Last Christmas I went on vacation in Manali (Himachal) with my friends. One of the adventure we planned for the trip was Paragliding and we all were excited about it. By googling, we found out that Paragliding could be done in Solang Valley of Manali.
After reaching Manali, we enquired about the paragliding packages in Solang Valley. Most of the tour agents offered us 3 packages Short, Fly, Mediaum Fly and High fly. While roaming into Manali market, we noticed a tour agency which was offering paragliding in comaprtive cheaper rates. We talked to sales guy of that agency and he told us that they do offer pragliding in Naggar Village (which is 20 kms away from Manali). After having talk with him, we found it to be excited (though we were not sure, how would it be as we hven't heard of it before but we thought of giving it a try). Finally we gave him advance payment. He asked us to reach a particular destination (Heritage Hotel) which was 16 km from the Manali, from where their guys were supposed to pick us.
After half an hour we reached the Heritage hotel where one guy was waiting for us. We parked our car there and we sit in the Jeep which that guy was driving. REAL ADVENTURE starts from here.
Next 4 km was a mountain road with blind curves and had a road space only for a single Car/jeep. That guy started the Jeep and he was driving on that ride like he is running a ferrari on that road . We asked him that Jeep has Brake, you can apply them, he answered that if he would apply break then how would the jeep drive -:). Moreover, after half of our drive, we knew that the jeep do not have power steering. The experince in this 4 km drive was hilarious and full of adventure :). Finally we reached a point from where we have to trek to a top of mountain from where our glides were suppose to take off. Ohhh My GOD, that was again a surprise for us... we had to treck for around 2 kms. to reach at peak of the hill. No problem as we all like the trekking .. we started treking and reached on top in around 25 mins.
We were around 2500ft above from the ground and the view was fantastic from there. We had a rest there for some time as we were tired of the trekking. After some time the guys were ready with the glide and I was the first one to start. The pilot prepared me for the drive (helmet and glide dress which was tied with the glides), then Finally it was time to take off. We (me and my pilot) have to run for few distance and then jump from the hill.
"I ran slowly against the wind and suddenly, i felt an elevating force. In an instant, my feet were no longer touching the ground and i went into gentle decent.... The act of flying gives one sensations that are extraordinary and absolutely indescribable"
I was roaming in air around 2500 ft above from the ground. The surrounding hills and ground looks amazing from the top. After around 10-12 mins we landed in fields and this whole experience was amazing.
After a day, we went to Solang Valley for sight seeing. We saw the guys doing paragliding there. We didn't like it as the take off height was so short and the duration was only for couple of minutes. For us it was like swimming in a pond while we already swim in the sea :-)
Guys, if you want to do real paragliding, then you should go for this one.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Paragliding in Manali
Posted by Vishnu Agrawal at 9:06 PM
Labels: Paragliding, travel
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Online Bus Ticket Booking. Manali is administratively a part of the kullu district, with population of approx. 30,000. The small town was the beginning of an ancient trade route to ladakh and, from there, over the karakoram pass on to yarkand and khotan in the tarim basin.
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