The air was so cold at 4 AM that we had to wake up super early to get ready for our hot air balloon safari! We booked via the tour company just weeks before our safari, Brian decided to splurge on it based on rave reviews he read. We were quoted at $480 USD per person if done in the Maasai Mara or $550 USD per person if done in the Serengeti. After reading numerous reviews and blogs, we decided to do it in Serengeti because the companies are more formal, “higher quality”, and Seregenti is much bigger. Our pick-up was at 4:30, and the driver from Miracle Experience came, picked us up, and made two more stops to pick up other guests. At the last stop, we waited for a while, and the driver found out that guest was sick, so we continued; he should have notified the company instead of keeping us waiting! We got to the launching site where guests could grab tea and coffee and divided into groups; each balloon held up to 16 guests. While the balloons were getting inflated, instructions were provided…much more detailed than the instructions we had when we did the hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey.

The sun started to rise, unfortunately, we didn’t make it up on time for the sunrise…grrr to that sick guest who delayed us!

They flipped the basket sideways, and we got in, lay down, secured our seat belts, made sure my long hair was tucked into the hoodie, and held onto the ropes as the basket made its way up as the balloon was inflating. In Turkey, they inflated the balloon and once the basket was upright, we climbed in via a ladder so it was super easy and fast.

We were the 8th balloon to take off, we were super excited even though it wasn’t our first time on a hot air balloon ride.

As we flew over Serengeti, we saw a herd of giraffes near a lodge. Can you spot the giraffes?

I zoomed in with my 200mm and with some croppings:

The pilot got us lower and closer to the giraffes but they started to run away!

More lodges inside the park:

A lone wildebeest:

A lone giraffe:

Lots of antelope:

We flew over a sausage tree, those hanging things looked like sausages!

It was a quiet morning; we didn’t see as many animals as I was hoping for during the 50-minute flight. The landing wasn’t as smooth as in Cappadocia, we had some bumps and landed sideways. Was it worth the $550? Hum…..if it was our first time on a hot air balloon yes. But since we had our first in Capaddocia where its landscape is out of the world and we didn’t get to see as many animals I would say not really worth it. We did wonder if it would be better if done in Maasai Mara where the animals were more concentrated.

Group photo of us with our pilot, he was from Cappadocia!

The crew loaded the basket back into the truck while the guests had champagne.

Then, we got in the safari truck and the driver drove us to the breakfast place. They really have this down to a science, very well organized. Staffs greeted us to our table in the tent.

The tables were nicely set:

Those birds were waiting for a chance to get their breakfast as well LOL!

A basket of pastries were passing around, they were yummy.

We were given a made-to-order menu…I ordered an omelet; it was good.

They even have toilets with a view.

The semi-open toilet faced out to the view LOL!

Similar view in the toilet as at the washing basins.

A lot of guests were celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. so they called one by one to have their cake cut and songs sung by the staff. Jason’s birthday was 2 days away so he had his little early celebration 🙂

We got our certificates and photo with our pilot:

After breakfast, we got a ride back to their “office” where Emmanuel picked us up and did a short game drive. We saw more hippos:

The crocodile and the hippo:

We spotted the giraffe and waited for it to walk toward that tree to frame the photo. As no off-road allowed, Emmanuel had to drive around to position the giraffe xD

A herd of buffalos at a distance:

This one was closer to the road:

We made our way back to the lodge for lunch. The reception area has a large deck to hang out:

Across from the reception is the restaurant, there were tables outside too but it was too hot at around noon to be comfortable dining outside.

Lunch was “pizza”, lamb stew (which I skipped), and avocado salad. We were the only group at the lodge for lunch, other guests were out on their long day of game drive.

We had a little break after lunch before our afternoon game drive. We stayed at “Zanzibar”, the last hut. We heard a lot of animal noises at night and sometimes I felt like the animals were right outside our tent!

At first, we thought it was a stick that got stuck on the cloth in the bathroom but when we looked closer, it moved :O Little creatures don’t bother me as long as no snake!!!

We started our afternoon game drive at 3 PM and the first animal we spotted was the hyena.

Then, two giraffes eating the bushes, one on each side 😀

A colorful bird up on the tree, look at the thorns!

We came across a crane as well!

Further away, there was a lioness and she was surrounded by antelopes LOL, I guess she is full.

A secretary bird, it was large!

Another bird up on the tree.

Emmanuel always stopped whenever another safari truck from the opposite direction passed by to share sightings. I noticed he didn’t use the radio as much, another difference in Serengeti versus Maasai Mara. The other driver said lion up ahead and we drove for at least 15 minutes down the road and saw nothing. Emmanuel turned back and headed to another road and we eventually got to the cheetahs. They were finishing up their early dinner and left with the organs.

The cheetahs left and the birds and vultures were eyeing on the leftovers.

They flew down and then up a few times carefully and made their way closer and closer to the leftovers. This vulture took the first bite and another flew down.

We were very quiet and watched them split the share.

We continued with the game drive and got to the lioness on the side of the road. She was watching the zebras and we were waiting patiently for a hunt.

We waited and waited for the action…

The zebras were watching carefully as well.

Hum….

The sun was setting but no action 🙁

The sunset was colorful with the trees as the silhouette.

Even though our lodge is located inside the park, the park is “closed” after sunset so we need to head back to the lodge. We went directly to dinner and they had fried chicken, vegetable curry, cole slaw, and white rice. Tanzanian cuisine is similar to Kenyan, they are influenced by Indian curry as well.

Our full day in Serengeti started with a hot air balloon safari, it was a good experience viewing animals from above but not as many animals as I had hoped for. We did a short game drive on our way back to the lodge for lunch where we saw hippos and crocodiles. On the afternoon game drive, we saw lions, cheetahs, and lots and lots of birds. We didn’t witness a kill but it was interesting to see the vultures’ behavior in getting the leftovers. After a full day in Serengeti, I felt that because Serengeti is so large, the animals were spread apart. Emmanuel stayed away from the main roads so that helped with the dust situation. The brushes and no off-road made it hard to spot animals especially if they are further away from the roads.