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This is not one of those sports that you can just turn up and do, like tennis or lawn bowls. However, Andalucia provides some near-perfect terrain for those who have mastered the basics and for beginners wishing to learn more. Paragliding is very similar to hang-gliding, except that, in the latter, the pilot hangs beneath a parachute in the sitting position and flies with the wind, whereas hang-gliders fly in a horizontal position beneath a framed wing.
A gentle slope is ideal for the first-footer and there are plenty more challenging launch sites scattered throughout the province.
It is also eminently possible to practice 'parapente', which is essentially motorised paragliding. The forward propulsion unit and propeller, or motor, as we call it, is fixed on the back of the intrepid pilot who, from his sitting position beneath the parachute, is able to manoeuvre at will.
For more information, contact the Club-Escuela Parapente Aventura, at calle Tulipan 6, Fuengirola (Tel: 952 664722), or the Escuela de Parapente Abdelajis, at calle Sevilla 2, Fuengirola (Tel: 92 489 180).
Favourite areas are on the slopes of the sierra of Líjar at Algodonales and El Bosque, both in Cadiz; Montellano and Carmona in Sevilla; the Alpujarras, Sierra Nevada, Padul and Loja in Granada, and the valley of Abdalajís in Malaga and at the escarpment of Ronda la Vieja near Ronda.
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