9 August -- Masai Mara (by David)

This was my favorite day so far….and the one I had been anticipating for about a year! Although getting up at 4:30 in the morning was tough, the thrill of riding in a hot air balloon at day break over the Masai Mara is impossible to adequately describe.

Briefly, here are some of the highlights:

-The massive balloon filled with air in less than 10 minutes.
-The lift off was so gentle, we hardly realized we were airborn.
-We were in one of the largest balloons manufactured in the world! The basket had room for 16 passengers and one pilot.
-We floated along with about 5 other balloons that morning, and coasted and a variety of heights. The pilot (Steve) was a very witty Brit who kept us laughing every time he opened his mouth! He was also great about turning the balloon around so that everyone had a chance to be in the “forward” position.
-The flight was amazingly quiet! The passengers all spoke in hushed tones. I think we were all in awe of the beauty of the early morning sun hitting the Masai Mara. The grasses and even the animals were cast in a beautiful rosey-gold glow.
-Most of the wild life included zebra, wildebeest, and tobis.
-The ride lasted about an hour, but it seemed to have gone by much more quickly. We all absolutely loved the ride.

Landing was quite an experience. Our pilot warned us in advance that landing would involve the basket tipping over and dragging on the ground until the balloon stopped moving. He warned us that it could be very bumpy but that he would try to avoid hitting any termite hills or trees! The basket is designed like a ride at an amusement park, sans the seat belts or harnesses. It was designed so that the passengers have padding behind their heads and back so that when the basket lands, tips over and drags, there isn’t too much physical damage. We were responsible for bracing ourselves and holding on to these rope handles so that no one falls out of the basket.

As communicated, the basket did land right side up, tipped over and dragged. Then, it briefly became airborne again before dragging a while longer. All in all, this probably lasted 5 or 6 minutes and was more fun than frightening….but still pretty thrilling as we did not quite know what to expect. We did feel sorry for the passengers on the bottom of the basket (we were up, above them) since their heads were just inches above the ground and seemed to be collecting no small amount of grass throughout the drag. We have some great photos of our position after the basket finally came to rest.

The champagne breakfast surpassed everyone’s expectations: We were greeted with large glasses of champagne, yummy mini quiches, sausages, cold cuts, boiled eggs, plates of cheese and fruit, yogurt, more champagne, and orange juice then plenty of tea and coffee. After breakfast, we were presented with our certificates or “diplomas” from our trip while one of the older British pilots cut up and danced with everyone. He was great fun and was joking about everyone having a 9 to 5 job while his was a 5 to 9 job.

We slept a good bit after we got back to the lodge.

So sad to see Caroline and Linda head back to the states this day! Really hated to see them go. Roger and I both enjoyed their outstanding company completely.

We did a little bird watching as we waited for their plane to arrive. It was about an hour late, so we managed to see quite a few birds and critters as we drove around the landing strip. We picked up a passenger (Naomi, a principal from Toronto) who joined us for a little bird watching after she quickly dropped her bags off at the lodge. Saw our best sunset this evening and watched as a couple of hyena crept out in their creepy way that only a hyena can creep around. We hated the C and L weren’t able to see the sunset but we did get lots of good photos….even on my little “birthday party” camera.

OK….signing off for now. I did not get to the other days yet….still have lots of catching up to do.