What do you know about paragliding? One of the greatest air extreme sports around, paragliding is all about wind and location, an activity that requires a lot of attention to climatologic conditions and to physics regarding flight.

Do you imagine flying around in Wathba Hill? In the desert of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a mind-blowing location where paragliding is practiced, in this video we can see two paraglides drifting peacefully in the winds of Wathba.

This is a huge man-made hill, which was built up next to the Wathba horse racing track. It’s a neat site, as it can be flown pretty much year round and with winds from several directions.
The hill is privately owned but open to the public at this time. Please make sure you follow all rules set out for flying at this site, to ensure it remains open to the public for flying!

In order to get permission to fly, you need a site briefing, and you may never fly alone. There is an active group flying here regularly, so once you get in touch with them there will surely be plenty of opportunities to get up in the air at Wathba. Please contact them via their Facebook page “UAE Paragliding” to organize for a site briefing and to source further info about flying in the UAE in general.

Some of the takeoffs can be a bit tricky, the wind can pick up quickly, and there are various restrictions on flying activities, so please be wise and inform yourself.
Despite not using an engine, paraglider flights can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometers, though flights of one to two hours and covering some tens of kilometers are more the norm. By skillful exploitation of sources of lift, the pilot may gain height, often climbing to altitudes of a few thousand meters.

“Had a splendid winter afternoon flight with my friends at Al Wathba. I traded in my wing to record some videos of friends flying using the DJI Mavic Pro. It was truly a great day out with friends showcasing the freedom and serenity of paragliding”