Last week Joseph invited me to join him for a paragliding trip in Bahau, but it was only yesterday after sahur that I said to myself “why not? since Bahau would be impossible for me to go unless I have a 4WD”. Bahau is a well known site among paragliders, some claimed that it’s the best site in the country for paragliding though now that I’ve flown it, I have mixed feelings about the claims. My definition of a good site is not only about how easy to fly it, but should include the surrounding views as well. Anyway, since it’s very subjective let’s leave it as it is – everyone is entitled to an opinion, right?
Bahau or Jempol is about 1.5 hours drive from KL via old roads through Kuala Pilah, it was an easy drive with many sights of beautiful traditional kampung houses that would be perfect for photography. Access to the paragliding’s take-off site however is not easy as I had to park my car at Bahau town, hopped into Joseph’s 4WD and drove through the oil palm plantation climbing the steep off-road slopes and occasionally, we had to cut a few fallen branches. Fabrio from Italy, Charles and Marie from France, while Jesca, Teh, Alan, Elmer, SK and PK were from Singapore… in fact, I was the only Malaysian.
The drive up was challenging but once we reached the top, it was peaceful. The 360deg view was spectacular but we didn’t waste time chatting and quickly setup the area. My first flight wasn’t so good, I miscalculated the thermal lift and only had about 30 minutes before I had to approach the nearby landing zone. The second flight however, I’ve gotten familiar with the site’s thermals and lift areas so it was way much better. I took off at about 3pm and it was a good 3 hours flight before I decided that I’ve had enough of soaring the ridge. Landing zone for this site is quite interesting, one has to be confident enough to land in between oil palm trees and to be honest I was quite nervous as it could be a costly damage if I miscalculate my landings. The alternative landing zone is at the town’s school field but pickup would be troublesome as it’s quite a distance and I needed to be at least 400m high to start the approach to the school, else I might land in the jungle instead.
In entirety, the trip was all worth it and I’m very happy for the chance to fly in Bahau. Below is my short trip report in videoclip, since lately I started to develop the interest of doing self-produced documentaries.