A balloon flight over the Mara or the Serengeti is usually the most expensive single item on a safari invoice after the accommodation and the flights. It is also the item travellers most often ask us to justify, which is fair.
Our honest position is that it is worth it for some people and not for others, and the deciding factors are not the ones the brochures emphasise.
What actually happens
You are collected from camp at around four thirty in the morning and driven to the launch site in the dark. Inflation takes place at first light and is genuinely impressive to watch. The flight itself lasts approximately an hour, drifting with the wind at whatever altitude the pilot chooses, sometimes very low over the grass and sometimes several hundred metres up.
You land wherever the wind puts you, and a full champagne breakfast is served in the bush at the landing site. You are usually back at camp by mid morning.
You are buying a landscape experience, not a wildlife experience. Confusing the two is where disappointment comes from.
What you will and will not see
From a balloon you see the scale of the ecosystem in a way that is genuinely impossible from a vehicle: the river system, the escarpment, herds spread across kilometres, the light coming up. That is the product.
What you will not get is close, sustained wildlife viewing. Animals are below you and moving away from the burner noise. For photography of individual animals, an ordinary morning game drive will beat a balloon every time.
Who it suits
- Travellers on a short trip who want one memorable event rather than a third game drive.
- Special occasions, which is most of the honeymoon bookings we handle.
- Anyone who has already spent several days in a vehicle and wants a different perspective.
- Landscape photographers, as distinct from wildlife photographers.
Who should skip it
- Anyone whose priority is close wildlife photography.
- Families with young children, where the early start costs more than the flight gives.
- Travellers on a tight budget, where the same money buys two extra nights in a conservancy.
- Anyone uneasy about heights, since baskets are open and the sensation is exposed.
Practical points
Flights are weather dependent and cancellations do happen, usually for wind rather than rain. Reputable operators refund in full when they cancel, but the morning is gone either way, so do not schedule it on your final day.
Landings can be firm. Operators brief a bracing position and passengers with back or knee problems should mention this at booking rather than at the basket.
It is cold at four thirty in the morning at altitude, considerably colder than the daytime savannah suggests. Take a proper layer.
The alternative worth considering
If the appeal is a different perspective rather than the balloon specifically, a scenic light aircraft transfer between parks delivers a version of the same view as part of a journey you were making anyway, at a fraction of the cost. It is not the same experience, but for some travellers it scratches the same itch.
