Serengeti Hot-Air Balloon Flight with Bush Breakfast

The central Serengeti at dawn: Seronera and the launch site

The flight takes place in the Seronera area, the heart of Serengeti National Park, where the Seronera River and its tributaries keep the land green all year and wildlife is densest. Pickup is from camps and lodges inside the park around 05:00, with a drive of thirty to ninety minutes in the dark to the launch field, where our team briefs you on safety, shows you the landing position and hands you a coffee while the burners roar and the balloon rises from the grass.

A Serengeti balloon safari must start before sunrise because the air is calm and cool then; by mid-morning the thermals make flying unsafe, which is why the schedule is fixed and the pickup so early. Flights run every day of the year when the weather allows, and the pilot makes the final decision on the morning. If the flight is cancelled for weather, your booking moves to the next day or is refunded.

The flight: the Serengeti from above

Lift-off is timed with the first light, and for about an hour (give or take fifteen minutes) the balloon drifts with the wind at heights that vary from treetop level, where you look down on giraffe browsing and hippos in the pools, to several hundred metres, where the scale of the plains finally makes sense. The silence is the surprise: apart from the burner, you hear birds and the animals below. The pilot narrates and will tilt the basket for photos.

What do you see on a hot-air balloon flight over the Serengeti? It depends on the season and the wind. Between December and March and again in June the migration herds may be below you; all year there are resident elephants, buffalo, hyenas and often lions near the river lines. Sightings are never guaranteed, but the perspective is unlike any game drive. Bring a camera with a strap, sunglasses and a light jacket, as the air is cold before sunrise.

Landing, the juice toast and the bush breakfast

Landings are gentle but can involve a short bump and slide, which is why guests sit in the landing position the pilot shows them. Our ground crew is waiting wherever the balloon comes down, and after a celebratory juice toast you are driven to a breakfast site in the open savannah. Tables are laid under the sky with a full hot breakfast, fruit, pastries and coffee, with toilet facilities nearby, and the pilot presents each guest with a personalised flight certificate.

The whole experience, from pickup to the Visitor Centre, lasts about four and a half hours, with breakfast taking roughly an hour. Children are welcome if they are tall enough to see over the basket edge and can follow the safety briefing; tell us their ages when you book so we can confirm. Pregnant women, people with back problems or recent surgery and wheelchair users cannot fly.

Fitting the flight into your Serengeti safari

The balloon flight is booked as an add-on to a safari that already has you sleeping inside the park: pickups are only from camps and lodges within the Serengeti, and the park entry fee is not included because you have already paid it with your safari. After breakfast we drop you at the Serengeti Visitor Centre near Seronera, where your safari driver collects you to continue the day's game drive; tell your driver the plan the evening before. How to get to the Serengeti for the flight is therefore part of your safari itinerary, by road from Arusha or by light aircraft to Seronera airstrip.

Is the Serengeti balloon flight worth it? For most guests it is the single most memorable hour of their time in Tanzania, and in high season from June to October and over the December holidays the baskets fill weeks ahead, so book early. A private basket for your group alone can be requested; ask our team and we will explain how it works.