South Africa is fantastic gliding country. The hot, sunny, Highveld produces great thermals in summer and the escarpment and Cape Mountains produce excellent gliding opportunities (usually, but not exclusively, in winter). All year there is great ridge soaring in the mountainous and coastal areas.
There are gliding clubs all over the country, and a number of private gliding operators. Here are some of the highlights:
At Plettenberg Bay, on the Garden Route, you may do a scenic glider flight which will take you over ocean to spot whales and dolphins.
If you are a qualified glider pilot, you may join a glider safari in Limpopo Province. Fly a Falke B25 motor glider for the duration of your safari. The itinerary can be tailor-made but, generally, one flies from game lodge to national park to nature reserve, enjoying Limpopo's excellent wildlife and other attractions.
If you're serious about gliding and want to set a few personal records the area around the Gariep Dam in Free State Province is excellent flying terrain. The thermals have supported many record flights and visiting pilots enjoy the excellent facilities, (some even bring their own gliders). This is also a great place to learn with dedicated instructors on-call
In the hot interior there are extraordinary thermals, and many paraglider and hang glider pilots have done record-breaking distance flights, particularly from the Northern Cape region. This area, however, doesn't have much in the way of relief - for that you need to head towards the coastal provinces, or Mpumalanga.
There's some breath-taking scenic flying around the Cape coastline. In Cape Town, you can launch off Lion's Head in the evening, literally flying into the sunset to land at one of the most popular beachfront pubs.
Further up the coast, near the Garden Route town of Wilderness, you can fly over the sea, often seeing dolphins and whales! Then there are the high-lying areas of the Western and Eastern Cape, the Drakensberg and Mpumalanga, which offer spectacular mountain scenery.
There is even reasonable flying on the outskirts of Johannesburg near Hartbeespoort Dam. Here you can take a cable car to the launch site and fly under the controlled air space of a number of medium-sized airfields and Johannesburg International.
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