Head in the Clouds: How to… Not be eaten

Warning! Achtung! The thin, yellow, horizontal warning sign displays a caricature of a crocodile, mouth open, ready to snap at an imaginary Captain Hook. This is not your average paragliding destination. Scant information gleaned from a site guide and messages from pilots suggest that access to the ridge involves crossing the mudflats, mangrove swamp and a river at low tide. The reptiles are at home here, in their element, waiting to ambush.

Google states that a crocodile can move at around fourteen kilometres an hour in short bursts on land. At the first sign of snapping jaws, we plan to dump the bags and leg it. Hopefully, they see a glider bag as a tasty snack, if not, as there are three of us, I just have to outrun one crocodile or one human.

We are looking at a cloudy damp sky, carrying the usual fifteen...