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Paragliding Pokhara Nepal
on Saturday, October 13, 2007Where Eagles Dare…
Lake Phewa, Pokhara is a great place to relax post-trek, as I have done for a few days. “Seen it from the ground,” I thought to myself, this morning, “time for a different perspective!”I climbed up to the viewpoint at Sarangkot from where the cool lake beckoned below. I wanted to get closer. So I threw myself off the mountain… strapped into a harness, as part of a paraglider, with the pilot strapped in behind me, of course! Not that this did much to assuage the terror as I followed orders…”O.k., walk…now run…fast, off the edge…GO!” But, on cue, the lines tightened, the canopy billowed up and suddenly we were airborne, me like a cartoon character with my legs still frantically ‘running’ in midair. What a rush! What a sensation! For thirty minutes we floated high over Pokhara, catching the thermals and soaring up on them. After the shock of realising I was actually flying, there were a few panic-stricken seconds as I processed the fact that a webbing harness, a few strings and a flimsy piece of fabric were all that stopped me from free-falling hundreds of feet to the rice terraces below. Then I looked around me at the view up high and relaxed into the thrill. The mountains were playing hide and seek in the cloud again and they won: no big peaks on display today. But the foothills and glittering lake were enough for me. Maybe I’ll catch the big snowy guys next time…
[...] updates in your favorite feed reader just subscribe to our RSS feed. Happy TrekkingI wrote about paragliding in Pokhara Nepal last October. At the time I didn’t have a video camera with me, or even a camera while we [...]