4-Day Balloon & Big Five Safari – Mara Skies & Game Drives

Your balloon Big Five safari departs Nairobi in the early morning, heading southwest through the Great Rift Valley on a seven-hour drive to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The journey passes through rolling Maasai landscapes, the dramatic Rift Valley escarpment viewpoints, and the market town of Narok before reaching the golden plains of the Mara. You arrive at your safari lodge for a welcome lunch with sweeping savannah views, followed by an afternoon game drive into the open grasslands. Your professional guide leads you through areas known for large predator concentrations, locating a pride of lions resting in the afternoon heat or a cheetah poised to sprint across the plains. Elephant herds browse along the woodland edges as the sky turns orange and pink for one of the Mara’s legendary sunsets.

A full day in the Maasai Mara begins with an early morning game drive as mist rises from the grasslands and nocturnal predators return to their resting places. Your guide navigates toward the Mara River where hippo pods surface and massive Nile crocodiles bask on sandbanks, their prehistoric forms unmistakable in the early light. The morning drive covers the open plains where cheetah use termite mounds as observation points and leopard can sometimes be spotted descending from acacia trees after a night’s hunting. After a midday break and lunch at the lodge, the afternoon drive ventures into different sectors, targeting buffalo herds, the resident black-and-white colobus monkeys in the riverine forest, and the remarkable variety of eagles, vultures, and storks soaring on the Mara thermals.

Before dawn your guide drives you to the balloon launch site where you meet your pilot for a safety briefing as the envelope inflates in the warm glow of the burners. As first light touches the horizon you lift silently into the sky above the Mara, drifting over wildebeest herds, winding rivers, and the vast open plains that make this reserve so iconic. The flight lasts approximately one hour, concluding with a champagne bush breakfast celebration in a clearing far from the camp. Your crew serves fresh fruits, eggs, pastries, and sparkling wine as you relive the highlights of the flight with fellow passengers. Returning to the lodge, you enjoy a mid-morning rest before heading out for a final afternoon game drive to round out your Big Five checklist.

Enjoy a leisurely final breakfast at the lodge, watching the Mara morning unfold from the dining terrace with its panoramic views. After breakfast you check out and board the safari vehicle for the scenic return drive to Nairobi, arriving in the late afternoon. The drive offers time to reflect on three extraordinary days in Africa’s most celebrated wildlife sanctuary and one of Kenya’s most unforgettable aerial experiences.