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Balloon Ride over The Serengeti
We spend our first night in the Serengeti at the Serena Lodge. We enjoy our "hut" -- but we don't get a very long night's sleep, because ...
... there's a wake-up call at 4 am. Out the door at 5 am, and ready to board the balloon at sunrise.
This 315,000 cubic foot balloon is one of 2 airships we launch that morning. The balloons, like ships, have names. Ours is named "Hippo", or "Kiboko" in Swahili. First, the balloon is partially inflated with a powerful fan. This creates enough open space to blow hot air into using the butane burners -- without setting the balloon on fire!
It's an exciting moment when they light the "torch". We board the basket, holding 10 people, while it is still lying sideways on the ground -- and wonder "Why the hell are we doing this?" The hot air fully inflates the balloon, which rises and pulls the basket upright. The basket is, all this while, tethered to a braked truck and a van. As the breeze catches the balloon, I try to imagine how we'll look at 1,000 feet with two trucks dangling from our basket.
Anchors Aweigh! Up we go -- lifting nearly 2 tons of balloon, gear, and souls on board. I just have to ask the pilot where the parachutes are -- on a boat you have life preservers, right? Ask a silly question, get a silly answer: "Only the pilot gets a parachute". What to do in case of an emergency? "Remain calm. Remain in the basket."
We climb up to about 1,000 ft rapidly -- our companion balloon goes quite a bit higher -- their pilot likes to "orbit", as they say in the trade.
Someday, someone will come across a baboon wearing sunglasses -- they're probably mine. Somehow my sunglasses eject from my shirt pocket while I am clinging to the basket, and I watch them sail down ... down ... down ... for a long time. I ask the pilot for a Lat/Lon fix from his portable GPS so I can come back and find them some day.
Occasional bursts from the butane burners, into the interior of the balloon, keep us aloft -- and we drift along for 45 minutes or so. Propane is apparently the preferred fuel, but out in the bush, it's not easy to get as butane. We burn 60 gallons in a trip like this.
We spot some giraffe (left) and a few gazelles, but no Great Migration -- not yet, anyway. The tracks observable on the right are not from vehicles -- these are game tracks. The wildebeest move in "single-file" when they're under way, and their large numbers leave these weaving traffic patterns on the savanna.
Back on terra firma, the chase vehicle crew pops open champagne for us, right where we land. What, Lynn and Julie drinking at 8:00 am? It's great to be alive!
Then we're whisked off to our breakfast, where a turbaned server pours water for our
hands, and we are seated to gourmet platters of fruits, eggs, croissants, and sausage.
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