Hot air ballooning in the Free State

If you want to learn to fly, South Africa is the place to do it. With the favourable exchange rate, you could fly here (as a passenger in a Boeing), spend a month doing your PPL full time, have a week’s holiday on the beach or in the bush, and fly home and still spend less than you would on just the flying lessons in either Europe or North America. There are full time residential flying schools in Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth, both in the Eastern Cape, as well as more standard flying schools in most of the other major centres.

Quick links:

“Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned forever skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return”
Leonardo Da Vinci

For Africa» Aviation

PARAGLIDING & HANG GLIDING

RELATED LINKS FOR HANG GLIDERS & PARAGLIDERS:

Sky Diving

Windsurfing & Kitesurfing in South Africa

Flying Adventures in Southern Africa