Wow! Today we had an amazing flight over the sand dunes in a hot air balloon in perfect conditions. The wind had dropped over night and we awoke at 4:30am and set off to the launch site where we watched out Namibian pilot John set up the balloon in the pre dawn light.
We then boarded onto the 8 person balloon and flew up into the sky as the sun rose over the mountains in the distance... It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure! We floated out across the plains and reached the edge of the red dunes as shadows stretched out in wild formations around the dunes. It was incredible how the pilot could use different air currents at certain elevations to maneuver the balloon in the direction he wanted. It was a perfect flight and we all had huge smiles on our faces as we floated across the sky.
We had a smooth landing and were escorted to a wonderful champagne brunch set up on the edge of a huge sand dune with great views across the valley. I forgot to mention that at one point the pilot had us floating only a few feet off the ground at about 20 miles an hour as we passed wildlife like Oryx and Springbock grazing nearby. We then went to the airstrip and flew one hour to Swakopmund where I am now sitting in a charming hotel called the Villa Margarita writing this blog. The flight was exceptional and gave us a great perspective in how huge this desert is...we flew for a full hour over red dunes and could see the blue Atlantic coastline just off our left as we flew north. We had a nice lunch down by the sea where a nice cool breeze blew over us. Believe it or not the temperature went from freezing in the desert to almost 80 degrees here on the coast. Tonight we are off to watch some more soccer at a local pub and then to a sea food dinner at he Tug which is a converted tug boat set right next to the beach. It should be good fun...
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