After an evening game drive and a night camping in the serengeti, 6 of us woke up super early in the dark to take a hot air balloon to view the landscape and animals of the serengeti from a different view. However i had no problem waking up as if the excitement going on a hot air balloon over the serengeti was not enough to wake me up, i was greeted on my trip to the bathroom by a rustle in the bush 1m away from the door and a surprise early morning encounter with a Zebra.
The six of us were taken by jeep to the hot air balloon launch site past a river full of hippos and hippo babies. When we arrived at the launch site, the hot air balloon was partially deflated and the basket on it side.
We got to watch how they inflate the hot air balloon and the sunrise over the serengeti before we had to climb into the sideways basket. As the balloon became fully inflated the basket tipped upright with a jolt and we were ready to fly.
A full view of the sun rising over the Serengeti just after we took off and floated above the serengeti. With blasts of hot air from the burners we changed heights from a maximum of 100 ft to hovering a few feet above the plains.
We saw a full range of animals as we sailed over the plains including a large number of Hippos both in and out of the water, Lions, Gazelles, Zebras, Warthogs and Hyenas.
We also saw the wonderful views and landscapes the serengeti had to offer.
After about an hour, our pilot called in our landing spot and we landed and slid for about 10 m before the balloon basket tipped on its side and we came to a halt. Once we landed we were treated to the traditional Hot air balloon finale of Champagne (although in this case only South African sparkling wine).
After the champagne we got back in the 4x4 to transfer to our champagne breakfast. On the way to the breakfast point we came across a Leopard wandering through the bush and across the road within 1m of our 4x4.
After the leopard had crossed our path and disappeared into the wild, we proceeded on to breakfast. A delicious full english breakfast, juice and more champagne followed and was superb with full service. We also received a certificate to commemorate the experience.
As an added bonus to our trip, on the way back to the rest of our group we also came across a mother Thompson Gazelle with her just born baby who spent the next 15 minutes while we watched trying unsuccessfully to take its first steps. It was awesome to see and sweet until the father came over and try to kick the mother into moving on.
A wonderful and tranquil experience to see the beautiful scenery and animals of the serengeti and well worth the high cost of the experience. The extravagant breakfast and animal sightings before and after the balloon ride was a cherry on the top of an amazing experience.
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