Floating over the Serengeti in a Laundry Basket

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This morning we are up bright and EARLY for a 5am pick up to go hot air ballooning, I’m so excited and I think Tim is waaay too tired to be too nervous yet.

There are 24 people just from our hotel going this morning so we have a convoy of 3 vehicles taking us all down to the launch site which is about an hour away. Sadly me sitting in the very back and turning around to talk to the South African couple and Tim who were sitting behind me resulted in me becoming a 5 year old with car sickness, I was praying we would get there soon as I DID NOT want to get out of the car IN THE DARK feeling unwell - think about it!

FINALLY we arrived, and then I didn’t care what wild animal found me beside the car having a little alone time - just kill me now and finish me off I was thinking! But a bit of fresh air later and I was grateful those animals didn’t find me!

Because there was so many going up today they had 3 balloons. They were so big, even when they were less than half inflated.

We were all allocated our balloons. We were really lucky and got the head pilot. In our group we had a mixture of nationalities, another Australian couple, an American couple, a Russian couple (by far the most fashionable), a couple of Tanzanians…

We were able to watch as the balloon was almost filled then we had to climb in. The basket (it looks like an enormous rectangular wicker laundry basket) is layed over on its long side and is divided into 9 sections. In the centre is one section that runs from side to side then on each side of that there is 4 sections. The centre is for the pilot and the gas bottles and 2 people fit into each of the remaining sections. There’s a foam seat cushion in each of the sections and you climb in laying down on you back in a seated position sitting on the cushion.

As the balloon fills with air we are gradually lifted into an upright position, then ever so gently we are lifted off the ground. I look over at Tim and he’s got a huge grin on his face, I was expecting him to have a death grip onto the side of the basket refusing to look, but he was just the opposite, airplanes should be a breeze for him now you’d think…

We saw a pride of 13 lions with 6 babies all running around play fighting, 10 hyenas with 6 babies chasing each other through the long grass. There were so many hippo pools I lost count!

The pilot was great, very funny and how he manages to spot things is remarkable. He’d be telling us all to look at the giraffe for example and it wouldn’t be till 5 minutes later when we are sitting on top of it that we would all finally see it! He was able to steer it to a certain extent, the higher he went we would go left and if we dropped we would go right. Apart from that we would travel at around 5 knots.

It was interesting to see it all from another perspective, like we could see all the tracks that the animals continuously followed, it’s clear that they don’t just roam aimlessly.

At the end we all resumed our seated position that we had for takeoff then after scraping the tops off a few shrubs and dragging along the ground for a while we finally came to a nice gentle stop.

When all the balloons had landed (we were the first in our balloon convoy) there was champagne and juice for all, along with a history lesson in ballooning and champagne. Scroll down if this doesn’t interest you, if you have heard it all before or if the story I have is wrong!

THE STORY OF CHAMPAGNE BALLOON FLIGHTS

Way back in the 1700’s some men in a French paper mill watched as paper they were burning started to float away with the heat of the fire. They thought perhaps they could make something larger that could carry people in a similar manner, but they didn’t know if there would be oxygen in a higher altitude. So they made a basket and a balloon, put some animals in it, made a fire under the balloon and sent it on it’s way. After following it from the ground they found it crashed into a farmer’s paddock, all the animals were killed. They were devastated by this discovery until they spoke with the farmer and learnt that it in fact he that killed the animals.

They went to the King of France with all this information and a better designed balloon and a better method of heating the air. But then they had the decision of who should go up for this first flight. First it was suggested using prisoners from the jail, that way if the balloon crashed and they died, well… But the King said if it was successful this person will then go down in history, did France want that person to be a thief or a murderer??

So then Monsieur Pilot stepped forward and volunteered himself. The King accepted this, but said please take a bottle of Champagne with you and share it with who you meet when you land and you can introduce them not only to this discovery but also to champagne as France was the only country that had champagne.

So that is why a Pilot is called a Pilot and why whenever you go on a balloon ride there is always a glass of champagne waiting for you at the end.

We then piled back into the vehicles for our English breakfast in the middle of the Serengeti bush. And what a breakfast it was! There was eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and mushroom. Not to mention the coffee, tea, juice and more champagne! All the tables were properly dressed with linens and silverware. All the staff were dressed formally. So surreal. We sat with some South Africans and some English. What a great breakfast!

I sit in the front seat with the driver after breakfast and he tells me they work for 3 months straight and then get 2 weeks off. At home he has a 5 month old baby. And we complain about how much we have to work!

THE FINAL BALLOON ANIMAL COUNT

Zebras
Wildebeest
Hyenas
Lions
Giraffes
Elephants
Hippos
Gazelles - so many different types!
Baboons
Dik Dik

THE BIRDS

Vulture

EVEN AN AIRSTRIP

We are all dropped back to the visitor centre where we had lunch yesterday and there’s more than 20 safari vehicles all waiting to pick up their people. We find Roman and go to the Serengeti Airstrip so Roman can renew our permit to be in the park, so more waiting. It’s a teeny weeny airport, literally an open sided shed (this is where the permits and who knows what else are also done), a small area where the teeny weeny planes park and load up passengers and then a teeny weeny runway that enormous herds of zebra, wildebeest, gazelles and elephants run across. There is a car that goes out ahead of planes taking off and landing to shoo all the animals off the runway!

There was a really small plane with the pilot standing next to it, he said we could have a look through as much as we liked. It was a private plane, it only seated 9, had beautiful soft leather seats that could be turned to face any direction, tables and little individual bars. It’s for people who don’t want to drive between all the parks and can then come and go as they please. It sounds really nice, but you would miss seeing so much of the great country by not driving. Perhaps if people really wanted the comfort they could hire luxury Four Wheel Drives…

SOME QUIET TIME AND CREATIVE DRESSING


After an hour or so Roman is done and we head off for a short game drive and decide to head back to hotel for lunch and a bit of quiet time and go out again in the afternoon.

We decide for a bit of a lounge by the pool (our first for the whole trip) then remember my only pair of bathers are at the laundry, what to do? I try on a pair of Tim’s shorts and they pretty well come to my armpits, so I forage through what underwear I have left and find the most bather looking set I have! I figure we can hide at the back of the pool, my actual bathers probably cover less and let’s face it, I’m never going to see these people again!

OUR LAST GAME DRIVE IN THE SERENGETI

Off we head again for our last game drive in the Serengeti.

We head off to a different area and even though we don’t have a 2-way radio, Roman talks to all the drivers we pass and they share information.

We head off to an area that apparently a leopard has been seen, the last one of the ‘Big 5’ that we haven’t sighted yet! We get to a spot and about 80mtrs distance there is a leopard sleeping in a tree! It’s amazing how the guides see these things! We sit and watch it for ages, having to use the binoculars or zooming in with the video camera, but we still got to see it!

For our last day we’re even lucky enough to see lots of lions, one was only 20mtrs away on some rocks! We saw some in trees, others walking - simply fantastic!

Roman takes us to a hippo pool in the northern area, there’s not many people here, only 2 other cars - one with another couple and one with about 6 Japanese.

The pool is great, there are too many to count and we can get so close, there is even one out of the water stumbling about. Apparently there are also crocodiles in this pond but they are down the other end so we don’t see any. Hippos and crocodiles have an arrangement whereby they will share the same pond and as long as each species stays in their area the crocodiles won’t bite the hippos and the hippos won’t walk on the crocodiles! Why can’t human beings of different races, cultures, religions and beliefs cohabitate this well I wonder…

It starts to rain (so now we can say every country we have visited has had rain - we are the rain-makers!), and all the drivers are taking shelter and all the tourists are still in the rain looking at hippos - Tourists ha!

So after what Tim probably thinks is waaaay too long, we eventually leave the hippo pool. It’s funny, there is only the Japanese car left and all but one is sitting in the car waiting to go! They are like Tim and have had enough of their one hippo loving friend!

So it’s top down and back to the hotel for tea.

Another day done and dusted, well we were dusty anyway!

ANIMAL COUNT FOR OUR LAST SERENGETI DAY

Waterbuck
Zebra - of course!
Wildebeest - of course, of course!
Hippos
Baboons
8 lions
Leopard
Impala
Hartebeest
 

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Comments

[Jordan]

Stunning
All your photos are fantastic. But this one stands out. Its a dream of mine to capture a shot like this. Your blog is such a great idea, myself and Irene love sitting down and reading about your adventures. It almost feels like we are there aswell. Keep having fun and stay safe :)