Africa: Soaring over the Serengeti
Have you ever ridden above the skyline in a hot air balloon?
It is a fantastic experience to see the world from a different vanishing point. Let's first start with the fact that riding in a hot air balloon would be impressive anywhere. I was lucky enough to have the chance to ride in a hot air balloon over the Serengeti while visiting Tanzania.
When visiting Tanzania, I did a tour with G-Adventure. The tour started in Kenya and then crossed the border into Tanzania. Just alone crossing the board into Tanzania was an adventure. Once the passports were stamped, we started the journey to our first camping spot before setting off on a three-day camping spot in the Serengeti National Park.
You have yet to go to the Serengeti National park unless you take an entryway photo! At the entryway, you will be met by some of the Maisa Warriors from the nearby villages! When trying to take a picture, make sure they don't see you take it; once they spot you taking a photo of them, they will want money from you; other than that, the entryway into the Serengeti is beautiful. All you can see is the vast dirty plain with a few shrubs around the area.
After we got into the entry of the Serengeti, the tour made its way to the camping spot before heading out on an afternoon safari. Wow, what a fantastic day am already getting to see so many animals. Once we got back into camp, we had dinner, and lucky enough, they had a person come around to the campground with alcohol. You have to try the Tanzanian Beer and Apple Cider! When it was time for bed, we would have to go as a group to the bathrooms because when it got dark, the Hyenas started to roam the campsite.
(I also wrote about Sleeping with Hyenas, so I will only go into a bit of detail about that in this section!) Click Here To Read
Today is the day we get to go up in the hot air balloon over the Serengeti! After being up earlier, before the sun rose, we got into the safari vehicle and made our way to the hot air balloon take-off spot! It was a new morning getting to be able to watch the sunrise in the Serengeti and see how still the world can be until the first-morning glow that starts to peak from the ground into the sky! The sun's colors started to show: pink, purple, orange, and yellow started to dance into the vision over the Serengeti plain. What a traffic way to start the morning with all those beautiful colors in the sky! When people think of going to Africa, they believe it to be warm, but this morning had a different feel. It was a little nippy, and I first started cold, but once the sun raised higher, I started to warm up.
After watching the sunrise from the area where the balloon rises from, we waited for the crew to finish the last few steps of getting the hot air balloon ride ready for take-off. We could spot a male and female lion in the distance. It is such a crazy feeling being in the wild with all the fantastic animals. Now it is time for a laugh. You should have seen the group trying to get into the hot air balloon. They had the basket lying on its side, so people had to crawl into the backside and then climb into the front. It's something you have to experience or see to understand how funny it was watching everyone trying to get into the basket. Other than this little obstacle in getting into the basket, the balloon is filled with heat, and it starts to drag the basket to get up right before it takes off. Then it was lift-off, and we started to get into the air, and when they reached the altitude they needed, you could see miles and miles of the vast landscapes in the distance.
While flying over the vast landscape, the wind might factor in how long you can stay up in the air before you reach the final destination. In this instance, we got lucky, and the wind was not a factor, so the balloons were not moving super fast to the destination. While flying over the Serengeti, you can see all kinds of animals. I was sad that the group could not see Elephants from the hot air balloon. Although we did not see elephants, we did see a female lion, hyenas, hippos, giraffes, water buffalos, and zebras. It was an excellent opportunity to see all the animals from above than from the ground it just gives you a different experience.
After you reach the final destination, you are picked up in a safari vehicle and transported to the area where you will have breakfast/brunch ready. The food was terrific, and we even got champagne. Here is another remarkable experience: eating out in the bush in the Serengeti plains. At this spot, if you had to use the bathroom, they had an open canvas bathroom facing out into the wild. While that is not the point, just eating breakfast out in the bush with the wildlife around you, lucky no dangerous animals were around. I know we had a herd of water buffalo and zebra around. We even had an ostrich in the area.
All and all, I had an incredible adventure flying over the Serengeti! If you ever get a chance to fly over the Serengeti, you better do it. It would not disappoint you! Thank you for reading and following me on my journey to more Travel/Adventure in the future!
Tyler