Three summits down, four to go

Four paragliders made the first legally sanctioned flight off Mount Kilimanjaro on Friday.

A team of 14, including The Times photographer Marianne Schwankhart, summited the majestic mountain on Friday after a five-day hike.

Permission to fly off the mountain was obtained by Linda Willemse, a tour operator, after 10 years of petitioning the Tanzanian government.

The plan was for eight single and two tandem paragliders to fly off the summit, while two of the team walked back down. But the weather and a small window of opportunity meant only four people took off. They waited more than three hours for the right conditions.

Schwankhart, who flew in tandem with top glider Pierre Carter, said yesterday: ''Unfortunately, the wind was coming up from the north and we had to fly off towards the south so we waited quite a while trying to figure out a plan B. Eventually the eastern face warmed up and created a bit of a draft, which meant we could launch. So we took the gap. It lasted only about 30 minutes."

Andrew Smith, who represented South Africa at the paragliding world championships this year, was the first to launch.

''He shot right up above the huge clouds building below us and was gone in a few seconds, flying at almost 70km/h," said Schwankhart.

She and Carter followed Smith: ''We . had to abort our launch a few times with strong dust devils [whirlwinds] coming our way every couple of minutes. I was very nervous with the elements turning against us."

Namibian Chris Lotter was the last of the group to fly.

''Chris launched with difficulty and headed towards the town of Moshi in the direction of our hotel. After Chris's launch the window of opportunity closed. None of the other pilots could take off and had to face a very long walk down.

''Though the launch was pretty hairy, we quickly moved away from the bad weather close to the face of the mountain and our descent was smooth and enjoyable," said Schwankhart.

The flight to Moshi took about 50 minutes, and about an hour after they were on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the three paragliders and one passenger were comfortably ensconced in the bar of the Keys Hotel.

The rest of the group took almost two days to descend the mountain.

Kilimanjaro is the third summit Carter and Schwankhart have conquered in their bid to paraglide off the highest mountain on each continent.

• See www.7summits7flights.co.za