Magaliesburg Balloon Safari at Dawn with Breakfast

Bill Harrop's Original Balloon Safaris has been flying since 1981, and launches from its own site at Skeerpoort, over the Magalies River Valley west of the Hartbeespoort dam. Tea, coffee and biscuits while the balloons are inflated, a safety briefing, then about an hour in the air. The basket is shared, not private. Sparkling wine and orange juice come after landing, not in flight, and breakfast is a buffet at the Clubhouse Pavilion afterwards. Keep the whole morning free: three to four hours from check-in to the end of breakfast. The pilot decides on the day whether the weather allows the flight at all. Two conditions worth knowing before booking. The flight is adults only, over 18. And getting aboard means climbing into a basket 1,350 mm high unaided, then staying on your feet for the hour. Cancellation runs on a sliding scale rather than the usual 24 hours: full refund six days out, half between two and six days, nothing inside two.