Day 13: Serengeti

Our alarms went off at 3:30am this morning because it is Epic Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Serengeti Day!!!

Ready by 4am, we used the walkie talkie in the room to call for an escort to take us to the main tent. On the short walk to the front tent, we dodged some water buffalo droppings, then saw two of them sleeping just off the path. So the security protocol here is legit.

We met the rest of our balloon team at the bar — Aaron, Emily, and Lily — and enjoyed some very good coffee and a delicious muffin while we waited for Kingston to pick us up. The rest of the group (Adam, Cordwood, and Melanie) is sleeping in today and will go an a morning game drive. We’ll all meet up later around lunchtime.

Tickets to fly

Kingston (aka. self-proclaimed “Balloon Guy”) arrived and we drove for about an hour to the take-off site. Once we were there, we waited for the remaining guests to arrive. In the meantime, we were given ginger coffee (weird), ginger tea (delicious), and little hot air balloon shaped shortbread cookies (adorable).

Hot air balloon lounge snacks

Firing up

Eventually, the rest of the passengers arrived and we met our pilot Paul Sparks, who had the most awesome Zimbabwe accent. He provided the safety briefing and explained how we will start with the basket on its side. We will use the Gemini “astronaut position” for take-off and landing.

The before photo… proof of life

Assume the Astronaut position

Hot Air Balloon route (light blue)

From the air, we saw a bunch of animals including large dazzles of zebras, a ton of gazelles and impalas, elephants, and even a lion (and more!). As noted before, the word Serengeti comes from a Maasai word meaning “endless plains”. We really experienced that from the balloon as we could see the park in all directions seemingly to go on forever. It also explains why the drives take so long.

Going up

Balloon Safari

Balloon selfie

Balloons over the Serengeti

Balloons!

Hot air

After about an hour, we landed and celebrated with champagne. Paul explained the history of the first ballon ride (they thought it was smoke that provided the lift), how we got the name pilot (the hot air balloon was invented by a frenchman named Pilot) and why flights are celebrated with champagne (to prove you are not the devil when you land in fields and set them on fire). For what its worth, Paul did a MUCH better job of explaining this French invention than the French did when we did the hot air balloon ride in France. Thanks Paul!

Touchdown!

Traditional champagne toast

The most important part of ballooning

When we were done with the story and champagne we were driven to our breakfast spot about 30 minutes away. They served an amazing, fancy breakfast in the middle of the Serengeti. Paul sat at our table and we learned more about his life and ballooning. We were given certificates for completing the balloon ride. These were much easier to earn than the Kilimanjaro certificates.

Flight certificates. We’re the pilots now.

Breakfast buddies

With our epic hot air balloon experience concluded, we drove back to the visitor center to meet up with the rest of our group.

Now on the game drive together, we started spotting animals. The guides are really great at finding animals, but a clear hint is when there are a bunch of safari cars bunched in the same area. We followed suit and our drivers asked the other drivers what everyone was looking at. Turns out there was a leopard taking a nap in the tree! There are pretty strict rules about staying on the roads, and the tree was a bit off the path so we couldn’t get any closer. When we were satisfied with the blurry pictures, we moved on to find other animals.

Safari Day 3 drives (detail, green=AM, orange=PM)

Lazy leopard in a tree

As we were on the road, we came upon a lion family – two females, a male, and a cub. They were walking right along the cars for a while. Apparently they were looking for food. One of the females ventured into the grass and we couldn’t see her anymore. But then a flock of birds suddenly fled the area and the lioness jumped up to try to catch one. She missed. We left the lions to themselves and continued the drive on the way to lunch.

Lions looking for lunch

Grazing giraffe

We went back to the visitor center in Seronera and found the picnic area for our lunch break. There were a reasonable number of people vying for tables and chairs, but we eventually claimed a spot along with the hundreds of small birds that were happy to lurk by our feet for scraps.

Here’s a possible hot take… game drives after lunch may not be the best combo. It’s hot out, the sun is blazing down on you, and there’s not a cloud to be found in the sky. Now imagine you’ve just polished off a box lunch of pasta, bread, rice, chicken wings, fruit, yogurt, and other various deserts. YUM!!! But what do you think is gonna happen once you get back in a warm, bumpy vehicle??? NAP TIME, BABY!!!! Which is fine, but not helpful for viewing animals.

Actually, game drives in general have their pros and cons. “Safari-ing is not actually an old-person’s game,” says Matt. They are unique for sure, but also hot, dusty, bumpy, sleepy, and sun-burny. Sitting in a vehicle for six days after climbing Kilimanjaro seems like it would be nice, but it sorta makes you feel super lazy and a little-stir crazy. Alternate theory… after floating gloriously above the Serengeti in a balloon, it’s hard to go back to Land Cruisers.

Anyways, after lunch we embarked on an afternoon game drive and (provided you were still awake) spotted more animals before heading back to the lodge — including our closest encounter with a group on Giraffes so far.

Arriving back at the Nyumbani Collection Lodge at roughly 5pm, we had time to participate in the “spear throwing” activity they offer. Mkaka demonstrated and we all took a few reps trying to throw the spear so that it successfully sticks in the ground. Most of us nailed it. We event challenged one of the lodge staff members to throw the spear further than Mkaka… results were too close to call.

Back to camp

After the spear-throwing, we had time for another activity — a walk around the property. Mkaka took the lead and some of the other staff joined as well. Mkaka was able to identify all the droppings around camp (hippo, lion, water buffalo), all the tracks (hyena, impala, water buffalo) and could even identify where a water buffalo was sleeping. He’s a real everyday Aragorn. Plus, walking around felt really nice after spending the last few days in a car.

Short stroll around camp

Overly complicated spear posing instructions

We had some time to relax back in the tents before dinner. The food was once again delicious, featuring lamb roast, soup, and a fancy Italian desert. Some people have now had enough soup to last a lifetime and took a pass on that course, so we’re gonna need you to turn in your Soup Bros membership card. Tomorrow is another game drive in the never-ending Serengeti. The mission: Large Cats.

PS. Animals seen today: