Airborne adventures abound
The hot interior of South Africa offers thermals on which many paragliders have made record-breaking distance flights, particularly in the northern Cape.
But heading to coastal provinces along the Garden Route offers truly scenic flights over land, then sea, where their airborne adventure is often accompanied by dolphins and whales.
Sights to see then change to spectacular mountains scenery if the paragliders soar over the western and eastern Cape, to Drakensberg and Mpumalanga.
The annual sardine migration along the south coast in June provides micro-light pilots with the spectacle of massive shoals chased by packs of sharks and dolphins - a sight rarely found anywhere else in the world.
Africa is also heaven for hot air ballooning. Its warm climate and topography create thermals that are ideal for ballooning, especially in Mpumalanga.
Floating over stunning landscape, including that of Kruger National Park, balloonists often see herds of elephants in the bush, migrating bison, cascading waterfalls and differences in terrain not visible from ground level.
Flights tend to leave in the morning before the earth heats up, and depending on wind speed and direction, a standard hour-long flight can travel as far as 35 km.
South Africa is also a haven for rocketing through the atmosphere another way - skydiving.
Jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 ft and free falling for 25-30 seconds at 200 km/h is a sheer rush of adrenaline, made all the more exhilarating as by the views of South Africa's landscape. One of the most stunning aerial views is over Cape Town, where parachutists can be photographed hurtling earthward with Table Mountain in the background.
For further information, please visit www.southafrica.net
(China Daily 04/24/2008 page19)
