MY BALLOON IRDE OVER THE SERENGETI

WEATHER: Beautiful 29C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the old crew at camp

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Only getting 40 minutes in the balloon

BUYS OF THE DAY: My ballooning pin for 3AUD

WORD OF THE DAY: ‘Not a fan’

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: Lions, gazelles, giraffes, elephants, hippos, a cheetah and her 2 babies, hyena’s, pumbas, wildebeest, zebras, secretary bird, serval cat, a mongoose, parrots, black back jackal, leopard, crocodiles, dic dic’s x 3, impala, Guiney fowl, baret monkeys, saddle billed stork and baboons.

CAMP SITE RANKING:  Same one as last night – no change

IRISH WORD OF THE DAY:  Slanchar - cheers

Well last night we heard an animal eating out the back of the tent, as to what it actually was, we don’t know and we weren’t to keen to stick our head out and see.  The hyena’s made a visit to the food prep area trying to scavenge what they could, so it could have been one of those at our back window, either way there was a wild beast at the back of our tent! 

My alarm went off at 4.55am, as our pickup for the balloon ride was at 5.15am.  It was still dark and a little cold, but the balloon people wanted us to wear long pants, closed in shoes and clothes to keep us warm up in the sky anyways so we were wrapped up and ready to go.  We got picked up in a 4x4 that already had 4 other people in it and we drove 40 minutes to the launch site and where our balloon awaited us.  When we arrived there were 3 balloons and they were partially inflated already.  This is for the pilot to do his checks on the actual balloon and then it is deflated back to flat.

We then sat in the car for 40 minutes as we waited for the pilot to do his checks and then we got called over for the briefing.  If you have ballooned before once it is inflated you can then get in and up up and away.  But the basket on this is massive, as it holds 16 people, 8 on each side, which is broken up into 4 compartments each side that takes 2 people per compartment.  So our pilot Mohammad explained to us that they preload you with the basket still on its side, as the balloon moves as it fills and it could possibly move and they don’t want us to get knocked over by this massive basket.  Mohammad ran through the rules, the obvious – no smoking and no jumping – yeah I think we have that covered, and went through the loading of the basket and allocating what compartments we were to go into.  Before we set off we were able to witness a beautiful sunrise, so we got some great photos before we had even left the ground!

Then the inflation began.  They had 2 massive fans that blow cold air into the balloon and it seriously didn’t take too long, it was around 40 minutes and then we got the thumbs up to pre-load as the last of the balloon was filled.  So we had to walk around the fans, and make sure that our scarfs didn’t get caught and jump into our positions.  Manu and I got the inside compartment next to the pilot, which in hindsight was a good thing as we were directly under the burner, so we were kept warm for the whole time we were in the air.  So we were lying on our backs in the baskets. With a couple from Coffs Harbour lying in the compartment on top of us.  We were in this position for about 10 minutes as Mohammad warmed the air in the balloon for it to fly, so Manu and I got a bit of dust in the face with the fans blowing but then the basket started to move and we took around 8 minutes to get is in the upright position and we were finally off the ground at 6.50am.

OMG we are ballooning over the Serengeti, Manu and I just looked at each other after we had lifted off and high fived each other!  This is something you will not experience anywhere else.  Straight away we saw hundreds of gazelles.  They are a flighty animal and were running all over the place as we floated over them.  I guess if I saw a big arse balloon coming my way making a whooshing noise I would also be a little scared myself.  We saw herds of Zebras and wildebeest, which was awesome to see them from the air, as we had seen similar herds the previous day from ground level.  The height of the balloon varied, if there was only floating to be done, Mohammad would lift us up high, if there were animals to see then he would drop us in to tree top height for us to get photos.  He was also really good in turning the balloon around every 8 minutes or so, so we all got a rotation facing the front.  We headed down to the river and got an awesome view of the hippos in the water.  There must have been like 40 of them all together, unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of one with its mouth open though.  It was quite windy as the balloon flies on the natural flow of currents, so with it being so windy we were travelling at 23km per hour, so we had to be quick with the picture taking as we were hooting along.  We also saw giraffes, elephants a male lion and the highlight was a cheetah with her 2 cubs, a cheetah!!!  So after 40 minutes we came into land.  We had to get back in the crouch position on the chance that the basket my tip when we land.  Well we didn’t have to worry about that as we landed upright next to the other 2 balloons and climbed out back onto terra firma!  There was sparkling wine waiting for us when we landed, where we all had a toast and then we were bundled back into the 4x4’s to take us to our breakfast location. 

The drive was only 15 minutes away and there were 3 tables all set up under a massive Acacia tree.  There was a gentleman when we arrived holding a large copper jug, where we were able to wash our hands followed by a fluffy green towel to dry our hands on and then we moved to the tables.  It looked amazing, so we pulled up some chairs and sat at the table and drank more sparkling wine, mango juice and a tea.  We got fresh fruit from the tree served for a starter and then we got a hot English breakfast followed, with potatoes, a sausage, baked beans and bacon.  All served on fine china, silver cutlery with a material napkin, the sun high in the sky and having just come off the balloon ride – does life get any better than this?  They also had toilets at breakfast that was wrapped 3 sides, with the 4^th side facing out to the plains.  They called it a toilet with a view, and it was really funny when the men went as their heads would be poking over the top as they did their business, it looked so funny. But what a way to start a day right!  It was an amazing experience.  Was it worth the 500USD? I think it was a little over priced for what we got, but it was an opportunity of a life time, and at the end of the day, I think sometimes it is a little hard to put a cost on that.  I ballooned the Serengeti and I will never forget it.

We were dropped back to the Visitors Center at 10am where we met back up with our 4x4’s to then head back out for some game viewing for a few hours before heading back to camp for lunch.  After talking to the guys, they pretty much saw everything we did from the balloon, but just from ground level.  They even saw the cheetah, which was good for Sean, as this is what he really wanted to see on this trip.  We headed back to camp at 1pm for lunch and a little rest.  I really needed this after consuming half a bottle of sparkling wine, add that with some sun and an early start, if I didn’t get a sleep I was going to be a little cranskter.  Well that was easier said than done, the tents were hot as an oven, so I tried to lay down, but flip it was hot, so we just sat under a canvas tent and chatted till 3pm where we were all back into the 4x4’s to go out and see us some more animals.  We drove around for another 3 hours, seeing more giraffes, elephants, zebras, jackals, hyenas, a walking hippo and a troop of cute baret monkeys that we stopped to take them in for a few minutes.  We also saw a group of 4x4’s congregated in the distance, so when this happens you pretty much know something is there, so Freddie gunned it and we got over there and there was a leopard in the tree.  I tell you, even with Freddie pointing it out, with binoculars in hand; I still couldn’t see the damn thing.  I have been looking for a leopard since our first game drive in Lake Nakuru, and after seeing the way this one was hidden, I rekon we probably drove right past them and not have even known!  They really do blend in so well.  Fred was talking to another 4x4 and they said there was another leopard down the way, so he floored it again and this time we could see him clearly, even though the sun was behind him, the photos were a little dodgy, but we got to see a leopard and it has now completed the Big Five list.  Leopard, lion, elephant, and rhino and …………….  AWESOME!!!!!  This is where we also saw the ‘old’ gang.  Jo, Lil, Emma s, Jools and Louise were in one truck and Mikey and Julia were in another.  They were at the leopard, and it was so cool to see them, especially in that environment!!!  DOUBLE AWESOME!!!  They didn’t know, but they are staying at our camp tonight, so they will get a nice surprise when they arrive in tonight!

We headed back to camp at 6.15pm and we are now covered in 2 day’s worth of Serengeti dust, or tan as we are now calling it.  The hair is crusty as and the feet are filthy, but by geeze we had a great day.  There was a queue 8 deep for the use of the shower, so bugger that, nothing that a baby wipe can’t temporarily fix, so straight to the esky and a vodka and blackcurrant juice (Dave’s Irish drink) in hand we caught up with the ‘old’ crew till dinner time.  It seems like a lifetime ago since we left them, not 3 days, and based on the above, with the birds nest hair and Serengeti tan, the first thing Mike said to me was Bern your looking great!  This is why I love these guys!  What a blind sweetie!

The nights rolled and as you can imagine both camps are dog tired, so we said our farewells again for the 3^rd time, in case we didn’t see them in the morning as they were leaving 30 minutes before us and we made some local calls and brushed our teeth and were in bed by 10.30pm. 

Man it is hard to fathom we are in Tanzania, in the Serengeti, camping in the wild with animals.

AMAZING!!!