We were roused at 4:30am this morning with coffee and orange juice for a 4:45 pickup for a long anticipated Balloon flight over the Serengeti. Thus started the days adventures. The second leg of the adventure was the drive to the launching site; a 90 minute drive in the dark on trails that sometimes felt more like an off road course. But eventually we arrived to find the ballon partially inflated, the pilot giving instructions and doing his inspection. In short order we were all aboard and in the air, just in time to catch the sun poke its face over the horizon. For an hour or more we skimmed across the plain some times only a few feet off the ground, sometimes clipping trees, scaring wart hogs and ostriches and getting an entirely different perspective on the land and the animals.

Following an entirely safe landing the pilot told us a story about a recent ballooning accident that killed 19 people in Egypt in 2013 and demonstrated exactly what happened - the timing was better than telling this story before takeoff, but I think most people could have done without the story. All balloonist were then taken to the banks of the Mara River for a champagne breakfast. The pilot explained that that the champagne was a ballooning tradition started by the Montgolfier Brothers after the first ever hot air balloon flight in 1783.

We also discovered that the pilot was Turkish and had previously worked at Cappadocia. We had a a good chat about the quality of the flying there.

Then it was off for the days animal watching. The goal today was to witness a crossing. In this area the migrating Wildebeests and zebra collect on the banks of the Mara River until something triggers the group to cross the river. Once this starts the herd piles into the river in somewhat of a frenzy. No doubt everyone has seen this on the National Geographic channel. Our goal today was to see such a crossing in the flesh.

It took a degree of patience, today we sat for hours watching herds of wildebeest and zebra wander back and forth along the northern bank of the Mara River, and a number of times we thought the group was compressing enough for a crossing to start but something would change and then the group would disperse a little and start heading to another crossing point. In this period of waiting we happened to see a group of 6 or 8 elephants make a crossing, which was interesting but not the desired main attraction.

Eventually our patience was rewarded and just before lunch a group of the beasts started ploughing across the river. We African novices thought the spectacle would stop as the herd on the bank was relatively small but others raced from all directions to join the event. Eventually we guess we saw maybe 1000-2000 animals plunge into the water and push their way across.

The crossing we witnessed did not (unlike the TV shows) have the drama of crocodiles waiting to take any slow or injured animal. But we did have a couple of small dramas. A young and small zebra was not able to fight the current and eventually turned back only to find that he/she was not able to climb the bank. But I am glad to report that to the applause of the watching tourists the youngster eventually found its way back onto shore.

After lunch and a bit of a rest we headed out again, this time to see if we could find a Rhino and/or Cheetah. We found lots of animals including another Leopard, a number of crocs, many hippos and giraffe but alas no Rhino or Chetah. Though we did get a spectacular sunset.