Nepal’s Paragliding Industry

Paragliding is a perfect activity in Nepal. British Pilot Adam Charles Hill who first came to Nepal as a trekker, realized the possibility of paragliding in the perfect terrain of Nepal. 

Adam Charles Hill and his Nepali partner Biru Bomjan started Nepal’s first paragliding company “Sunrise Paragliding Company” in 1996.

Until 2007 there were only 4 paragliding companies operating n Nepal, but after the civil war ended, Nepal slowly stabilized, and between 2012 by 2021 there were 69 registered companies which had 356 para-pilots out of which 342 were Nepalis. 

In the 18th Asian Games held in Indonesia in 2018, Nepal won a silver medal in paragliding. It was included for the first time as a competing sport in 2018.  

The team consisted of Bijay Gautam, Bimal Adhikari, Sushil Gurung, Ukesh Gurung, and Bimal Thapa. Only falling 27 points behind Japan which had finished with 11,391 points while Nepal had 11,364 points, the host Indonesia won a bronze medal with 10,873 points. 

Between November 1-4, the 2018 Paragliding World Cup was organized in Bhirkot Municipality-5 by Babu Adventure Club and Nepal Air Sports Association.

The championship publicized the possibility of air sports in the country at the international level and would introduce the Aandhikhola Valley aviation zone. 

Babu Adventure has a paragliding school in Swarek Maidan, Bhirkot Municipality-5. In 2023, Princess Asma Al Thani of Qatar took paragliding training at Babu Adventure Internation School in Bhirkot. She completed a week of basic pilot training in paragliding.

There are growing paragliding opportunities after government-authorized locations in Pokhara, Dharan, Syangja, Tanahu, Bandipur, Palpa, Kathmandu, Surkhet, and Lalitpur for paragliding. 

Chitwan which is generally assumed to be a flat terrain in Nepal and is a popular tourist destination Natural World Heritage Site also has a growing paragliding industry. 

On April 14, 2023, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAN) permitted Himalaya Frontiers Paragliding Company for Commercial paragliding flights from Chowki Danda (altitude 1100 m. above sea level) and Kalibas (altitude 580 m. above sea level), Bharatpur Metropolitan City-29 as a recreational activity in Chitwan. 

The “Landing zone” is Trishuli River, Devghat Rural Municipality-5, Tanahun. The company has permission to keep up to 10 pilots in Chitwan. The company is also preparing to run a motorboat in Narayani and an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) on mountainous roads. The company invested Rs. 700 million in developing Chitwan as a paragliding destination and Chitwan can be the next most favored destination for paragliding. The flight rate has been fixed at Rs. 8,000 but for the promotional offer, it only charges Rs. 6,000. 45 people can fly daily.  It is a 20-30 minute flight and paragliders can go up to 5000 feet.  

Nepal still has a fair share of paragliding accidents. On March 3, 2019, a Romanian national Ebe Chisjer (40 yrs old) lost his life in a paragliding accident after he crashed into Phewa Lake in Pokhara. 

On March 4, 2019, two pilots suffered injuries in an accident in Machhapuchre Rural Municipality and Modi Rural Municipality. 

On March 5, 2019, Russian national Dmitril Stepanishin died on a solo flight in Pokhara making the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) stop solo paragliding in Sarangkot Hill, Pokhara. 

Nepal has a great advantage in the paragliding sector, however, the government needs to do a lot of work to make these sports mainstream and advertise adventures in Nepal through international vloggers and filmmakers. This will produce visual content that will bring wide-stream attention to Nepal.