We all have wish lists of the things we want to do before we die. One of ours was to take a Hot Air Balloon ride over the mighty Serengeti.We were camped in style under massive Baobab trees at the edge of the Serengeti and our camp was surrounded by tens of thousands of Wildebeest as they gathered for their migration north to the Masai Mara.
Our guides woke us up with steaming mugs of tea and coffee at 4.00am to dispatch us in our Safari vehicle for the 1 hour ride to our take-off point.
Our driver skillfully maneuvers his way through and around tens of thousands of Wildebeest and Zebra as the vehicles headlights probe the pitch black early morning,the strong smell of the dew laden grass and animal droppings help fine tune our senses.
On arrival at the lift off point two huge balloons lie partly inflated on the ground with their gas fired burners whooshing and pumping hot air into the canopy.Our pilot is introduced to us and briefs us on the take-off and landing procedure. We are to hoist ourselves into the basket pod which is lying sideways on the ground. The basket is divided into 8 separate compartments to carry two people each.
With much hilarity and somewhat false bravado we hoist ourselves into our pods. Our pilot shouts above the roar of the burner ‘hold tight’…’stand by’ and all of a sudden we are upright and floating into the dawn sky…..this must be like floating on a cloud….the sensation is awesome as we climb higher and higher with moments of silence only broken by the whooshing of the burners as the canopy inflates and we gain altitude.
With much hilarity and somewhat false bravado we hoist ourselves into our pods. Our pilot shouts above the roar of the burner ‘hold tight’…’stand by’ and all of a sudden we are upright and floating into the dawn sky…..this must be like floating on a cloud….the sensation is awesome as we climb higher and higher with moments of silence only broken by the whooshing of the burners as the canopy inflates and we gain altitude.
We drift silently over the bush and the passengers talk in hushed tones as they marvel at the sights below. Baboons in the tree tops, some of them looking up as us as we pass by, Vultures and Eagles in their tree top nests, Hippo’s wallowing in their pools, herds of Wildebeest and families of Giraffe. ‘We are onto a kill” our pilot tells us as he steers the balloon toward the circle of vultures in the distance. We pass over a pride of Lions having breakfast and we see the Hyena’s and Jackals lying in wait.
The journey is over all too soon. ‘Brace yourselves for landing’ our pilot says and with a thump or two we are being dragged through the scrub barely missing some small tree’s and ending up a few meters short of a large gulley. The basket tips over in a cloud of dust and we are free to scramble out. Waiting for us are turbaned waiters with silver trays serving Champagne and Orange as we all excitedly exchange our impressions of the all too short flight. Later our vehicles take us to white linen tables under the nearby Acacia trees where we enjoy perhaps one of the most incredible breakfast we have ever had.
