Hundreds of people of all ages attended the Gozo Adventure Festival which was held at Wied il-Mielah over last weekend. Organised by local adventure tourism company Gozo Adventures, and supported by Gharb Local Council, the festival was aimed at encourage people to try a range of sports suited to the dramatic rocky landscape.

Visitors were able to try yoga and traditional games for free, whilst a ten euro pass gave unlimited access to archery, combat archery, climbing, and the more adrenalin inducing high ropes zip line and ariel runway.“The event has been a big success,” said company founder Xavier Hancock. “We work predominately with tourists and so having an open event for Gozitans and Maltese was a new venture. We particularly wanted to promote climbing, and to encourage people to challenge themselves and try new things.”

He added, “the response has been amazing, with people of all generations facing their fears and finding the activities fun and wanting to go again and again.”

Xavier commented that “the Hili family from Xaghra were one such group. Having attended late on Saturday to try the archery, they came back to the festival on Sunday to try out the other options. Dad Anthony, daughter Isabella (13) and son Gabriel (11) tried all of the activities including the zip line, zooming from the cliff top down into the valley.”

“We initially came to the festival to try the archery” said Anthony “and the other activities seemed a bit scary. But then we watched other people fly down the ropes or pull themselves across the valley, and thought, well – if they can do it – why not us! We all really enjoyed ourselves.”

Anthony said that, “Mum Marisa didn’t take to the air, preferring to stay on the ground and take photos of the rest of the family, maybe next time….”

Gozo Adventures is a fully licensed and insured adventure activity provider and celebrated its 10th birthday earlier this year. It has expanded significantly in the last three years, and offers sea kayaking, climbing, abseiling, mountain biking, hiking and eco tours, multi-activity holidays, sports training, corporate events and team building

Gozo Adventures thanked the Gharb Local Council “who provided staging, lighting, rubbish collection and toilets for this event. Food and drink stalls were also present, and the Calypso train ran from Victoria and Gharb to bring people to the event.”

Further information on local adventure sports can be found at www.gozoadventures.com and www.facebook.com/gozoadventurefestival?fref=ts

Photographs – Gozo Adventures

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