The desert takes off

At 5700 meters MSL, the first warnings sounded in the computer yesterday. The vario was at the stop and the cloud base was far from being reached, but the cover of the glider flying area of Namibia at flight level 195 was approaching very quickly.

On Christmas Day Namibia offered a dream sky with the high clouds that were also arranged in lines over stretches – but unfortunately only in the afternoon. It took patience until the Kalahari had heated up for these high-reaching thermals. Those who started early were forced to struggle in rough lifts under the blue sky, which at first did not reach higher than 1000 meters above ground. After the heat treatment at almost 35 degrees Celsius in the basement, you could freeze in the cloud shade when the outside temperature was well below zero.

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Leveling the Landing Area

Early October is the ideal time to prepare the runways for flight operations. You can land at the Bitterwasser Flying Lodge in every which direction—depending on how you look at it, on 8 runways (plus one emergency runway), each in two directions. Jeremias carefully levels the landing area over the course of several weeks.

The Long Journey to Africa

In early September, the containers holding the gliders for the 2026/27 season were loaded in Waghäusel. Transported by trailer, truck, and cargo ship, the gliders are now on their long journey to Namibia, to the Bitterwasser Flying Lodge.