Home » Nepal » Paraglyding around the Anapourna

Luckily the morning was clear, the sky was blue and the Annapurna was there for all to see. The jeep from the flight centre came to pick me up on time and we promptly got going. John, the Nepalese driver was also my instructor for both flights, he explained that because it was the low season they were normally close, he was just there to test the equipment and make sure it wasn’t rotting. Because of my pretty dark eyes (and my pretty green dollars) he would specially reopen for me today. I expressed my gratitude, he looked a bit embarrassed and finally told me that because he was close he had no license, so should anything happen I would not be covered by any insurance whatsoever. I pondered and decided to go for it anyway, couldn’t possibly miss such an opportunity.

Paraglyding around the Anapourna

Degrubenc
2006-08-12 15:04:29

Displayed times (last time: ) Rating 1/5

Rating: 1.00 out of 5.00. 1 members have rated this article

Luckily the morning was clear, the sky was blue and the Annapurna was there for all to see.

The jeep from the flight centre came to pick me up on time and we promptly got going.

John, the Nepalese driver was also my instructor for both flights, he explained that because it was the low season they were normally close, he was just there to test the equipment and make sure it wasn’t rotting.
Because of my pretty dark eyes (and my pretty green dollars) he would specially reopen for me today. I expressed my gratitude, he looked a bit embarrassed and finally told me that because he was close he had no license, so should anything happen I would not be covered by any insurance whatsoever. I pondered and decided to go for it anyway, couldn’t possibly miss such an opportunity.

He drove me to a high hill about 1 and a half hours from Pokhara and got the gear out from the jeep. As he set about untangling the wires and spreading the chute out he was kind enough to give me a thermos of Nepalese tea, complete with the milk and all the spices. I love the stuff and unfortunately for him can drink litters of it. 45 minutes later when he was finished there remained barely half a cup.

The view from the hill was magnificent, I could see a little bit of the lake and the damn but it was the endless rice fields that made it breathtaking. Wherever one looked it was green rice fields ready to be plugged with little dots of color moving about them in long lines.
The chute was finally ready, after a small breather john strapped me into the harness and very nearly castrated me. He then strapped himself in and pulled me close in front of him, a bit too tight for comfort but I thought that if he liked it I would let him have it.
We stood up and started running down the hill, it was very steep and windy and before we even covered 20 meters we were airborne.
It was an incredible experience, we floated along the rice fields, at times ...