We drive north to Gudauri, the next paragliding hotspot. The drive is long, so we stop at Ananuri (historical fortress with two churches) for a night. The spot was recommended to us by Maarten, a pilot from South Africa. We got the contact from Kira, who met him before on her trip here in Georgia. At this spot we also meet Kurt. The Dutchman is travelling with a rather old campervan, is a photographer and has actually been travelling the world for 20 years.
Paragliding Paradise Gudauri?
The next day we arrive in another flying paradise. Except that today it's insanely foggy. Even the road up to the actual ski resort, which lies just before the Russian border and is used by endless trucks, was barely visible in the fog. We fight our way past a ruin and stop at the launch site. We see: nothing. It is so thick that after 2m we are looking into grey walls. And yet, after half an hour, a van pulls up next to us: Maarten has found us! He invites us to his place (he is looking after a flat for a friend) and we gladly accept for a warm shower the next day. Then we explore the area with him, get to know other pilots and drive from one take off to the next.
But today the wind is not right. It is blowing way too strong. Maarten sets off on the same day, he wants to go to Shovi to a festival. We also have tickets for the Rokva Festival and arrange to meet him next weekend.
Meeting people
The most popular take-off spot is endlessly busy. This is Georgia's Arab tourism hot spot. One tandem flies after the other, everything seems chaotic and not very well regulated. There are often arguments and disputes between the pilots and the various agencies.
But we also get to know very nice people. There is Oto, a young, incredibly likeable Georgian, a tandem pilot our age who drives a VW T3 himself and whose girlfriend is a vegan, Richard and Charlotte, a couple from the Netherlands who have been travelling the world on and off in their Defender for 12 years, and Tuli, also from the Netherlands, who started flying 3 years ago (in Interlaken) and now already offers tandem flights here. She is of course very popular, because especially Muslim women don't want to or are not allowed or able to fly tandem together with a man. We spend a few days/nights at the upper launch site "Bidara". There is no one else here.
Bianca writes, Luca flies
Our sleeping place and take off is at 2'400 m above sea level. That means we enjoy a wonderful view during the day (when we are not in the clouds) and very cold temperatures at night. Our heating works well even at this altitude (spoiler: it still works, we don't worry about it yet, everything is still good...). Bianca devotes herself to her master's thesis and I go flying.
I am alone, because the dozens of tandem pilots all take off from the lower launch site. So I don't dare to do much on the first flight and land on the meadow after five minutes. On the second day, the wind is a bit stronger and I am a bit more courageous. So I can climb the green rocky ridge up to 3'000 meters and look over the Caucasus in the midst of eagles. At the Bidara crest I almost always fly alone, because it is too inconvenient for the tandem industry to take off from here due to the bumpy road. This is very convenient for me, because the air traffic of the tandems is sometimes a bit chaotic.
On the third day or so, we visit the tandem pilot Tuli, for a shower, a shared beer and fries and to rescue a bird. We park in front of her flat and Bianca can use it for work the next day. In the evening we meet more Dutch people, and tandem pilots from Colombia, and eventually all end up at Tuli's tiny one-room flat. Eleven of us squeeze around the small coffee table, drink beer and wine and eat borscht. It feels like a student party, even though the average age is much higher. But it's at least as much fun as it used to be. And even then, the best seats at the party were in the kitchen, that hasn't changed.
Festival experience in Shovi (Racha)
The next day we hit the road for the Rokva Festival. Actually, it would be quite close, but South Ossetia lies in between. This mountainous terrain south of the Great Caucasus is de facto independent, but its sovereignty is hardly recognised. In 2008, the "Caucasus War" broke out after Russia recognised the area's independence. Many had to flee and until today it is impossible for them to return. And for us it is impossible to drive through. So all the way down and then back up the Racha-Valley.
That takes time, but we have to go back to Tbilisi anyway to get an aluminium box that was fabricated for us. It will be used to store our paragliders in the future. Our bag on the roof was unfortunately only waterproof from the inside after a few weeks. In other words, it loved to absorb the rain, but simply didn't release it any more.
After arriving in Shovi 1-2 days later, we meet Maarten and Kurt again and also get to know Mirja. She is a traveller from Germany, also with her campervan, who is actually looking for a new "homebase" and may have found it here in Georgia. Maarten has scouted the "House of Gods"... but it's directly on the hill above the festival area. In itself cool, but unfortunately we have to admit during the sound checks that we are too old for this proximity and volume and kind of music. So we move about 10 minutes away into the forest to at least sleep away from the bass. Because the programme here starts on Friday at 16:00 and goes on until Monday. Every day there are breaks of maybe 2 hours between the last DJ set at noon and the first band in the afternoon.
We enjoy the bands and wonder about the food and beer prices that change every day. They rise and fall and at some point we give up trying to understand that. We dance, laugh, drink, meet new people, enjoy the weather and the party atmosphere. When the last guests leave after three days, we stay in our forest meadow, Kurt gets his projector out of the van and we cook together to watch the film "24 hours Party People" in the self-built open-air cinema.
Tragic accident in Gudauri
Two days after we left Gudauri we received a message from Tuli: A tandem pilot with a passenger had an accident and the rescue helicopter crashed into the mountainside. One of the helicopter's rotors flew off during the mission. Just like that. The entire crew of 8 people was killed... Maarten shows us a video of the incident, which is circulating on Facebook. At first we can't believe what we are seeing, so surreal and incomprehensible are the images in front of our eyes. With every minute more details are spread and the disaster is huge. Many of the people we met a few days ago were there live and had to witness everything... Our condolences go out to all those affected, even if we don't have the words to express them...
The Minister of the Interior of Georgia announces on the same day at the accident site that paragliding will be temporarily suspended. In the future, either stricter regulations are found or paragliding is banned completely. It is still hard for us to grasp what happened. We are at the festival in Shovi right now and actually want to celebrate, but somehow it feels weird, of course...
The onward journey
One day after the festival is over, we also leave. We, that's us two, of course, but Maarten and Kurt are also with us. Kurt has his third flat tyre in a week and no spare wheel left. That's why we all ride together towards Kutaisi to fill up his bike with Maarten's pump in between. Somewhere near the Shaori Reservoir the tyre gives up completely. So we spend the night here, pack Kurt into our bus the next day and drive with him to a spare tyre dealer... but more about that in the next post.
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Luca & bibi 🥰❤️
Oto 🥰🥰🎉🎉