South Africa has abundant "airspace" and some world class thermals, especially in the hot interior, where many paraglider and hang glider pilots have made record-breaking distance flights --particularly in the Northern Cape.
But of course this flat, hot area doesn't have much in the way of relief - for that you need to head for South Africa's coastal provinces, or Mpumalanga.
There's loads of excellent ridge soar and some fantastic scenic flying near the coast. In Cape Town, you can launch off Lion's Head in the evening, flying into the sunset, to land at one of the popular beachfront pubs.
Further up South Africa's coast, near the Garden Route town of Wilderness, you can fly over the sea, often seeing dolphins and whales. And, of course, the high-lying areas of the Western and Eastern Cape, the Drakensberg and Mpumalanga offer spectacular mountain scenery.
There is even reasonable flying about 80km from Johannesburg, near Hartbeespoort Dam, where you can fly under the controlled air space of a number of medium-sized airfields and Johannesburg International Airport.
Organisations and operators
Aero Club of South Africa is the national controlling body for all sport aviation in South Africa, with 13 chapters and some 4 500 members.
South African Power Flying Association is an independent association affiliated to the Aero Club of South Africa.
Microlight Association of South Africa represents some 3 000 pilots and 25% of all aircraft registered on the South African Civil Aircraft Register.
Microlight Aviation in SA is the unofficial website for South Africa's microlighters, with information, links and databases of clubs and pilots.
Microlighters.co.za - "the meeting place for microlighters" - is a comprehensive news and information source, with a chat forum.
BigSky Aviation Adventures offers unique, extreme aviation adventure flips and packages in a fleet of former and current warbirds, from biplanes of the 1930s to supersonic fighter jets.
Skydancers offers free microlight flights to individuals and companies for environmental or conservational purposes.
Garden Route Gliding, Plettenberg Bay
Fly with us in our quiet motorised gliders over the playground of the whales and dolphins in the protected waters of Plettenberg Bay.
Gariep Dam, Colesberg
We are situated halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg on the banks of the mighty Garip Dam. Weather conditions for gliding are amongst the best in the world. |
