Sunset over the Atlas Mountains

Skydiving in Morocco with the Atlas as your backdrop

Airboss Morocco, 5–14 February 2026

Guest article by Henk van der Naald.

The bottom line:
A group of (aspiring) skydivers meets in the early morning at Schiphol and flies towards Beni Mellal.
What follows are long days at the dropzone, Moroccan meals, coaching, packing, and for some, the A licence as the goal.
The week ends earlier than planned because of the weather, but with a gift you can’t schedule: a sunset jump from almost 12,000 ft.
This is the story the way you only get it from someone who was truly there.

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Meeting up at Schiphol

“Meet at 07:00 in Departure Hall 1, next to the Transavia desk.”

That was the message in the newly created group chat. Eight (aspiring) skydivers gathered a little awkwardly in a corner of the vast Schiphol terminal.
It was their first time meeting. Standing next to big suitcases, hands in pockets and with slightly tense faces, they looked out for the next person to arrive.
They had gotten up before dawn to travel to sunny, colourful Morocco.
For one of them, it would be the very first jump of their life. For the others, a brand-new skydive adventure.
With, hopefully, an A licence in the pocket at the end of a solid week.

A holiday with a goal and extra coaching

With such a big group, Dennis Bosland joined as an instructor. Sjon de Jong from Airboss had left a week earlier with a number of students.
Extra hands were needed to give everyone the attention they deserved. It was a holiday, yes, but with a clear goal: everyone ticking off the A licence requirements and flying home with that hard-earned piece of paper.
Canopy control, accuracy landings, one-on-one flying, theory knowledge. And being able to pack your parachute. No, having to.

Marco Treskens and I, on the other hand, simply wanted to clear the head and make some fun jumps.
We figured we’d earned that after the chilly, short and mostly grey days of a winter that felt like it had been going on forever.
A quick escape from Dutch busyness and all its “to-do’s”.

Back to the Airboss vibe

I remembered it like it was yesterday: my own training with Airboss. In Djilor Pout Pout, on the Saloum in Senegal.
An unforgettable and incomparable experience. Especially for me, because something that turned out to be impossible back home in the Netherlands at 56 springs young,
became possible there: doing a freefall course.

Luckily, Sjon did see possibilities. And now, three years and 250 jumps later, this trip felt like the perfect excuse to taste that vibe again.
The people, the stories, the adrenaline. Yes, even the waiting: for the first, the twentieth, or the thousandth jump.
Every person and every jump is unique. A craft of (surviving) life. One-off, worthy of a memory.
That’s why we keep our logbooks with such care.

It was going to be long days on a beautiful dropzone. Every afternoon, a lovingly prepared meal from Morocco’s rich kitchen.
Drivers taking us to and from the dropzone each day. Helpful instructors and packers.
An exotic adventure, with challenging jumps ahead above the breathtaking Atlas Mountains of North Africa.

From Casablanca to Beni Mellal

After just over 3.5 hours of flying and a 3-hour drive from Casablanca Airport, we arrived at our destination.
It could have been done in 2.5 hours, but Morocco is an Islamic country and our driver a devout Muslim. On the road or not, prayer still happens.

Beni Mellal and golden hour

Beni Mellal is a small mountain town, lazily resting against the slopes of the Atlas foothills, which rise abruptly out of a flat, polder-like landscape and stand massive against a deep blue sky.
High above modest concrete houses and buildings, proud snow-capped peaks appear in the late afternoon light.
It was golden hour when we arrived, with an early-spring sun briefly kissing the earth in the west.

Tired from the journey, we had our first drink by the hotel pool. What a contrast with the sleet and cold back home.
Expectations were more than met.

A week at a glance

By Thursday, almost all students had already passed. Damian had completed his AFF, and Sven and Josephine managed to secure not only their A licence but also enough theory towards the B licence.
Jenny regained her confidence after a turbulent summer. And Chris, just in time, managed to get his A licence on Saturday after passing his packing exam.

The sunset jump

But that Thursday evening turned into the last load for us. Because of the weather, the jump week ended earlier than planned, with a truly breathtaking sunset jump from almost 12,000 ft,
with a high-altitude opening so we could spend longer under canopy soaking up the light.
What a gift. It simply couldn’t have been better.

The trip home and the afterglow

And so I’m on the plane at 10 pm, more than 10 kilometres above a dark France on the way to Amsterdam, updating my logbook and writing this little report.
A little tired, a little wistful that it’s already over. But if this is the start, then bring on the season!

CU on the DZ!

Written by: Henk van der Naald

More reading on learning to skydive

• ➔ Get your A licence: how the process works and what you need.
• ➔ AFF or Airwareness: what fits you and where to start.
• ➔ Your first skydive: what to expect from ground school to your first freefall.

New to Airboss? On the
Airboss homepage
you’ll find an overview of all our skydive holidays and training programmes.

Because of the weather it ended earlier than planned, but we got something in return that you can’t schedule: a sunset jump that stays with you.