How the morning goes
They collect you from your accommodation at about half past four, still dark. At the launch site the balloon is lying on the ground and the burners are filling it: that alone, the flame lighting up the fabric in the middle of the dark, is worth the early start.
You lift off just before dawn. The flight lasts about an hour and goes low, sometimes a few metres above the grass, and then the pilot climbs and you see the whole plain out to the horizon. There is no engine: you hear the silence, and the animals below.
When you land there is breakfast in the open, a table laid in the middle of nowhere, and they take you back to the vehicle to carry on with the day.
When to book it
Balloons fly almost all year in the Serengeti, but seats are few and in high season they sell out weeks ahead. Decide it when you book the safari, not on the day.
The flight depends on the wind: if the morning is wrong it is cancelled and you get your money back. That is why it is worth putting it on a day that is not your last, so there is room for a second attempt.
Things worth knowing
You fly before dawn and at that hour it is genuinely cold, even if the day later goes past thirty degrees. Bring a jacket.
The basket is shared with other people: it is the only part of the trip that is not private. There are usually between eight and sixteen passengers split across compartments.
It is by far the most expensive activity on a safari and it sits outside the price of the trip. We give you the exact current-year price when we put your quote together.
