A Photo Journal: African Safari - Part IV (Hot Air Balloon Ride)

If you were to ask me "What was your favorite part of your African Safari?," I would tell you I had two favorite parts. One was our hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti just as the sun was rising on a new day.

Every guidebook about Tanzania says you MUST take a balloon ride over the Serengeti. There was one other instance when Mom and I were encouraged to take a balloon ride — when we visited The Magical Cappadocia in Turkey a number of years ago. We had hemmed and hawed, debating whether the balloon adventure was too lavish for us. When on our last day in Cappadocia arrived, we decided to take the balloon ride. Alas, the weather wasn't ideal, and so the balloon excursion didn't happen. So when the opportunity for a hot air balloon ride arose for our trip to Africa, we didn't hesitate. We made it happen, and we are so glad we did. What an AMAZING experience!

When the morning of the hot air balloon ride arrived, Mom and I set our alarm for 2:30am. Ouch! We needed to get dressed in time for the 3:00am departure so we could make the long drive to the balloon site in time for the sunrise launch. When the alarm went off that morning and then again when we crowded into the jeep for the bumpy drive to the launch site, we thought to ourselves, "What are we doing? This had better be worth it!" But once we arrived and saw the big balloons lying on their sides and the hint of the morning colors peeking just above the horizon, our excitement became palpable.

Just before the flight, we were introduced to our pilot, Captain Moses. He was nothing but fantastic! He explained the weather conditions and how we would board. Then, as we lifted into the air, he explained how the burners worked and how he was able to pilot the balloon. As we floated above the endless plains, Captain Moses pointed out the local mountain ranges so we could orient ourselves. He talked just enough to make us knowledgable, but he also left plenty of long stretches of silence during which we could relish in our awe.  

Captain Moses.

Whenever Captain Moses spotted animals, he would point them out to us — elephants, giraffes, buffalos, impalas, topis, hartebeest, and waterbuck. He would lower the balloon so we could see the animals up-close, and then he would rotate the balloon so everyone in the basket had a chance for a perfect sightline. He even served coffee to the passengers mid-flight. Wowsers! Most importantly, he landed us safely at the end of our flight an hour and twenty minutes after lift off.

The crew preps the balloon for its launch.

Mom and I just before boarding the balloon.
Our smiles are screaming, "We're excited! Let's go!"

The basket was on its side when we boarded,
and so we crawled into our seats and fastened our seatbelts.

Here we are on our backs, waiting for take off. 
You can see Captain Moses in the photo, with his hands on the burners.

Within a short few minutes, the crew freed the lines from our basket, and we were airborne.

There was another balloon that launched right after us.
This is a photo of the other balloon taken from our balloon.

This is the other balloon just below us.

Since we ascended faster than the other balloon, we soon lost site of the neighboring basket. 

I expected the balloon ride to be windy. In reality, there was no wind because we were moving with the wind. (Duh!) The ride was incredibly peaceful and quiet...except of course, when the pilot turned up the burners. 

Here's the view of what we saw as we floated over the Serengeti:

As we glided along, I thought about what it must feel like to be a bird riding a thermal.

Here I am putting out my wing, wondering what it would be like to fly.

It was really cool to be able to see the contours of the land. From above, we could easily see the network of game trails below. 

We could see the highway of game trails below.

And if we looked closely, we could see animals walking along the trails.

Do you see the line of elephants crossing the creek?

Here, you can just barely make out a giraffe down below.

Captain Moses lowered us so we could get a better view of the giraffe.

And here is our shadow as we soared above a field of hartebeests.

We even saw hippos splashing around in the Seronera River below us.
How fun!

Here's Mom looking down from the air towards our shadow on the ground.

And here's Mom with a huge "this is awesome" smile on her face.

I was sporting a happy smile, too.

I could have floated for the rest of my life in that balloon...

...but eventually we needed to come back to earth.
We could see the two chase vehicles on the ground guesstimating our flight path so they could collect us when we landed.

And then we landed.

This is a post-landing photo of Captain Moses (sitting atop the basket),
the 13 passengers, and the 6 ground crew.

This photo was taken mid-flight.
Captain Moses sent a GoPro camera out on one of the lines to capture the photo. 

At the end of our flight, Captain Moses sent us a report detailing our flight. Here are some of the stats from the report:

• Balloon: A-450
• Sunrise: 06:46am
• Launch: 06:55am
• Landing: 08:15am
• Weather: Few clouds and light winds
• Ground Wind at Take Off: 2 knots
• Flight Time: 1.4 hours
• Distance: 18.2 km 

I can now confirm that the Tanzanian guidebooks are spot-on. A hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti is not to be missed. Wow, just wow! This balloon ride was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Thank you, Mom, for enabling this experience.

Stay tuned for my other favorite part of our African Safari!