Serengeti Balloon Safari
Launching at dawn, rising as the sun rises, you gently float over the plains of the magnificent Serengeti. Your Balloon Safari adventure starts early morning when you depart your lodge or camp (usually around 4:15 am – 5:00 am) to the balloon staging site. It is still dark and you may be fortunate to see nocturnal animals on the way to the launch site.
When you arrive, you will meet your pilot and witness your balloon being inflated and prepared for launch. After a thorough safety briefing and demonstration of boarding and landing position you board your balloon and lift off! Rising as the sun rises your balloon floats in whatever direction the winds of the day are heading over this wonderful area.During the flight, you will ascend to a high altitude to take advantage of an amazing panoramic view and then descend to treetop level and slightly glide above the wildlife below.
It is an adventure – we know where we have started, we genuinely do not know where we will land as we float in the direction of and speed of the wind. Your pilot will use varying altitudes and layers of air to navigate the balloon over this amazing area. Each day is different, some of the flight may be low, offering a different perspective and at other times your balloon may climb to 1000’ or more.
Nobody can predict, no two flights are ever the same and your balloon safari will be unique.
Depending on conditions, flight is about an hour. After landing, you celebrate in the traditional way with a champagne toast (well, an excellent sparkling wine) before heading off to a special ‘Out of Africa’ breakfast.
A hot breakfast is prepared in the bush and served under a convenient acacia tree. Linen, bone china, Sheffield cutlery and freshly prepared fare in the company of your fellow passengers makes a memorable finale to your adventure. After breakfast, you are taken to the rendezvous point to meet with your driver guide and continue your day’s activities.
Many consider this one of the most amazing experiences of their vacation. We suggest booking in advance and planning your balloon safari for the first morning of stay in Serengeti National Park. This way, if weather conditions require the flight to be cancelled, we can try to reschedule for the new day.
- For more info on a typical Serengeti balloon safari- click here
Governors' Balloon Safari
Governors has been pioneering immersive and transformational safaris in the Mara since 1972. They were the first operators to be permanently based inside the Mara, their site was chosen for its prime location and was the designated “getaway” for the Governors of Kenya. Unfenced and right in the heart of the action. Their camps are located in some of the best and most precious Wildlife Locations in the world. They are a family with a colorful cast of characters that embodies the spirit of safari, while placing the care of the environment, community & conservation at the heart of everything they do.
The adventure begins just before dawn. Departure is from a perfect natural launch site behind Little Governors’ Camp, and flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies as the hot air balloon fills, then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-colored canopy, you’re off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective.
What amazes most first-time balloonists is the absolute stillness: the silence as you float above the plains, the forest and the rivers of the Maasai Mara. Even if you’ve flown elsewhere, this is a unique experience. The flight lasts an hour or so, drifting wherever the air currents take you, and with ample opportunities for photography and video filming. Then your Kenyan Hot Air Balloon Safari finishes with a flourish. In the time honored tradition of balloon flights the world over, you toast your return to earth with a champagne breakfast, cooked wherever you land. The Balloon Safari ends with some leisurely game viewing on the way back to Camp.
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