Winelands Paragliding is an adventure tourism business focused on paragliding adventures and training. We offer mountain adventures, training packages and equipment sales and advice to the public. We are based in the Cape Winelands area of the Western Cape in South Africa with operations in Paarl, Wellington and Franschhoek. Winelands Paragliding is the oldest Paragliding School in the Cape Winelands and Boland area of the Western Cape.
Mias de Klerk who started the company in 2013 has almost 20 years of paragliding experience and more than 6000 flights. All our staff are passionate about what they do and receive continuous training to ensure we stay at the leading edge of our industry. Our activities are mainly in this geographical area where we have developed, established and continue to maintain many Paragliding sites and Free-flying activities alongside the Kaapse Buitepos Klub (KBK).
Mias de Klerk is a paragliding as well as powered paragliding instructor. Winelands Paragliding is also affiliated and registered with local tourism authorities like South African National Parks (SANPARKS), Cape Winelands tourism and Franschhoek Tourism. Our focus is to showcase the best paragliding has to offer and the only way to do so is to do it safely and responsibly.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
“Two or more people actively engaged in the pursuit of a definite purpose with a
positive mental attitude, constitute an unbeatable force” – Napoleon Hill
Owner and Instructor
Assistant
Manager
Winelands Paragliding maintain membership and affiliation with several important authorities and associations in the Cape Winelands. The varies bodies make us better at what we do!
South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SAHPA) promotes, protects and administers aviation sport and recreation in South Africa.
The Act provides for the establishment of a stand-alone authority mandated with controlling, promoting, regulating, supporting, developing, enforcing and continuously improving levels of safety and security throughout the civil aviation industry. SACAA is an agency of the Department of Transport (DoT).
We work closely with Table Mountain National Parks to ensure that we have a positive impact on tourism and a low impact on the environment.
The DLTA is responsible for the provision of progressive Destination Development and
Management Service (DDMS) for the municipality to successfully implement the demand
(marketing and promotion) and supply (development and transformation) needs of the
municipality’s local tourism economy
The Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve (CWBR), a non-profit company, was registered in 2007 with UNESCO as South Africa’s 5th biosphere reserve and covers 322 032 ha in the Western Cape Winelands.
Breath-taking scenery, warm hospitality, world-class cuisine, finest wines, idiosyncratic artists, and a small village atmosphere: These are the hallmarks of the beautiful Franschhoek Valley in the heart of the Cape Winelands.
Imagine a world where our natural environment is valued, not for what we can take from it but for where it can take us. Imagine humans can make a living from playing, protecting, studying and working with our natural environment. Imagine men and women preparing for and participating in the battles at sea – The Ocean Race, the mountains – Red Bull X-alps, the plains – Desert-Ultra and the rivers – Yukon 1000 instead of that of destruction and death. Imagine a society
with a sense of values, work ethic, respect and responsibility. Shall we wait for the opportunity to arrive or shall we endeavour to create the opportunity? Shall we not set a course with the end in mind?
History tells the stories of men and women who changed the world and the course of history by mastering the wisdom and knowledge of those who came before them and wielded it with great enthusiasm and fervor to create new societies, technologies and empires. (Silk Roads – Peter Francopan) In a world where leadership is struggling to keep abreast of the rate of change and our youth is educated and molded more by a (juvenile) artificial intelligence (Documentary: Social Dilemma) than age-old human wisdom, shall we not turn to the inspiration of human creativity, knowledge and healing? Shall we not endeavour to restore a connection with the natural world we live in?
“If we want kids to get excited about learning and commit to deeper study, they need to be motivated to learn and enjoy the process.” – Shernoff Whether it be social development, transportation, communication or medication the source of inspiration has ALWAYS been nature. The sciences, mathematics, biology and medicine are indeed a study of nature. I believe that outdoor adventure sports may just be the motivation and inspiration people need to reconnect and appreciate the earth.
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”- Pele Motivation is the key ingredient for turning an ideal into an achievement and for the continued pursuit of that ideal. Our vision will take a lifetime of continuous focused energy and can only be achieved if our motivation is larger than the challenge that lies ahead. This is not an idea, this is a calling to a purpose.
Winelands Paragliding’s Franschhoek paragliding site is located in Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve at the top of Franschhoek pass, also demarcated as Lambrechts road or the R45.
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