Balloon Safari

While at the Masai Mara, this extra activity is highly recommended

Drifting over The Mara plains is a splendid way to experience nature. Balloon safaris are available every day. Balloon Safaris Limited, which is based at the Keekorok Lodge, is one of the main operators. Bookings are done a day before flight date. The company has been flying balloon safaris over The Mara since 1976.

All Balloon Safaris' pilots have undergone extensive training and have all worked for a period as commercial balloon pilots in other parts of the world. To pilot a balloon, it is necessary to gain a pilot's license exactly as with other forms of aircraft. There are a set number of hours of instruction and the same theoretical exams to pass as any fixed wing pilot.

The balloons stand as high as a ten-storey building, measure 100ft across at their equator and have a volume of 315,000 cubic feet, or 9,000 cubic meters. They are among the largest operational balloons in the world. At sea level, they can lift over two tons, although in Africa they carry only a maximum of 12 passengers plus a pilot. They are made of nylon based fabric superior to that of a spinmaker sail. The basket is made of woven cane and willow.

The balloons do not fly in winds greater than 15 m.p.h. so the calm African mornings are the perfect time for flights. They must go where the wind take them but winds at different heights often have varying directions, so the pilot can choose his height and hence his direction. The balloons lift comes from hot air. The hotter the balloon the faster it rises. As it cools, it slowly descends.

Do you know how the idea of ballooning in Africa started?

In his 1862 novel “Five Weeks in a Baloon”, Jules Verne foresaw possibilities of seeing game and other fantastic sights in Africa from a balloon. 100 years later, Anthony Smith, a writer and gas balloonist from England put Verne's idea into practice when he flew, together with his crew (which included wildlife photographer Alan Root), his balloon ‘Jambo' from Zanzibar to Tanzania, onwards to Serengeti and to the Rift Valley.

Meanwhile, the American navy had developed a new air balloon as a ship to shore lift devices but later abandoned the idea. The air balloon was made of rip-stop spinmaker nylon with a burner that used domestic cooking gas for fuel, was economical to use and maintain and could be controlled in height to within few inches. Alan Root tested one of these balloons, was convinced of its capability, set off to Kenya and filmed probably his most popular film ‘Safari by Balloon'. During the filming, the idea of a regular balloon safari was born and in 1976 Alan Root piloted the inaugural flight of a new Kenyan company, Balloon Safaris Ltd. based at Keekorok Lodge in the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Since then, the company has flown thousands of passengers including famous personalities.