Paragliding in Aguergour

Morocco's borders will reopened on the 7th of February. On the 4th of February, however, we receive the news that this will apply neither to the land nor to the sea borders. Only the airspace is open again. Our ferry would be on the 16th and we are not giving up yet. We want to fly during our last week here. We say goodbye to this wonderful project and the lovely people and drive to Aguergour. These are the "magic mountains" of Morocco. Surprisingly, we meet pilots here whom we already know from the south (the Frenchman Jean-Maroc and the Moroccan Boukous). The paragliding family here is very small, but all the more welcoming 🙂

On the first day, the wind shifts from northwest to east within 5 minutes and we cannot fly. It is far too dangerous, as we would now be in the lee. That's where you never want to be with a paraglider. But now we meet Mourad and Hicham, two brothers from Atlasparagliding. We go with them to Imlil the next day because it is the birthday of one of their friends. Well, we don't know that yet, and completely unplanned, we drive for two hours through the High Atlas, crash a birthday party and play football at the foot of Djebel Toubkal (the highest mountain in the country) with a few children from the village...

Bibi's Perception:

Aguergour is a bit like the Nid d'aigle: designed for paragliding, there's not much else to do. We have our first sunset flights here, which means we only land when the sun has almost disappeared. There are a lot of tandem pilots, and the sky is always full of paragliders at that time. The wind for take-off is incredibly strong. So strong that we probably wouldn't take off in Switzerland.Here it is normal, and the Moroccans have their paragliders fully under control. We are glad that Zouhair and Abdellah had shown us so much in Boulemane, so we slowly make it into the air here too.

Luca finds it easier to start. I am constantly struggling with my fear of hurting myself again. On top of that, there are young people from the village at the start and they probably just want to help me. Unfortunately we don't understand each other, the language barrier is too big. I want to be calm when I start, I want to be able to concentrate and be sure that everything is fine. I don't want to be surrounded by boys and teenagers playing with my lines and my glider, shouting something in their language, laughing, shouting MADAME all the time and wanting to push me out. It's too much for me. I pack up and leave.

I am disappointed in myself and in the situation, I am tired of always being the one who is afraid and I am tired of failing. It is a difficult day. I can throw my glider into the car with Mourad and then hike back to our bus. I can't remember how many times I thought about quitting that day... I went up again with Boukous the next day. He is incredibly funny and calm. His manner always reminds me of our old flying instructor Herbert. I can deal with that. And with him I also get into the air. Thanks again for that...

Luca's Aguergour experience:

My take-offs are also adventurous. Laying out the glider and sorting the lines is very demanding in the strong wind. I am glad for the help of the village boys, even though they are quite cheeky. One afternoon with a particularly strong wind, I don't dare take off and wait. Mohammed, a village boy, comes by and starts to get the glider ready for me. He asks me if he can play with it.

Since he seems to be good with the strong wind, I agree. Then his friend and also a shepherd, Zaccharia, comes around the corner. I guess he is eight years old and weighs maybe thirty kilos. My paraglider is designed for 70kg. Mohammed wants to hand over the paraglider to his friend, who immediately gets into the harness. I realise just in time what is happening and forbid it. The boys are so optimistic and brave, so I think I too can do some ground-handling (control the glider on the ground) in this strong wind. So I pull up the glider and within a second I am pulled five meters into the air while still turning around - the thermals over the launch site are super strong. I don't want to imagine what would have happened to the little Zaccharia...

Once in the air, it's an incredible feeling. Wind and thermals are as strong as I have ever experienced. Nevertheless, I feel safe because both are pretty constant. It becomes my longest flight so far. I fly around for almost three hours. I fly over lonely shepherds, remote mountain villages and get as far as over the magical mountains that attract me so much.