Wednesday 14th September 2016: Today we are hot air ballooning over the plains, having a champagne breakfast out there and then going to see if we can see the migration of the wilderbeast over the river. It's an early start, leaving at 5am in the Balloon Co. Jeeps - 45 minutes over another very rough road to the Fig Tree Camp, where we register, are put onto another bus and taken out to the strip if that is what you call it. Because the wind is blowing at 17 knots, we preload which means the basket is laid down and we are horizontal until we take off - feel a bit like sardines. 14 of our group are doing the flight and we are all in the one balloon, the other 4 do a later game drive and see several leopards and then pick us up after we have had our Champagne Breakfast out on the plains. Graham is our pilot, an Englishman who lives in California - his 2 month contract ends here tomorrow. He has been flying balloons for 35 years, the last 30 providing his only income - he does it all over the world so is very interesting. Most of the time we only fly at about 50-60 ft so that we can get a good view of the animals and the number we see is amazing. We cross the Talik and Okjay Rivers which flow into the Mara and into Tanzania and end up in Lake Victoria to the west. There are 9 balloons up today which are made of heavy duty nylon and treated with fire retardant - they are burning butane which makes more radiant heat and not propane (not available here). Masai Mara Reserve is 600 sq mile and Serengeti which just has the Tanzania border between the two is 6000 sq miles, but the border here has been closed, you have to go right around to get to Serengeti. Among the things we see are the Elan Antelope, the largest of this family in Africa and weighing up to one tonne.
 
We head to the Mara Triangle where the migration takes place - we see lines of wilderbeast in single file heading that way, apparently they walk like this so as not to trample all the food, which would happen if they went in huge herds. We see a few cross and then they are spooked by crocs and hippos in the water and move further down the river so we move as well - there are heaps of jeeps etc all jostling for best position. It is a game of wait and see - they look like they are going to go and then go back - there are crocs and hippos in the water which seem to be putting them off. Finally we do see them come down a rocky bank and cross in single file - a croc does attack a couple, but they make it up the bank a little worse for wear. We have a packed snack for lunch and get back to the Lodge just after 3 - rather a long day, but what a day.