SA2SA: My Breathtaking Hot Air Balloon Safari

The guys getting the balloon prepared right before dawn.

You haven't lived until you've seen dawn breaking over the beautiful South African landscape from the peaceful basket of a hot air balloon.

With so much happening at the Palace of the Lost City, it was tempting to stay out the night before and live it up, but a 4:30am wake up call forced some common sense in to our group.

After being picked up in an open air Safari truck at 5am from the hotel, we were driven to the Pilannesburg National Park in the dark. Our guide kept his spotlight scanning both sides of the scrubby hills surrounding our truck, either to help us see animals or to protect us from them. Regardless of the intention, his trusty shotgun made us feel a little safer from roaming lions.

All rugged up with my Liza Emanuele cape on and a woolen blanket across my knees, I managed to spot a white rhino and its baby in the low light of pre-dawn!

Me standing in front of our group right before we jumped in.

The balloon itself was from Air Trak Adventures, and was being filled alongside a massive lake when we arrived. It has a whopping 250,000 cubic feet of volume and more than 47kms of stitching. What I'm saying is that it was huge. A comforting factor when you're about to sail up and over some of the most dangerous animals on earth.

This is the lake we took off over. So beautiful.

The serene peace of the morning was soul restoring, and teamed with the breaking dawn, there was a beautiful calm among those of us adventuring in to the sky.

The actual take off and journey in the balloon was wonderful. It was incredibly gentle and didn't actually feel like you were moving. We moved between 4.5 - 9kms/hr but because you are moving with the breeze, you don't actually feel the wind on your face. Those in the group with height fears had absolutely no trouble and loved it just as much as the rest of us.

South African sunsets are simply amazing.

From the sky we spotted more white rhinos, impalas, warthogs, antelopes, zebra, and wildebeest to name a few. We even heard a lion roar echo through the sky!

Our reflection in the lake we took off over.

Our balloon pilot was quite a character as well - Tony Corrie - an ex-ad man from the UK who moved over for a change of pace many years ago. Full of great stories and certainly a great person to make you feel like you're in safe hands.

Some of the beautiful landscape in the National Park.

It's quite cool seeing this shadow following you around.

We landed so gently we weren't sure we were on the ground!

Our guide protecting us as we landed.

Some of the white rhinos we spotted!

Our post-ballooning champagne breakfast at the lodge!

After we had landed and were safely escorted back to our Safari truck (which had driven around to where we set down), we were taken back through the national park in daylight so we were able to spot many more animals who were all up & about in the sunshine!

The final hurrah was a champagne breakfast to celebrate at a lodge on the other side of the big security fences that surround the national park. Nothing like some bubbles to help ease you in to a day you started at 4:30am!

I can't recommend this experience enough. It's a little pricier than other activities on offer, but it's also a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you'll never forget it. They even give you a little certificate as proof at the end of the breakfast!


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