Unveiling the thrill of Paragliding at Kapamodzü peak

Vishü Rita Krocha
Zhavame | March 5

Flying high above the clouds, Rekha Rose Dukru experienced what is referred as “Paraglider Glories,” a captivating atmospheric optics phenomena during her 23-minute paragliding experience at Kapamodzü peak in Zhavame Village under Phek district that stands at an altitude of 2,620 m (8,596 ft) above sea level.

“I was very privileged to be shown glory while up in the clouds. And as you come out from the clouds, you see your own shadow being reflected by the sun, it’s like a rainbow, circled by sunlight,” she said while relating this mesmerising experience.

Under her individual initiative, the highest table top mountain in the state has introduced paragliding, one of the most popular adventure sports much to the anticipation of adventure lovers. The inaugural flight from Kapamodzü was undertaken by Arun Singh, a seasoned professional paragliding pilot on February 29, 2024.

With a flying experience spanning over a decade and six years of imparting paragliding instruction, Arun Singh lives in the beautiful village of Bir nestled in the Himalayan Dhauladhar range, renowned worldwide for its paragliding opportunities and possesses a profound understanding of weather dynamics crucial for safe flights and the intricate behaviour of winds around mountainous terrain.

In his words, “recently, I had the privilege of being invited by Rose, the proprietor of Kapamodzü Ridge in Nagaland, to assess the feasibility of introducing paragliding in the area.” After thorough evaluation and collaboration, he told The Morung Express that, “we successfully conducted eight flights during my six-day stay, indicating significant potential for commercial growth in paragliding activities.”

Stating that the village of Zhavame, where the ridge is located, welcomed him with remarkable warmth and hospitality, exceeding his expectations, he said, “the kindness and respect shown by the locals left me deeply honoured, especially as I had the privilege of making the inaugural flight.”

“I look forward to returning in October to further develop training programs and establish the infrastructure necessary for this exhilarating sport to flourish in the region,” he added.

Rekha Rose Dukru, who is currently managing Kapamodzü, said that Arun will be back in October and November to train the locals to further take the adventure of paragliding forward.

Prior to this, she said, there will be continuous study of the wind wherein they will be giving weather reports in the form of visual image captured from all directions to the seasoned professional paragliding pilot. “We should be ready when he comes to train our local boys,” she enlightened. Moreover, as paragliding requires a lot of safety, she said that people cannot just rush and stated contentment that Arun is very patient and careful in ensuring that safety comes first.

As part of the inaugural flight, Dukru enlightened that they took in 4 commercial bookings. “We flew 4 people, who were all adventure lovers and all of them from diverse professions,” she highlighted even while expressing that, “if we are starting a flying community, we also want people to understand adventure.” She went on to say that, “since Kapamodzü is a new spot, people are very excited and we have even had people from neighbouring villages coming to witness the paragliding apart from natives of Zhavame who gathered to witness the spectacle, a first of its kind.”

While it also meant taking a lot of risk, the inaugural paragliding further ensured that proper take-off and landing as well as emergency landing spots were well identified. A top to bottom flight ran over a duration of 5-8 minutes while the lengthiest one stretched to 30 minutes, going up to 3400 meters.

Besides the four commercial flights, the inaugural flights for paragliding from February 29 to March 4, also included two solo flights. It is expected to become operational after the training scheduled for October and November this year.