Balloon Safaris
TANZANIA BALLOON SAFARIS IN SERENGETI
A Serengeti balloon safari is a fantastic once in a lifetime experience, particularly suitable for a bird’s eye-view game viewing experience on your Safarika Africa wildlife tour in northern Tanzania. Hot air balloon rides leave from three sites in this prime national park.
In Central Serengeti, wildlife gathers year-round in the Seronera River Valley where there is permanent water. The Great Migration passes through around May and June.
EXPLORING SERENGETI WILDLIFE OVER THE SKY
The Western Serengeti includes the Grumeti River, scene of theatrical crossings during the Great Migration in June and July, when hundreds of thousands of gnu, brave the giant Nile crocodiles, and many perish while others detour to avoid the perilous river.
In South Serengeti plains, the wildebeests assemble from December on wards, to calve in February, producing 8000 newborn every day on a three-week marathon, a sight not to be missed on your personalized nature travel in Serengeti.
The plains of the Serengeti are particularly suited to balloon flights which are particularly convenient, letting you get aerially closer and distinctly accessible to the action than you could be by a game-viewing safari vehicle
BALLOON SAFARI CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE
Conditions are favorable early every morning, but you are advised to pre-book this popular activity for your safari holiday to Tanzania due its limited seating availability.
Unfortunately, only children over seven year, old and fit and active adults can be accommodated. Because weight is a crucial safety consideration, passengers weighing over 120 kilos (265 pounds) may need to reserve two places. The balloons are immense. Baskets are compartmentalized for comfort and security, accommodating 16 people for each one-hour voyage.
WORRYING ABOUT BALLOON RIDE COST?
The price reflects the enormous cost of the balloons due to a safety replacement every few hundred hours, equivalent to swapping with a high-end automobile. High fees are payable to the national park for tourist concessions for every single passenger. A skilled, experienced and licensed pilot and staff of 20 are needed for each trip, including launching and recovery as well as transport to and from the launch and celebratory champagne breakfast.
Each flight is unique, some high enough to view the panoramic landscape for miles ahead, others low enough to see individual animals at close quarters. It is not a cheap excursion, but it will make your northern Tanzania vacation one of the most memorable of your whole life. It is possible to charter special private balloon flights in the Grumeti Reserve for honeymoon couples on their romantic trip in the great plains of Africa.
Tanzania Balloon Safari Experience In Serengeti With Safarika Africa
For your Serengeti hot-air balloon trip in northern Tanzania, you will be collected around 0500 hours. An hour predawn drive through the bush to your launch site is a delight in itself. You may see nocturnal animals in the headlights that you could not have encountered any other way. Near a river like Seronera or Grumeti, you may meet grazing hippo.
On the plains, a lioness may return from her kill, a hyena slinking in her wake. In the cool early morning, a light-weight long-sleeved jacket and long trousers are a wise idea, with sturdy shoes.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Remember to take your binoculars and DSLR camera to make the most of this highlight of your Serengeti excursion. The huge balloon inflates swaying impatiently as it lifts. The intermittent roaring of the burner reminds you to put on your hat as it can get quite warm overhead.
Assistants hold the basket steady, ensuring it remains level during take-off. Then comes the heart-stopping moment when you lose touch with the earth and become part of the dawn.
As you ascend, the sky lightens from purple to pink. The sun clears the horizon, flooding the Serengeti plains with golden light. Your stomach clenches as you look out over your unobstructed basket side to the receding earth. Losing contact with the ground or the feeling of being totally at the mercy of the wind can cause an atavistic shudder.
For an hour, you will have no control over where you go or what you see. However skillful your pilot, he can only go where the wind takes him, so you need to accept your helplessness, let yourself experience the enriching sights, sounds and sensations of your flight as well as the emotions it arouses.
Overview
- Summary: Sunrise balloon safari followed by a champagne toast and a bush breakfast
- Price: $599 per person
- Duration: 5 hours (5.00AM – 10.00AM)
- Location: Central Serengeti / South Serengeti / West Serengeti
Logistics
Easily incorporated into any itinerary.
Seasons
Balloon safaris can be incorporated into your itinerary during any month of travel. The Central Serengeti launching site (available year round) is a great option any month with abundant resident animal sightings and spectacular scenery.
The South Serengeti launching site offers the opportunity for an aerial view of the Great Migration on the open plains from mid December to early April and similarly at the West Serengeti launching site from roughly mid May to early July.
Your pilot can precisely control the altitude of your balloon while sometimes flying at treetop height and at other times ascending to 1000 feet. Flight time is about one hour depending upon conditions. Scout vehicles will track your location from the ground and will be waiting for you wherever the winds have carried the balloon.
Your balloon safari Experience ends with a delightful champagne toast and an elegant breakfast at the landing site. A lavish breakfast is served in the bush with weighty silver, delicate china, and fine linen tablecloths. Breakfast consists of tropical fruits, freshly baked bread, eggs, sausage, bacon, mushroom and tomato.
What a climax to Safarika Africa safari! On completion, your guide meets you at a designated pickup point to continue on with your game drive tour in Serengeti National Park.
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