Namibia: Skydiving Ban Lifted

Jana-Mari Smith

7 June 2011

The ban on skydiving operations in Namibia has been lifted after a nearly two-month stoppage of the popular sport.

According to a spokesperson at the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) “there were a lot of corrective actions required”. The ban was instituted by the civil aviation watchdog in early April for a “proper and full audit” of skydiving operations in the country.

The two players affected by the ban were Ground Rush Adventures and Swakopmund Skydiving Club, both based at the coastal town.

Sources said in early May that the DCA grounded skydiving operations after the DCA found that operations “were not up to standard”.

According to the watchdog, the skydiving community was “self-regulating”. The ban came shortly after Sivute Amunyela died during a skydiving accident in March.

The DCA lifted the ban of the Swakopmund Skydiving Club more than a week ago, noting that the skydiving club complied with the required changes and adaptations.

Groundrush was lifted later last week, according to the DCA spokesperson, who said that the club “had more problems, but they worked hard to resolve the issues”.

One of the major issues identified by a skydiving expert brought in by the DCA, was a lack of paper work.

According to the DCA, the skydiving expert identified a lack of “paper trails”, including documents and records on file required by the jump masters.

Though both operators are permitted to begin business again, the DCA instructed Groundrush to discontinue jumps at other spots around Swakopmund, except at the Swakopmund airfield for the time being, citing a lack of proper permission from parks authorities.

The skydiving community say the two-month closure has hurt not only the clubs, but tourism in Swakopmund in general.

“The ban hurt tourism a lot in this town. Skydiving brings a lot of tourists and a lot of money to this town,” a skydiver said.

The sector is not letting the ban take the wind from their sails, however, and have said that things are looking up, now that the ban is lifted and tourists are streaming to the town once again to jump.

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