Our department at work doesn’t get to go on outings too often, but when we do, the rest of the company is left in a jealous rage when they find out what we got up to. This time, I suggested and got tasked with organizing the team outing – tandem paragliding. I knew we could jump off Lion’s Head in Cape Town, and our landing site had to be in close proximity to alcohol – La Med in Clifton fitted that bill perfectly. So I knew the start and end points, and just needed to find someone to make the flight happen. After a few calls, we went with booking agents Cape Xtreme Adventure Tours.
We got to the Lion’s Head parking lot a little earlier than expected (thanks Rikki Taxis), so I calmed the mood by smoking several fags whilst waiting for the tandem paragliding pilots to rock up. They arrived on time, and we proceeded to walk up the mountain to the jump point. I’m not the healthiest dude around – let’s just say I won’t go to a gym if there isn’t an escalator to the entrance – so the trek was as pleasant as finding cat vomit in your shoe.
At the jump point, we got assigned to our pilots – I got the uber-cool Stephan, owner of Cape Town Tandem Paragliding, who explained the procedure to me and harnessed me up. Luckily I had a harness that didn’t squish my sugar lumps, so that was all good. We laid out the paraglider wing, and before I knew it, I was fastened in front of Stephan, the paraglider was airborne, and my feet had left solid ground.
I’m terrible at describing things and emotions, but the flight was absolutely phenomenal – Stephan piloted us up and around the mountainside, then zipped back towards the sea, and at places the paraglider just floated there, giving me a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains, city suburbs, and the vast sea and gathering clouds ahead.
It was so quiet and peaceful up there that I didn’t want to come down. But we had to descend, and after a few spiral drives, we touched down softly on the grassy pitch next to the bar. Even though we had been up for a while, it seemed so short, and the moment we landed, I wanted to do it again. And I will…soon.
Big thanks to Guillaume at Cape Xtreme Adventure Tours and Stephan at Cape Town Tandem Paragliding for making this an awesome and memorable experience :-D
[Photos by D. Campbell]
9 replies on “Flying High: Prawn1 Goes Tandem Paragliding”
Damn… thats wicked, Im jealous! Here in Joburg, the highest point we can jump from is probably a mine dump, or probably the vodacom(drug dealer) tower, both unsafe and unlikely.
Well I’m jealous.
It was pretty awesome and very relaxing. Lucy’s told me about a paragliding tour in the Drakensberg mountains that is supposed to last up to 45 minutes. How cool is that?
Dude – I’m jealous! I’ve gotta try that too – have you been sky-diving? Now there’s an absolute thrill I can most DEFINITELY recommend :-)
Deems, did you do tandem skydiving or was is a static line?
I haven’t been skydiving but it’s on the list right after doing the world’s highest commercial bungee jump from the Bloukrans Bridge – http://www.faceadrenalin.com/bloukransbridge.asp
We went (spur of the moment) tandem-skydiving at Plettenberg Bay – 30 second free-fall from 10000 ft! I’ve not done static-line parachuting yet but I somehow doubt it will be the same thrill – although you’re guiding yourself to the drop-zone.
On the way up to Knysna we stopped and did Gouritz-River bridge swing since my bro had not been before – I had been 10 years before that back in 1996.
I would still like to do Bloukrans as well as Vic falls :D
Brilliant! Did the whole team go? Would love to have seen Rodrik’s face. I kept trying to tell people back there that the best team building comes with the sense of life threatening danger. Totally agree with Deems. Skydiving rocks. Did you look up at the chute? For me, the ground was no worries at all… But when I looked up and saw that thin layer was all that was holding me up, that was pretty freaking nerve wracking.
Oh, and in addition to the bloukrans and skydiving, go to Mpumalanga and do the “big swing”. Wicked 40 metre freefall into a valley. Totally terrifying. :D
Aweh me breddah Tim! :-D
Just the training team went. Rodrik was surprisingly calm, but Dumisani had the clammiest hands ever. He also landed on his ass. That was well funny.
looks awesome dude.. you gotta try out tandem Sky diving! its awesome.