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Guests
to the Masai
Mara in Kenya can experience the rare excitement of game viewing from a hot air balloon.
In the crisp air of dawn, the passengers drink coffee while the crew
partially inflates the balloon with enormous fans. The gas burners are ignited and the balloon fills with hot air slowly raising the
baskets. Before departing, finalized checks are made, and the guests then climb into the balloon basket for a take off.
The balloons lift off just before sunrise
when the breeze on the plains is still cold. Once airborne, the balloon is
blown by the prevailing winds across the broad landscape. Apart from
the hiss of the burners, the flight above the Masai Mara plains is
magically silent. The pilot controls the height of the craft by regulating
the flow of hot air into the balloon. Sometimes the balloon will descend
over the plains for a close up view of the wildlife; on other occasions,
it rises to clear a tree canopy and rise over the reverine forest.
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