Up at 4:30 for coffee delivered to our tent. We were escorted to our waiting vehicles at 5 for the drive to the site of the balloon launch. There were 4 green and white striped balloons waiting to be launched. We were a group of 7 in our party so we merged with another group of 9 to complete our basket.
The basket itself was prone on the ground and contained 16 open rectangular fairly deep cubbies into which 2 people crawled till they were prone to the ground. The balloon pilot had his space between each group of 8 cubbies. Then he checked to make sure the balloon was full and and fired up the burners to gently raise the basket to an uptight position and up we went! Our FIRST balloon ride.....in the Serengeti no less!!
"Up, Up and Away in our Beautiful, our Beautiful Balloon." What a sight! We traveled in the 8 knot wind, up and down, between 40 and 800 feet. We saw a male lion lying in the grass 40 feet below us , hundreds of zebra and wildebeest and passed over a hippo pool with many hippos, one even yawning with his mouth wide open! We were floating around, enjoying the breeze, the sunrise and the renowned Serengeti below us. What could be better? Our landing was perfect and, right then and there, we celebrated with champagne!
After climbing back into safari vehicles, we headed out a few minutes to a beautiful field where we were treated to a traditional English breakfast including bangers and roasted tomatoes. Oh, and more champagne. Moses, our pilot say with us and chatted. A Tanzanian by birth, he's now married to a Canadian and lived in Canada. After a delightful repast served by uniformed waiters, we rejoined our Asilia group and headed back to Dunia Camp via some pretty rough roads. Saw more wildlife and searched for lions, leopards and cheetah.
Upon returning to Dunia, I read Suzanne's latest Caring Bridge blog and was extremely emotional. What a beautiful exposition! Thank you, Suzanne. Lunch and R&R for a couple of hours before taking a sunset safari where we traveled back roads and saw a parade of elephants (one actually looked like he might be ready to charge us), a dazzle of zebras and a gang of Cape buffalo. Finally stopped near a river of flamingoes where some of the staff from Dunia met us for sunset drinks (sundowners!). What a pleasant surprise!
Back at Dunia, another great dinner and dessert and bed on the early side. Tomorrow we fly to Saraya Camp so we leave Dunia at 8.
1 comment:
Since all your camp sites are within areas where animals roam I guess you don't get to exercise by going out for a walk, or do you?
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