The adventure begins just before dawn. Flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies and the hot air balloon fills then rises.
Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, you’re off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. The thing that amazes most first-time balloonists is the absolute stillness, the silence as you float above the plains, the forest and the rivers of the Masai Mara. And if you’ve flown elsewhere, you’ve seen nothing like this.
The sounds below drift clearly upwards: a lion’s roar, elephants crashing through the bush, baboons perched in the tips of the trees startled and screeching to see something above them.
For an hour or so you drift wherever the air currents take you. If you’re lucky you’ll climb high above the Mara for the view of a lifetime.
Then your Kenyan hot air balloon safari finishes with a flourish. In the time honoured tradition of balloon flights the world over, you toast your return to earth with a champagne breakfast.
The difference is that this breakfast happens in the bush, wherever you land. You will enjoy a very special bush breakfast.
Mara Balloon Safaris pioneered game-viewing by hot air balloon in Africa. We have some of the world’s most experienced pilots flying some of the world’s largest hot air balloons. And our distinctive colours are known the world-over.
- Balloon flights often get booked up in advance, we recommend you book early
- All balloon flights begin soon after dawn, it means an early start
- All flights take off from designated airstrips
- Flights last an average of one (1) hour
- Champagne breakfast and a game drive on the way the camp/lodge are included