Ballooning Cape Town offered best view of the Cape Winelands – Marks Meanderings

With all but two of the party here. It was time to start boarding. The balloon will not wait, prompt arrival is essential. We all started to limber and clamber not so graciously into the basket. Hoarded into little pens like caged animals this didn’t feel very romantic at all. I had given up on the idea of proposing. The remaining two turned up at the last possible moment as the final ones were boarding the flight and luckily got on. 

Our close proximity to the people next to us meant we could chat away freely. They explained that this was their 4th attempt at trying to take this trip due to the weather. This was confirmation of how lucky we were to be on the flight. Their excitement far outweighed ours. It almost seemed like it was a rite of passage for them being South African. Being locals they pointed out somewhere that we should stop off on our drive along the garden route (more on that in later posts). 

Suddenly we were off with the powerful cylinders firing us up into the sky. Our take off took us straight over the highway we had come down. We cleared the trees that had sheltered the preflight show, and…. boom. We were blessed with a stunning sunrise. The sun had climbed above the surrounding mountains to give us nature’s great display. The early morning alarm was a distant memory, the tiredness dissipated, a romantic and magical moment for sure. It was spell binding. It offered the best view of the winelands. One that few see. We were lucky. 

Conrad took us up to around a 1-2000ft in the sky and we drifted serenely in a northwesterly direction (I think). He explained that the crew were looking up and following us from the ground depending on which way the wind blew. We had the best 60 mins enjoying the view of the Cape Winelands. The vineyards were like a mosaic on the ground, the shadow of our balloon could be seen on the ground and Conrad was trying to point out local wildlife.