Fly Site- Sarangkot, Pokhara, Nepal

Mid-air selfie.

ParaglidingEarth Description Link
Blue Sky Paragliding Link

Perhaps the best way to introduce Sarangot to a visiting solo pilot is with a cliché: here you'll find the good, the bad and the ugly. The good here is truly great, though I'll confess it took me a day or two to see past the bad and enjoy myself. I'll forgo going in to detail here about logistics, meteorology, or routes as I sometimes do because many others already have: simply Google “Paragliding Nepal” or “Sarangkot” to find a plethora of information. Here it is my aim to help you make the decision, “Is this the kind of place I'd like to visit for paragliding?” Speaking for myself, I learned more, set more personal records, and met more new friends here in a month than I would have almost anywhere else. Highlights included taking a three-day SIV course and also making a successful circuit of The Green Wall, a relatively easy XC loop of about 35 km that begins and ends at Sarangkot. There may be a few issues on the ground with Sarangkot, but once up in the air all is well!

En route to one of three landing zones spaced conveniently along the edge of Phewa Tal.

The Good: The setting is spectacular: as a backdrop for some of the most consistent and friendliest flying conditions anywhere in the world are a jaw-dropping six-thousand meters of rock and ice to the North, and Phewa Tal to the South, a large lake well-situated for those aspiring to practice acro and SIV. The geography and climate inspires XC routes limited only by the imagination, and pilots regularly achieve 100 km triangle flights from here in peak flying season (January-March). One can learn from some of the best pilots in the world who visit often for extended periods, and a regular community of both local and ex-pat pilots exists to welcome anyone who is serious and respectful about flying here. There is something for every level of ambition from ridge-soaring to regularly scheduled SIV courses to XC expeditions.

Evening briefing for SIV course with David Arrufat of Blue Sky Paragliding.

If you're looking for a place to start making sense of the scene make your way to the North Lakeside area of Pokhara. Here you'll find several of the more long-established paragliding booking offices including Blue Sky, Frontiers, and Sunrise. Sunrise sells a fold-up map with various XC routes and other useful information for flying in the area. Pop in to one of the the offices and if someone has a moment they should be able to line you out. In this area also it is possible to share taxi or jeep rides up to launch at Sarangkot between the hours of approximately 9:00 am and 12:00 pm- just look for anyone wandering around with an over-sized backpack. (The time of day may vary some with season.) Outside of these hours you may have some difficulty in finding other pilots to share costs with. The ride is approximately 25 minutes and about 700 rupees ($7.00 U.S.).

There are also several hiking routes up to Sarangkot, which I personally made regular use of! Hiking time would be about 1.5 to 3.0 hours. The trail beginning in Khapaudi just outside of Pokhara is my favorite one. Follow the shore of Phewa Tal headed out of North Lakeside, and after 2 km look for for the turn-off with the sign that says “This Way to Sarangot” with an arrow. After appx 0.75 km there is a turnoff on to a trail up in to the brush. If you can find this, the way is obvious from here, it's all up! It is not well marked but is well-trodden.

Be prepared to mobbed by people demanding to help fold your wing, or give one chocolate, or one rupee, one pen, etc.  Obviously most Nepalis find such behavior distasteful so don't let such pestering leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.  Disarm them with your amazing charm and talent, like my ability to juggle for three seconds!

The Bad: Perhaps nowhere else will you find a place where the sport of paragliding has been so thoroughly commercialized and overexploited. No less than twenty businesses operate to take tourists on tandem flights, and rumor had it that twenty more had applied for permits for the following year. At the main launch and in the nearby house thermal you should be comfortable with the idea of flying in a gaggle. Same rules apply here as anywhere else: circle in the same direction as everyone else, and always, always be scanning for traffic in 360 degrees.

Upon my first visit to the main launch area at Sarangkot I watched slack-jawed as I witnessed the kind of missteps and trespasses occur every fifteen minutes that would go down in history for bad launch juju nearly anywhere else. It as if all the pilots crowding their way to the front thought they were in a mosh pit... Before getting your equipment out the first time I recommend just observing take-offs at launch for at least an hour to see what sort of crowd you'll be flying with. See my earlier entry about Pokhara for a longer rant, but let it be said that one should proceed with extra caution to guard themselves against actions of other pilots here, particularly in your first days. I had never flown in real crowds before coming here and it took me a few days to get used to the idea of starting out in a gaggle. In summary, you will not be the first visitor to have discovered this flying Shangri-La.

On Cloud Ten- one step above Cloud Nine.

The Ugly: The amazing flying here appears to cultivate a level of peril in equal proportion. There are various unattractive aspects of flying here that should not be overlooked, though nor should they deter anyone from the idea of coming to this great place.

Reports of injuries, fatalities, and near-misses were spoken of a bit too regularly for my comfort around Sarangkot. Perhaps this is merely a result of the large number of people who fly here, but in general I found an attitude towards safety a bit more casual than I have witnessed in other renowned flying areas of the world, of which I have visited several. Bottom line: don't let it rub off on you.

When I visited during February and March 2014, a commission of local aviation and free-flight officials that may or may not be a sort of mafia had just elected to totally prohibit all beginner pilot classes. Perhaps this is an attempt to mandate better safety by removing less-experienced pilots from the crowds, or perhaps it is part of an effort to stifle potential future competition for already-employed tandem pilots.

If you dare step outside your hotel on the day of Holi in mid-March, be prepared to be assaulted with color...

There is officially a fee of approximately $50 U.S. that is to be paid for your permit to fly in Nepal to the C.A.A.N. (Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal), to be renewed every two weeks. That comes out to around $1200 per year if one were to maintain their permit in Nepal year-round, an impressive extortion compared to my yearly $75 USHPA registration back home in the US. There are several uniformed officials manning the launch area as well as one checkpoint on the road up who are said to occasionally check permits, though I never met anyone who had it happen to them. I recommend acquiring your permit initially when you arrive, carrying it with you, and I'll leave the decision up to you if you think it's necessary to renew it should your flying plans last longer than two weeks. Acquiring your permit requires that you show the following:

1. Proof of membership in the national paragliding organization of your country.
2. Proof of insurance covering paragliding activities.
3. Your passport, as well as one extra passport-sized photo (easily acquired in Pokhara).

I got my permit from the Blue Sky office in North Lakeside, though I believe almost any paragliding office can help you with this process.

I hope that the future is bright for this place and to return someday soon!

Head to the landing zone at the far West side of the lake to practice your ground handling, truly a great spot!