Kenya. I never dreamed I’d be taking a photo of a hot air balloon from above it, in the air, in another balloon. But here I am at 6:30 one morning in Kenya. High above the hippos and gazelles who didn’t give us a second glance.
Ballooning. Something in all my years, I had never done. And now that I have experienced, I will do it again. It was the most awesome floating sensation. Eerily quite in spite of the large blast of propane every now and then.
I didn’t realize ballooning is the oldest (dating back to 1783) flight technology which carried people. And who could forget Dorothy missing her balloon ride home to Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. Or Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (published in 1873) which oddly did not involve a single hot air balloon for the trip (and I thought the whole trip was by balloon!)
Balloons have soared to 69,000 feet high (oxygen required), travelled 4,800 miles on a single trip (by a duo including Richard Branson), and in our case flown a couple hundred feet over the Maasai Mara Preserve. What an amazing way to spend a morning. I was just sorry our ride was a short hour. Pure magic!
