Paragliders enjoying a ride
Kwahu came alive at the weekend with the 2017 edition of the National Paragliding Festival, attracting hundreds of tourists, who thronged Atibie to enjoy the open skies.
The three-day event took place at Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie, Kwahu, in the Eastern Region as part of the Easter festivities.
Taking strides carefully whiles struggling to keep balance, each paraglider advanced steadily into the sky as the excited crowd cheered on.
Some brave enough took the bold step to glide alone and others, perhaps amateurs, flew up with the support of the pilots.
It was an exciting experience for all, particularly persons who had the opportunity to paraglide on the Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie.
Several Ghanaians and tourists visited the mountain to enjoy the view or participate in the paragliding exercise from its opening on Friday to closing yesterday.
Other activities to mark the National Paragliding Festival included hiking and biking.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Catherine Afeku, at the opening ceremony, disclosed that Ghana will soon have a paragliding school to train local paragliding pilots.
She said Ghana was in talks with pilots from the USA who have agreed to train some Ghanaians.
“We are in talks to establish the pilot training school to help nurture indigenous people; you know there are a lot of Ghanaians interested in learning so we have spoken to the pilots from USA who have agreed to train our local people. Three of the pilots have their own schools in the USA so it won’t be difficult,” she said.
She added: “our youth who will have the chance to be trained in this programme will also be employed and this will reduce the unemployment rate in the country. We tend to have a lot of foreign nationals who visit the country day in day out, and not only during Easter, so this will also boost the tourism sector and bring foreign exchange”.
“The establishment of the school will be a thing Ghanaians especially people of Kwahu will forever be grateful for and this will be one of President Nana Addo’s legacies,” she said.
Mrs Afeku was accompanied by the Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfour, and the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Djaba.
The Ghana Tourism Authority recruited six international tandem pilots from the United States, Romania, and Japan to fly passengers at the festival.
The first Ghanaian solo pilot, Jonathan Quaye, flew effortlessly amidst cheers from hundreds of participants.
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