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The Balloonists’ Prayer
The Winds have Welcomed you with softness.
The Sun has blessed you with its warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well,
that God has joined you in your laughter.
And He has set you gently back again
into the loving arms of Mother Earth.
Hot-Air Ballooning — From California to Namibia
Our first hot-air balloon flight was in Palm Springs, California, while we were visiting Hélène’s sister Marion, who lived in San Diego. Together we spent a few days in Palm Springs, played some golf and even managed to lose a little money in Las Vegas. But there was something else we really wanted to do: We wanted to fly in a balloon!
We lifted off early in the morning and slowly drifted above Palm Springs. The wind carried us south across the more Mexican-American part of town. It was just before Christmas, and as our balloon floated silently overhead, people below looked up and called:
“Feliz Navidad!”
Their voices drifted up towards us, accompanied by the enthusiastic barking of dogs who clearly had their own opinion about this enormous object passing through their sky.It was a wonderful flight. Eventually we came back to earth among the vineyards, where we celebrated our landing in the traditional ballooning way:
with a glass of champagne.
Preparations for a Hot air balloon flight it the Namib desert.
Hot air balloon over the Namib desert
Sossusvlei, one of the Namib’s major tourist attractions, is a salt and clay pan surrounded by large dunes
Ballooning over Sossusvlei — Namibia
In Namibia we camped near Sossusvlei, one of the great natural wonders of the Namib Desert. This enormous clay pan is surrounded by spectacular sand dunes, some rising hundreds of metres above the desert floor. Rain is extremely rare, but after exceptional rainfall water can collect in the pan, temporarily transforming this normally arid landscape.
It was here that Hélène and I were going to make our second great ballooning adventure.We had to get up very early. It was still dark and surprisingly cold when the balloon crew began preparing for the flight. The enormous envelope was spread out across the desert floor, the basket and cables were attached, and powerful fans began blowing cold air into the balloon.Slowly this huge mass of fabric began to take shape.Once enough air had entered the envelope, the pilot fired the burners. Flames roared into the darkness and gradually the balloon lifted itself from the ground until it stood upright above us. Then it was time to climb aboard.
Into the Namib
As the first light appeared on the horizon, the burners roared once more and almost imperceptibly we left the earth. There was no sensation of speed and hardly any feeling of movement. A balloon travels with the wind, and once the burner falls silent there is an extraordinary stillness. Below us stretched an endless sea of dunes.As the sun rose, its first rays transformed the desert into shades of gold, orange and deep red. Far below, the shadow of our balloon travelled across the sand with us — a tiny dark shape moving silently through an immense landscape. Every few minutes the peaceful silence was interrupted by the roar of the burners, lifting us a little higher. Then silence returned.For about an hour we drifted above the Namib. From the basket, the desert seemed almost without boundaries. Dunes, dry riverbeds and open plains disappeared towards the horizon.It was one of those rare moments when the world seems both enormous and completely peaceful.
A Room with a View
Eventually our pilot began looking for a suitable landing place — fortunately, not particularly difficult in the vast open spaces of the Namib. More important was finding the support vehicle that had been following our progress across the desert. We descended slowly, touched the ground and, as sometimes happens with balloon landings, the basket tipped gently onto its side. We climbed out. And suddenly there was absolute silence. No engines. No voices. No traffic. Nothing but desert stretching away in every direction.Then, in the distance, our support vehicle appeared.mSo much for the silence.
The crew arrived, tables and chairs came out, breakfast was prepared and — in the finest ballooning tradition — the champagne was opened. There we sat, in the middle of the Namib Desert, enjoying breakfast after watching the sun rise from a balloon. Talk about a room with a view! It was a grand day — and one Hélène and I would never forget.And if a Balloon Isn’t Exciting Enough… There is, of course, another way to explore the Namib:
QUAD biking!
Quad bikes are the best mode of transport to explore the oldest desert in the world, which is the Namibian Desert.
And who can honestly say:
“I lost my clutch in the Namib Desert.”
Well…
I can!
Cees
Source photo’s:
Wikipedia and Pixabay, files made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Hot air balloon image by Gerhild Klinkow from Pixabay
