At 5.45 am, we were picked up by an Airtracker balloon company. The day was cold, with hardly any wind and clear skies, perfect for flying. With it being dark, our driver had to be careful of wild animals, and wow, what luck when a sleeping lion was seen at the side of the road.
And then 10 minutes later a pride of lions lay right across the road stopping our progress.
We eventually reached the launch site by a lake with open ground. The balloon was nearly ready, and we all waited in anticipation for it to lift. Once the basket was upright, we all clambered in. Well tried to anyway. If you have never been in one, the task is difficult unless you are supple and your legs can reach higher than us oldies. It was funny, and thank goodness for the ground team. Put it this way, there was no finesse about any of it.
Once everyone was in, our pilot, Te, gave a briefing on how to position ourselves for the landing, and before we knew it, the balloon took off into the air. Wow, how incredibly amazing was the feeling of slowly lifting off and watching the ground get smaller. Te was a superb pilot who took us high then low to see the animals and even had me wondering if the hill we were flying towards wouldn't be our undoing, so close did she take us. It was an incredible experience, and when finally the call came to get into landing position, Te brought the balloon down with the basket just dragging and without tipping. What a pilot.
Afterwards, we had champagne, as is the tradition all over the world. It was started in the 1780's to appease the farmers whose fields they landed in. To read the history, click HERE
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| Te, our pilot |
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| The ground crew sitting on the now stored-away balloon. Chap with the gun was there in case of wild animal attack |
Included in the experience was breakfast at a very posh lodge. Full English with as much as you wanted to eat. On the way, elephants and an amorous wart hog were seen.
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| The driver decided not to try to pass; lone bull elephants can be unpredictable. Instead, he stopped the vehicle and waited for it to pass. |
By the time we arived back at site, 5 hours had passed and as we had a permit to enter the park, having changed from cold weather gear to warm again, we set off on our own to explore. No track was inaccessible, but boy, did we go through some horrors! We found several dams with hippos and nearly got taken out by a rhino as it emerged from the scrub! Ian rapidly reversed, and we had to wait to see if it disappeared so we could pass. Luckily, it took no further notice and wandered off.
Getting back to camp, a message came through from our WhatsApp group to say Annette and Malcolm were stuck in soft mud. Our leader, Kobus, was on a game drive, and Ryan was in the shower, but Colin and Ann were close to reception at the time, got hold of a ranger who raced to there destination and drag them out.
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| Photos courtesy of Annette |
More photos from our self-drive.
The elephants playtime
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