Hot Air Balloon Safaris over the Serengeti and Tarangire
Four dawn flights over open plain and baobab country, ending with a bush breakfast where the basket lands. From 485 EUR, about five hours from your camp.
A balloon safari is not a scenic flight with animals in it. The basket travels at the speed of the wind and makes no engine noise, which is the reason game below carries on as if nothing were overhead. Over the Serengeti the hour is open plain to the horizon; over Tarangire it is broken country, elephants and baobabs standing out of the ground.
Four flights are listed, all at dawn, all ending with a bush breakfast laid out where the balloon comes down. Allow five hours door to door from your camp.
Safaris en globo sobre el Parque Nacional de Tarangire al amanecer, con desayuno en la sabana
Tarangire es un parque más tranquilo: un paraíso para los elefantes, con baobabs que se alzan majestuosos sobre el suelo. Despega al amanecer y disfruta de un desayuno en la sabana, preparado en el mismo lugar.
Safaris en globo sobre el Serengeti al amanecer, con desayuno en la sabana
Toma un té a las 17:45 mientras se inflan los globos, el despegue será al amanecer. Volarás durante una hora sobre la llanura con pilotos que hablan varios idiomas, y luego disfrutarás de un desayuno preparado en el mismo lugar.
Safaris en globo sobre el Serengeti, con desayuno en la sabana bajo un árbol de acacia
Desde los años 1970, hemos sobrevolado el Serengeti: una hora que te permite rozar las copas de la hierba y luego ascender, y un desayuno inglés completo servido bajo un árbol de acacia.
Vuelo en globo sobre el Serengeti desde Seronera, con desayuno y champán
Un vuelo al amanecer desde Seronera, en pleno parque, traslados desde y hacia el hotel, y un desayuno con champán después de que el viento decida dónde aterrizarás.
Valoraciones recogidas por Viator y Tripadvisor
When to fly over the Serengeti
Here the season is not about the balloon, it is about what is underneath it. June to October is the dry season: the grass is short, the water is concentrated, and the animals are concentrated with it — which is the difference between a beautiful flight and the flight people save for.
The long rains, roughly late March through May, are when most camps close and the flights stop with them. The short rains in November and December are a different matter: green, quiet, far fewer vehicles, and the flights run.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
The same reading for all 31 destinations, grouped by climate, is on the season guide.
Why the launch site moves
Most balloon operations fly from a fixed field. Here they do not, and that is the single most important thing to understand before booking. The Serengeti flights lift from the Seronera area in the centre of the park for much of the year, but operators shift their launch points through the season to stay near the herds — which means where you take off in July is not where you take off in February, and the camp you are staying in largely determines which flight you can realistically reach.
Tarangire is the quieter alternative and a different landscape: elephant country, with baobabs standing out of open ground and a river that draws game through the dry months. Fewer balloons fly it, and the flights tend to be over broken terrain rather than the open plain — a more varied hour in the air, with less chance of the vast horizon-to-horizon emptiness that the Serengeti is famous for.
What five hours actually buys
The listings quote around five hours and the flight is one of them. The rest is a pre-dawn pickup from your lodge or camp, the drive to the launch site in the dark, the inflation — which with a balloon this size takes a crew of a dozen and is worth being early for — and afterwards a full breakfast laid out on the ground where the basket came down, table and linen included, followed by a game drive back.
These are the most expensive flights on this site, and the reasons are structural rather than commercial: park fees charged per person and per landing, fuel trucked or flown in, and crews and vehicles operating inside a national park under permit. One operator here has been flying the Serengeti since the 1970s. Book it with your safari rather than separately — in practice, the camp is the only realistic way to reach the launch.