High As A Kite

Most people will have never heard of Canyon De Chiamocha - think Grand Canyon but maybe just a tad less grand. Even so, driving up onto the one of the two massive ridges that run the length of the country gave us incredible views and more importantly we were finally away from the oppressive heat of the Colombian Caribbean coast.

We camped at some cabanas right on the lip of the canyon in a lovely little spot with views to die for and gorgeous sunsets. We met Jose & Marc, 2 French dudes on bikes, who we bumped into a few times as we all headed south.

Soon after we set up camp and got a brew on there was suddenly a dark shadow above us. Barely 20m up there was a tandem parapenter swooshing overhead. The next day we walked 5 minutes down the road to the take off point and watched Jose & Marcus take to the skies. I had a slightly dodgy stomach and we were enjoying the high altitude climate so we deferred a day.

Fortunately it was another beautiful morning, and we soon found ourselves running down a very very steep mountain before gently gliding away into the canyon. It was way more smooth and comfortable than I was expecting, and only mildly disconcerting that when you looked down you saw nothing but feet and valley floor! We cruised out to the middle of the canyon and caught a thermal off a small ridge. It was pretty small so the man in charge threw us into a tight spiral, and all of a sudden the smooth ride was over! We topped out at around 2,000m along with a couple of turkey vultures hitching the same lift.

We banked high above Elvis and rode the thermal along the main ridge to the national park buildings. Now we had plenty of height I asked for some tricks in the way down and nearly regretted it! He quickly threw us into tight figure of eight and the centrifugal force pushed us 45° to the side. Earlier I saw a solo glider do a repeated full somersaults over his chute, so I was a little nervous about what might come next but fortunately we just did a few more spins before touching down to a pretty soft landing.

It was a great early birthday present so thanks to family back home for making it happen.Read more