Up Up and away

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Up even earlier than usual for our hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti!!! We always imagined that we would make a bit of an effort for a balloon ride but bush camp with no showers meant we went as we were!!! We got picked up at 4am it was very dark and quite cold it was a short drive to the balloon take off site. After our briefing we were allowed to go inside the balloon while they were filling it with cold air, we all ran around like children!! Getting in the balloon was entertaining we had to get in while the basket was on its side. We took off smoothly and headed across the Serengeti.

It was so different from being in the jeep, it was very quiet and some of the animals didn't notice we were there. We saw Hippos out of the water, loads of Zebras and Giraffe. There was a Cheetah but because of the winds we could not get over to see it properly. The funniest thing was a heard of Elephants who were scared of the balloon and ran off. The pilot told us that because elephants are so big they do not normally see things bigger than them so they get scared. The landing was quite good fun it involved hitting the ground and sliding until you stopped, no injuries so all good.

Once the ride was over it was champagne breakfast time!!! We tucked into a full English in the middle of the Serengeti and drank all of the Champagne not consumed by the others in the group. We were quite tipsy by the time we had to go back to meet our jeeps. On the way back we saw lions one sat between some logs. We met the rest of our group and continued the game drive; we headed for the hippo pond where we saw a lot of Zebras and of course Hippos. It was now time to leave the park and drive back to Arusha along the same bumpy road. We managed to get back to camp without incident however, we saw a turned over passenger bus. They were asking for water and medical help as none of us were medically trained we had to continue. Some of our friends were involved in a collusion with a cow luckily no one was hurt but the cow didn't make it. What a day!!!!!

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