Paragliding in Saudi (Yes, it’s true!)

As you might know, on our recent trip to Abha, my husband tried his hand at paragliding. While we initially tried to procure information about it, not much was available online. We just got lucky. So I have asked T to pen down his experience of paragliding and share with us how it felt. 

Here goes… 

 

If you are looking for some adventure, you should try paragliding from the highest peak of Saudi, Al Soudah.

While we (@acoupleofexplorers) were planning our trip for Abha, one thing that I did not want to miss was Paragliding. We marked the place that had this activity, thanks to Google. While we were returning from Rijal Alma’a, we decided to stop over at the peak of Soudah Mountain hoping that I would be able to paraglide. Although we reached at the correct location, I was disappointed to find only other tourists. There was no sign, whatsoever, of paragliding.

Keeping the disappointment aside and cursing the limited available information on the timings and details of such activities, we decided to enjoy the views of the valleys, the greenery, and the mountains. It was magnificent and helped lift my mood a little.

After a short while, suddenly, there was a lot of ruckus and I looked back and there were some people preparing themselves with their parachutes for paragliding. I was thrilled to see them! It seemed as if they just popped up from nowhere. I went closer to see what they were up to (I had never before seen such a sight ever!). I also wanted to know whether I was eligible to do this sport. Immediately, I went to the captain and asked him and he replied in the affirmative stating that “You can be the next one if you want”. It was SR 400 per person for a 15 minute fly (reasonable enough, eh?).

My heart started pounding faster and I started feeling nervous. I couldn’t decide whether to go ahead with it or not. Although, I knew that I was waiting for this since a long time and I always wanted to do something this adventurous, but I grew a tad nervous.

While I was still thinking about it, it was a wonderful thing to see the captain take along a student for paragliding (they also give courses for paragliding to earn a license, after which one can buy their own equipment and paraglide at will). It took around 15 min for them to land back at the same place where they took off. Their flight looked smooth and that gave me some confidence.

I went back to the captain and he asked me if I was ready, and I replied “YES”. Soon he took my details and asked me to sign the indemnity form. Then he got me a jacket and put the helmet over my head and I was strapped to the parachute and the captain. And there I was, all ready to fly! I asked the captain if I need to do anything. He told me I just need to run and not to stop till we are above the ground and nothing else. In no time, he asked me to run and I started running towards the cliff, I tried to run as fast as I could, however, the force from the parachute was so strong that I was kind of lifted up and felt like I was running in the air. I ran and ran like my life depended on it, and within no time I was pulled up in the air.

The first few seconds I did not know what was happening. I was looking up at the sky feeling a little queasy. Captain just told me to relax and be comfortable. As soon as I calmed down and looked around, the view was enthralling! It was windy and chilly up there. So quiet and calm, except the constant gushing of wind which gave me  jitters. I was literally flying like a bird and each and every thing on the ground looked so tiny. As we glided in the air soaring high over the mountains, I could see the shining sun, the fog, the mountains, the valley and the small towns strewn across the valley. The view was breathtaking. I praised the Almighty for creating such beautiful nature. After what seemed a very short period of time, it was time to land.

The captain veered the parachute towards the ground spiraling it to left and right, to and fro. It was quite fun and exciting, dropping so quickly. Very soon we landed and the captain dropped the parachute on the ground. For a second there, I sat still absorbing the unbelievable experience. It was totally worth it. Just incredible!

Unfortunately, there can be no set timing for this activity. It highly depends on the weather conditions. So it seems we just got lucky that day! However, you can try going in the late afternoon and pray that the weather is just right, and you might just get to do it.

Coordinates: 18.268057 42.367223

You can follow @flycomsa on Instagram for more details.