This was totally worth every penny – what an unbelievable experience! The other Jill and I had both signed up for it and so in the morning of Day 3 (second day in the Serengeti) we were picked up at 5 am and taken to the launching area. The Serengeti Balloon Company flies balloons every morning every possible day of the year! Each balloon basket holds 16 people plus the pilot and there were 3 balloons launching this day! The basket is divided into 8 compartments therefore 2 people per compartment. The basket begins at 90 degrees and therefore we begin in a somewhat horizontal position holding the rope rings. They fill the balloon up with cool air and then hot air and as it rises it lifted us up to a vertical position! It was so graceful and absolutely fabulous! Quite a smooth transition. And only took about 3 minutes to get up in the air. Our pilot, Nick from South Africa, was able to fly us 1 km to 1 cm above the ground. It was fantastic! We saw herds of buffalo, tons of Thomies as they ran away from us. We flew over hippos and hyenas. The land was wide and vast. We saw the sun rise – a huge red ball of fire coming over the horizon. We flew for a good hour. The landing wasn’t too bad either – we sat in our seats like take-off and put our heads back and had a few bumps along the way and then just stopped. Once all three balloons had landed another pilot gave the history of hot-air balloons and the significance of having champagne after a successful ride! Then we got back into the jeeps and went to have a beautiful breakfast under an acacia tree in the middle of the Serengeti. Here the champagne continued to flow! What a breathtaking experience!
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