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African Adventure

Posted on March 05, 2014 in Dean Eldridge   

Once again I find myself in the eviable position of not only being able to escape the horrid British winter, but also being asked again to take my beloved paramotor to some exotic locations to film aerial footage for a Brazilian TV series called ‘Paradise Islands.’

Starting on the east of the African continent, so far we have worked our way through various archipelago’s along the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique and have now ventured out into the Indian Ocean, currently sailing a beautiful catamaran around the small islets to the north of Mauritius. Aerial activities so far have been a wonderful mix of mostly barefoot, beach take-off’s and strong ‘trade-wind’ flying, always having to be extremely cautious of the possibility of changeable conditions (storms) and the harsh reality of a possible water landing. Thankfully I’ve had access to relatively clean AvGas in the African countries as the local petrol there just cannot be trusted for any machine taking to the skies. My trusty TOP80 engined Zenith has so far not missed a beat and I keep my fingers firmly crossed that it stays this way. As always flying in these locations, I carry my GPS SPOT tracker, surface marker buoy, mask and snorkel, life jacket and a great new addition, a large capacity Powerfloat automatic inflation system for the paramotor which is very comfortable (and reassuring!) once fitted to the harness.

There was a bit of a compromise on equipment for this trip, I had to keep the weight to an absolute minimum hence the fitment of the TOP80 to my much traveled Parajet Zenith chassis, not a bad choice as the little engine is as bomb proof as any, and as I could only bring one wing I am extremely happy with the decision to have my Paramania GTR22 as a reliable, fast and safe way to ensure skywards activities and being super-stable for filming. As always there are plenty of admirers to the form and function of the delightful Parajet Zenith design and it continually reinorces my beliefs of it being the perfect traveling paramotor (every piece of my flying equipment including wing, spares, tools, bags etc fits into 2 suitcases..)

There have been some exceptional circumstances so far, each location having it’s own special appeal and it’s always so unique flying exotic islands but maybe the most memorable so far would be flying just before sunset, first chasing juvenile sharks over the shallow waters then climbing to over 3000 feet above the incredibly beautiful underwater ‘sand-scapes’ of the Bazaruto region and landing on the beach next to the disused ruin of a hotel where Bob Dylan once stayed in it’s hayday and composed the aptly named song ‘Mozambique.’

The next stop is the Seychelles in a few days where it’s hoped during our week there that I can fly right on the Equator over some delicious island sculptures and then we are off to Myanmar (former Burma) for some extreme, remote island hunting where definitely a paramotor has never ventured before..

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