paragliding in pakistan
"Orakzai Gliding Gala" A Beautiful Paragliding Event was organized by the Orakzai Scouts at the beautiful Mountain range, Samana Top, Sitting at almost 2000m, situated in the Hangu Distt, Orakzai Agency of KPK, Pakistan.
This is a beautiful tribal region of Pakistan where Paragliding is not a known activity to many. Hence, Orakzai Scouts invited Paragliding Pilots from around Pakistan to come fly and participate in an accuracy landing and XC long distance flight competition marking and celebrating "Pakistan Independence Day" 14th August 2023 and to put up a show for the Beautiful people here.
Food Stalls, musical performances and fireworks added more flavor to the event.
Paragliding Pilots from north to south of Pakistan flocked in to fly at Samana. for most including me, this was a new place to fly from and that is something every adventure freak wants, someplace new, beautiful and flyable. So it was....
Locals made it to Samana in big numbers despite the fact that road climbing to the Samana top is under construction and not good for small cars, People still made it on motorcycles, cars, vans, suvs and whatever available to make it to the Samana top to witness & enjoy this beautiful Mela/ Event organized specially for them.
11th -14th of August were the suggested dates for "Orakzai Gliding Gala"
As i live in Islamabad and have a full time job, i knew i couldn't make it to Samana on Friday as it was a work day for me. So i decided to leave Islamabad on Friday Nights and so we did. Upon covering some distance Past Hakla interchange, M-14 my car broke down. I had clocked 253,000 kms on this car since 2018 and this was the first time it gave up and it deserved some care, i got it on a tow truck, directed to workshop and returned Islamabad as i was too tired after a long day at work and sad car episode.
However, Next day Sana PG pilot from Karachi was also in Islamabad after flying in Muzaffarabad, Ajk. She also wanted to go fly in Samana so we got together and set off for the journey by 12 noon on my mums car. it was Saturday and we had sort of already missed 2 days of event but we still wanted to go.
We Reached Kohat Army Mess, it was a nice place and we were fed well and then immediately escorted to the Samana Top. We reached Samana in the dusk of the evening however we were glad to be there, met happy pilots, enjoyed dinner and a musical night.
Next morning was the day we had been dreaming of, the day of flying..i woke up early, the sky’s were clear. I had already spent a couple of days on windys and windfinder checking out the flying conditions at samana and this day was the best amongst all as per my findings and assessment, so i was v much looking forward to a beautiful day.
Kashif bhai and i were the first ones to reach the takeoff site and enjoy the beautiful breeze and sun.
Slowly pilots started to arrive and in no time, everyone was present and energized on the ridge. Accuracy and XC teams were assembled and in no time, the accuracy guys started taking off. Conditions were relatively strong and it was new terrain for pilots which was making it somewhat challenging and fun at the same time.
A couple of pilots who sank near the ridge sort of top landed/crash landed but walked out safe. A few Pilots also top landed on the ridge on purpose but they were not in my camera sight.
Clearly it was visible that pilots are having a ton of FUN.
I was participating in the XC and flew for good 2.5 hrs and still have the tendency and weather to fly more. Upon reaching near the landing area while i was descending i got a thermal and it took me to nearly 2000m back up from 1200 m's. i enjoyed that for some time and went back to land to complete the task. i landed some distance before the target spot but i was still v happy to have flown at a new place as the only thing matters to most of us is FLYING not WINNING.
upon landing, the Orakzai Scouts organizers team members gave us water and juice & escorted us back to the Samana top. In the Evening we were invited to a Tea Party and it was really well done. I love Tea !
In the night there was again a musical show but this time it was 13th of August and at 12:01AM fireworks started to Celebrate 14th Aug, the Independence Day of Pakistan. The environment became more fun and happening. it was too cloudy and over casted because of which the fireworks were not v much visible but still it was awesome moment as thousands of locals and the pilots were enjoying a great night.
Next Morning, it was v over casted and it had started to rain so we were quickly handed over the Awards and Gifts. However, we couldn’t fly that day and had to return to Islamabad.
It was an awesome event and the organizers did a wonderful job managing the event and looking after us. I hope the locals had fun coz we certainly did.
May tourism keep flourishing in our Beautiful Pakistan and people keep coming to visit our beautiful valleys and mountains. Ameen!
21 окт 2024
