Sep 30: Hot Air Balloon Safari Plus ...

On a whim ... A Hot Air Balloon Safari this morning.  Wow!  A shock to the system really, because it was only as we arrived yesterday we were offered the option, and Margy had already prebooked one.  She persuaded us.  Didn't have time to get nervous about it, but I have to admit to a poor nights sleep being so pumped up with adrenalin.  It was a 4.30am wakeup call anyway, so wouldn't have got much sleep!

Loved it, loved it.  Was only nervous during the take off: the 8 seater basket starts lying flat, then as the balloon inflates it quickly raises to an upright position while being dragged along the ground for a few metres.  Bit bumpy and dusty for a minute or so, and then we were upright and slowly started rising into the predawn sky.

For the first 15 mins or so we were no more than 10 metres up.  It felt so low I thought we would surely crash into the ant hills!  We were so low that it felt like a lion was tracking us!  And it was just as thrilling higher up because we began to appreciate that the wildebeest migration has begun.

For an hour we tracked high and low over the Masai Mara and after a much softer landing had the obligatory champagne breakfast.