Namibia
The dunes on Namibia's Atlantic coast have unique conditions for paragliding. The sun shines every day, wind blows continuously from the sea, the long chain of sand dunes is free of obstacles.
Sky Club Austria paragliding school is the specialist for paragliding trips to Namibia since 1998. Our flight safari "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring" is an exclusive flight vacation of superlatives for paragliders. Nowhere else can a paraglider perfect take-off and landing better and faster than here.
The Sky Club Austria paragliding school is an officially licensed paragliding tour operator in Namibia and in 2020 became the first ARO for paragliding to be inspected and approved by the national aviation authority NCAA according to quality safety standards. Safety and freedom in ground handling & dune soaring are guaranteed.
The country Namibia
Politically, the country is stable, the accommodations are of European standard, the food is excellent, and the locals are friendly and helpful. Idyllic campsites, guest farms and exclusive lodges invite to trips and excursions into the interior. The untouched, vast country with antelopes, ostriches, rhinos and zebras makes every excursion an incomparable adventure.
The best playground on earth.
Along the B2 Road between Swakopmund and Walfishbay are the dunes of Longbeach. They are located in the Dorob National Park and are officially approved training areas for paragliders for the Sky Club Austria paragliding school. Walter Schrempf made the use of the dunes as a paragliding area possible in the 1990s in cooperation with the local nature conservation authorities. For paragliders they are the most beautiful playground in the world!
Safety and elegance
Course objective:
Perfect takeoff and landing
Detailed targets
- Reverse launch
- Sideways launch ("Cobra takeoff")*
- Stabilizing the canopy
- Vertical and diagonal dune climb
- Turning the paraglider over the vertical axis ("groundspin" over 180° to 360°)
- Launching up and stabilizing the turned paraglider over the trailing edge
- Shake out sand
- Slipping (sliding, surfing, kiting)
- Controlled take off
- efficient soaring
- Safe toplanding
- Safe slope landing
- Spot landing
*Sideways launching* is a launch technique developed by Walter Schrempf in Namibia. This technique is the basis for paragliding at the dune, but also allows a controlled pull-up of the paraglider in any slope launch area. The "sideways launch" has become known worldwide as „Cobra take off".
Image video "Groundhandling & Dünensoaring" in Namibia
Paragliding School Sky Club Austria
Paragliding Safari Namibia
"Groundhandling & Dünensoaring"
Groundhandling & Dune Soaring is our classic Namibia Safari and still the greatest paragliding adventure of today. Nowhere else can a paraglider pilot learn more about groundhandling and get such an intensive take-off, flight and landing training than in the Namiba paragliding safari. In addition, during the course of this safari you will experience wonderful mountains, savannahs, the sea and see many of Africa's wild animals. Accompanying persons are welcome, you will enjoy a wonderful vacation.
Intensive course groundhandling
The first days of the flight safari are an intensive course in ground handling. Even a good „reversed launcher" will find out that there is still a lot to learn in the sand and wind of Namibia.
Launching techniques like the Cobra, slope landing, slipping, groundspins, spot landing, ... Whatever someone wants to learn or improve, it is possible here! The conditions are perfect and we have a training concept that has been developed over many years and adapted to the special conditions in Namibia. The individual movements for ground handling have been thought through down to the smallest detail and are taught with confidence. In addition, we also devote a great deal of attention to the training of spot landing.
Quote from an enthusiastic course participant: "I have been to the most famous groundhandling courses in the world, this is by far the best" (Dr. H. Schreiber). "I learned more today than in the last 15 years" (Conny, paragliding instructor).
Step by step to success
Teaching and training is done carefully in the usual "small steps" policy of the Sky Club Austria flight school. Success in playing with the wind comes quickly and at the end of the safari, paragliding has a few more pilots who can take off elegantly and safely even in strong winds. Skilled pilots are in the air for many hours every day from the beginning.
General information
Our safari in the past winter 2020/21 was as always a wonderful, unimpaired paragliding safari. For those who want to fly every day, have the sun and joy of life even in covid times, Namibia is the right place to be!
- Only 1 hour time difference between Germany/Austria and Namibia
- Currency: Namib Dollar (1 Euro = approx. 17 N$), payment with South African Rand is possible
- Health: No vaccinations are required for desert areas. Covidtests are organized directly at the accommodation
- Visa: Not required when entering from Germany / Austria / Switzerland
- Road traffic: Left-hand traffic
- Language: English and Afrikaans, German is widely understood
- Medical care: Clinics and pharmacies in Swakopmund and Windhoek.
- Temperatures: Inland dry heat from 25 to 35°C, at the coast 20 to 25°C, in the evening additionally cool wind
- Means of payment: Credit cards are recommended, EC cards have to be activated for Namibia in advance by the bank, depending on the provider
- Mobile phone: Wifi almost everywhere, SIM cards of local network providers as well as tariffs for vacationers can easily be purchased in Swakopmund
- Telephone area code: 00264
Organized trips through Namibia
Our tours are comfortable self-drive tours with 2 persons per 4x4 vehicle. You will sleep in the roof tent* on well-kept campsites, but if you wish you can also stay in a guesthouses (surcharge from € 55.- single / € 90.- double per night) or in luxury rooms in the lodges (cost approx. € 100,- to 250,- per night). Breakfast and dinner will be served in the restaurant of the respective accommodation.
Our service includes:
- Organization of the trip
- 7 days comfortable 4x4 off-road vehicle for 2 persons each
- Fully comprehensive insurance of the vehicle without deductible
- Roof tent (extra for each person on request)
- Camping equipment for overnight stay in roof tent
Not included in the price:
Accommodation, permits for national parks, breakfast, dinner, fuel. Consumption for 8 days about € 300,-.
Participation requirement:
One person with international driving license per vehicle.
*Roof tents have proven themselves. They are equipped with comfortable mattresses, well ventilated and quickly set up or dismantled. In addition, one is flexible!
Trip to the south
Fascinating landscape, swimming, desert, animals, mountains, starry sky, campfire. In this round trip as a follow-up tour to the flight safari "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring" the adventure Africa is on the program.
The round trip south leads through the Khomashochland, Hardapregion, Tsarisberge and into the desert Namib. Stops are selected highlights such as Lake Oanob, one of the oldest guest farms in the Namib Naukluft Mountains, Solitaire, the incomparably beautiful Namib Rand Nature Park, Duwisib Castle, Sesriem and Sossusvlei. In Sesriem you will stay two nights. Back you go over the Spreetshoogte Pass, past the Gamsberg to Windhoek. The last night you will spend on a mission in a dreamlike location with a wonderful pool.
Trips to the north
A comfortable self-drive tour to the north. Enjoy Namibia's fascinating landscape, watch animals, eat excellent food, see and experience Namibia.
The route of the round trip north leads via Windhoek, Waterberg and Namutoni to the Ethosha National Park. The last night will be spent at a lodge. Route subject to change depending on water levels in Etosha.
Sesriem & Sossusvlei
With "Sesriem & Sossusvlei" we offer a grandiose excursion to the highest dunes in the world during the flight safari "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring". Starting from Swakopmund we drive via Kuisebcanyon and Solitair (where you can get the most famous apple pie) to Sesriem. There we will enjoy the play of light and colors of the oldest desert in the world from sunrise to sunset, visit the Sesriemcanyon and the Deadvlei. Overnight stay can be either on a campside with swimming pool, or comfortably in the lodge. Breakfast and dinner buffet with culinary Barbeque enjoy all together in the Sesriem Lodge. The arrival/return Swakopmund/Sesriem can be done either by car (4x4) or a fantastic sightseeing charter flight over Sossusvlei, diamond fields, shipwrecks of the Skelettoncoast, Conceptionbay and Lange Wand. Arrival/return by car and plane for the Sesriem trip can also be combined.
*1) Good and important to know: Our tour operator liability includes the entire organization of the trip, specifically also the "flight support during paragliding" up to € 1.5 million insurance coverage per participant. Excluded are pure financial losses.
Preview & Feedback
An additional preview and at the same time mental preparation we offer with the videos "Flugsafari Namibia" and "Die Arbeit macht der Wind" (from 2003) which shows our training program for groundhandling & dune soaring in Namibia. Comments and impressions from participants of Paragliding Safari Namibia can be found by browsing through the "Guestbook" of this homepage.
Accommodation
We stay in Swakopmund, a friendly colonial town on the Atlantic Ocean with beautiful houses, countless stores and excellent restaurants. Our base is a resort near the beach with reception, bar, restaurant and barbecue areas. The rooms are comfortable, lead into a beautiful, colorfully planted courtyard and are cleaned daily. The breakfast buffet is excellent. The town center is a few minutes walk away. At least one night we stay at a lodge, guestfarm, or - best equipped to do so - at one of the enchanting campsites in the desert under the starry sky in the interior.
Participation requirements & flight equipment
Participation requirements
Completed paragliding training with paragliding license, German A/B license, Swiss brevet or similar flight license from another country, team spirit and the ability to laugh, even if the sand grinds your teeth during ground handling training.
Flight equipment
For the initial strong wind training we provide modern groundhandling gliders. In addition, we have very good-natured, specially modified training gliders on site, with which the basics of groundhandling are particularly easy to learn.
As flight equipment for the paragliding safari "Grounghandling & Dune Soaring" you should bring your own modern flight equipment in any case. We strongly advise against using worn-out "dune bags", as both learning progress and safety suffer enormously from poor and old equipment. We would like to point out explicitly that the sand in Namibia does not harm the paraglider cloth, because the sand grain of the Namib is absolutely round!
Without exception, helmets are compulsory during the entire practice at the dune!
We will send a detailed equipment list with the booking confirmation.
Insurance, license and valid 2-year check
You must bring with you proof of valid paraglider liability insurance as the owner and user of a paraglider, your flight license and proof of a valid paraglider check (a sticker in the glider is sufficient).
Dates Paragliding Safari Namibia "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring"
Prices & Services
Paragliding safari Namibia
Prices & Services Flight Safari Namibia "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring"
| Services | Preise |
|---|---|
| |
| Paragliding safari Namibia "Groundhandling and dune soaring" with accommodation in single room | € 2.190,- |
| Paragliding safari Namibia "Groundhandling and dune soaring" with accommodation in double room | € 2.090,- |
| Extension week "Groundhandling and dune soaring" with single room (7 nights) | € 1.150,- |
| Extension week "Groundhandling and dune soaring" with double room (7 nights) | € 1.050,- |
| Accompanying person 1 week | € 590,- € 1.550,- € 2.190,- |
| Round trip 7 days (north or south) with one person per vehicle | € 1.090,- |
| Round trip 7 days (north or south) with 2 persons per vehicle | € 890,- |
| Travel cancellation insurance for travel participants (€ 3.000.- travel price) | Individual upon request |
| *1) Important to know: Our tour operator liability includes the entire organization of the trip, especially also the "flight support during paragliding" up to 1,5 million € insurance coverage per participant. Excluded from liability are pure financial losses, e.g. due to weather or other circumstances/causes for days that cannot be flown. | |
Early booking discount until 4 months before departure € 100,- (subject to minor price changes)
Arrival & Other
Arrival of all safaris
Currently we fly with Lufthansa/Eurowings, it is the only airline that offers direct flights. Flight duration is about 9 hours from Frankfurt.
Departure from Frankfurt is on Sunday evening, arrival in Windhoek International Airport Hosea Kutako on Monday morning. Return flight is on Saturday evening from Windhoek at approx. 20.00 o'clock, arrival in Frankfurt on Sunday morning at 5.35 o'clock.
Flight Frankfurt-Windhoek and return: we are happy to help you with the booking.
Flight Austria-Frankfurt-Windhoek and return: we are happy to help you with the booking.
Other costs: Can be paid locally in Namibdollar or Euro or transferred later by invoice from home.
- Private shuttle bus Windhoek-Swakopmund Airport € 90.-- one way, return € 140.-- per person (domestic flights Wdk-Wfb are currently not available).
- Fuel & vehicle cleaning € 45,-- per week
- For all travel offers, prices and services are subject to change without notice.
Additional excursions that we will gladly arrange for you upon request are...
Boat excursions to seal, flamingo and dolphin colonies € 50.- /person
Sightseeing flights, so-called Scenicflights in the evening with private airplanes from € 180.- /person
Registration and boobing
Registration should be made 2 months before the start of participation if possible. We confirm the course place and take over the desired reservations. Bookings up to 4 months before the start of the trip we reward with € 100,- early booking discount! You like to be spontaneous and can only decide at short notice? We will gladly note you and inform you about the last possible booking date.
With the confirmation of registration you will receive a detailed equipment list and further travel information.
Latest travel info
Please refer to the respective foreign office for the latest travel information regarding Corona.
Our safaris "Groundhandling & Dune Soaring Namibia" as well as the trips currently take place as planned.