Nepal 2015 - Paragliding to Pokhara

< 4 Oct - Dhampus to Sarangkot

Well, we didn't really do any trekking on the last trekking day.  It was much more fun than that!


Over our yummy Dal bat dinner the night before we had arranged the order that we would paraglide in. I made sure all three of us were in the first group. I was worried Toby might get cold feet if he waited.

That evening we had wandered back to our hotel and went up to the roof to try photographing the night sky. We got waylaid in Isy and Philippa's room for a bit, chatting away, and eventually left for the roof after promising to wake them at 6:15am to see the sunrise. We did get some good photos of the northern sky, trying all sorts of exposures and ISOs and the like.

At about 6 a.m. the owner's wee daughter woke up and the concrete floors meant her cries pretty much worked like an alarm. And then she trotted up and down the hallway singing "twinkle, twinkle little star" in Nepali.  I think Mike's knock on Isy and Philippa's door was superfluous to requirements.

But sure enough, sunrise from the roof was lovely.  I'm glad our Nepali 'Twinkle' alarm got us all up.

We had a good breakfast before the three non-paragliders (Bharat, Frances and Cathy) headed down the hill on foot. Fuel shortages meant that we were on foot too, because there was no fuel to run the jeep that would usually pick us up.  We walked back towards Jimmy's house about twenty minutes before heading up the hill behind his house. He owns the hillside paddock they launch from and rents it to several paragliding companies.

We sat in the shade on the 4WD road for a while before Jimmy got the word the pilots were on their way up. We walked up to the takeoff zone. We only waited there for a short time before jeeps turned up and disgorged pilots and some other tourists.

The manager promptly threw our careful plans out the window and pointed to five of us and said we were in the first group to fly. Fortunately it was me and Toby in the first group and Mike by himself with others from our group in the second wave. So long as Toby went first I was happy!

We geared up. Helmet. Harness. The gliders laid out behind us. My pilot was Pasha from Moscow, now living in Pokhara. He asked me my name and declared I was an angel. I declared he was a flirt. He asked if I'd done this before and I mentioned the time I tried it over twenty years ago in Queenstown. He said that was good because now I could relax this time.

Anyway, he attached me to his harness and we waited for a little wind. I felt it rise, saw the wind sock flutter and he told me to run. We took off running down the hill. I felt the resistance of the glider kick in and I threw myself forward to counteract it and we were off!

Pasha laughed and said the take off was perfect and I was a natural. We were soaring over Jimmy's house and then following the road into Sarangkot. The view was stunning. We met about another twenty paragliders riding a thermal and we rose higher, wheeling to the right.

I kicked my legs with glee and Pasha laughed again and said I was like a kid. A little later, he said the reason I liked flying so much was because I was an angel.

He's obviously an incorrigible flirt.

As we got to the top of the thermal, we flew out towards the lake and Pasha let me fly the glider. It was surprisingly responsive.

I spotted someone doing tight circles on descent and asked for that too. Pasha was only too happy to oblige. That made me whoop as my stomach went up and down like a rollercoaster.

We came down to land and I ended up ankle deep in muddy sludge. But it was easy. As we took my last photo, Kim landed next to us and her lines from her glider draped gracefully over us. Oops.

I waited for Toby to land. I watched one man lose his breakfast from about 30m height. Not pretty. Then I spotted Toby coming in. But I couldn't get my camera ready in time. But I won't forget the huge grin on his face for a long time. He loved it!

Kim bought a drink for Toby - thanks Kim. We piled into the van for the trip back to the office. As we waited inside, Pasha came up and said to me that I was a natural, and I could be a solo pilot in about two weeks if I wanted to have lessons. Everyone else hooted and Isy said that was great but she'd not use me as the pilot though.

Toby was proud of me. Ha ha. Good!

We drove back to the office and waited for our photos then walked back to our hotel. I showered and then we went for lunch. Mike and the second cohort turned up not long after 1 p.m. Yay.

In the late afternoon, I went shopping with Isy and Philippa and convinced Mike to come with us. I looked and tried to offer advice as Aidan has taught me. "That colour looks great on you". Not sure I pulled it off.

Back to Paradise for drinks before dinner. Back to the hotel before Paradise again for dinner. Yummy dinner with dancing maidens on stage. Then Toby and I headed home.

Eventually Mike got home. We saw video evidence of him dancing on stage with the maidens. Toby was embarrassed.  Mike was sheepish.

6-7 Oct - Pokhara to Kathmandu >