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| Preparing for launch |
Serengeti Balloon Ride
Outbound to Iringa, June 2, 2024,
By: Ray M
Four of us (Mark S, Carol S, Steve F, Ray M) got out of our tents [Tukaone Tented Camp, Serengeti] at a ridiculous hour and were on the road at 4:06 AM. It was interesting driving at night on remote dirt roads through the savanna – lots of wildlife we never would have known was there: Lesser Genet Cat, 3 hares, owls, and 4 hyena. A couple of the hyena did not seem particularly afraid of the vehicle -- they seemed to get closer out of curiosity. I would not want to have been walking out there.
Daudi ("David" in English) was the balloon company's driver who was taking us to the launch site. Daudi was Maasai and had grown up in a pastoral tribe moving from area to area near Maasai-Mara. He somehow studied hard, got through secondary school and became a safari driver. During the drive he shared lots of insights about the animals. He had a deep knowledge and he pulled out some of his excellent reference books - with cloth binders, and well-used. About hyenas: he told how one time he was driving to a remote camp (like the one we were staying at) by himself to pick up or deliver something. It was off-season, little traffic, and his vehicle got stuck in a mud pit. No one around. He waited 3 days, meanwhile hyenas started gathering - eventually 60 of them. He did something to scare them off for a while (I hadn't had any coffee when he was telling me, so I can’t remember, sorry!), put some branches under the car and somehow got himself out.
The drive was 1 hr 45 min. At the launch site, the hot air burners were being tested and the balloons were being laid out for takeoff. Still dark, we were all grateful that pots of coffee and hot chocolate were available.
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| Dawn at the launch site |
Our pilot/aeronaut was Captain Yellen, from Turkey. There were two other balloons launching with us, one had a Spanish pilot, one was US.
They explained the launch process. The balloon is laying down, as is the basket we are to sit in. The basket has benches to sit on, so that means we climb into the basket (which is on its side) and sit on the bench which is also on its side – meaning, our back is to the ground and we are looking up. We have safety harnesses clipped in.
Captain Yellen started the burners – with a mighty roar and a glow that lit up the area. The ground crew held on to the ropes while chanting and singing a launch song. The balloon lifted itself upright and we were off, just after sunrise.
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| Captain Yellen preparing for liftoff |
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| Launch crew, and another balloon |
The balloon went high at first, maybe 3000-4000 ft. From that altitude, we could see herds of wildebeest out to the horizon. Had to be hundreds of thousands of animals!
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| Part of a Wildebeest herd |
But of course at that altitude, each was just a dot. So we went closer, and closer. When we got down to a few hundred feet, the animals could hear the roar of the burner as it came on periodically to keep us at altitude. The animals (wildebeest, hyena, elephant, zebra) all were running as fast as they could to get away – to me, they acted terrified of this giant thing coming toward them roaring.
We dropped very low, right over a hippo pool. It seemed like we were almost touching them but probably we were at 100 ft.
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| Almost close enough to scratch its ear? |
The balloon perspective was different than from the road in that we got an appreciation of how immense Serengeti is, and how immense the herds are.
We landed just before 8 AM, 67 minutes air time. Nice job to be a pilot (if you are morning person) – all your day’s work done by 8 AM.
After the flight, we were taken to a separate picnic area for a Champagne breakfast. Very nice, and lots of Superb Starlings around looking for handouts. Also some Slender Mongooses.
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| Superb Starling |
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| Slender Mongoose (Wikipedia picture) |
We rejoined the rest of our group to continue their game sighting drive.
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