Hot air ballooning is possible at the Cradle of Humankind (Muldersdrift, near Lanseria Airport), or for a bit more just west of the Hartbeespoort Dam . If you book through us, you can earn travel vouchers by writing about your experience, sending us photos and camcorder footage (our readers are our writers!). Fill in the form below to see the prices for 2024, which are from R2900 per person, with a minimum of 6 people required.
*Prices subject to change
Hot Air Ballooning SA has a launch site at the Toadbury Hall Boutique Hotel in Elandsdrift (near Lanseria); with the price being:
Air to Air Africa fly 3 large hot air balloons designed for the comfort and safty of our passenger. They carry between
8 Passengers 2 per compartment
10 /12 passengers – 3 per compartment
16 passengers – 4 per compartment
this protects you from the Pilots cockpit holding his equipment and gas cylinders. As a balloon is quiet noisy when the pilot burners, it creates a private compartment.
All flights include 14% VAT, tea/coffee prior to an hour flight at sun rise, Sparkling Wine and/or Orange Juice on landing where every that may be, vehicle transport back to the venue for breakfast and receive a commemorative certificate.
Passengers must be capable of standing for the duration of flight (1 hour) and able to enter and exit the basket unassisted... Passengers with health considerations accept the responsibility to consult a doctor before embarking on a balloon flight.
Number of Passengers |
Price per Person |
Single – 7 |
R1900.00 |
Group 8/10/16 - 24 |
R1850.00 |
Large Group flight (25 and up) |
R1800.00 |
For the team builders and large groups in winter only, we offer a double hop - a 30-45 minute flight with half the group going up while the second group follow the balloon. On landing we swop the passengers around and continue with the flight. Sparkling Wine served at breakfast. This is not a flight we advise you to do in the summer as the earth heat’s up to quickly and the wind may pick up during the first flight, and we will have to postpone the second flight disappointing those who could not fly. |
R1450.00 |
Under 35kg A guardian must accompany children under 16. Children should be over 1.20 meters tall to see over the basket |
R 925.00 |
The ballooning takes place at the Heia Safari Ranch. You'll make your life a lot easier if you stay there overnight, as ballooning involves waking up at sparrow fart (we met at 6am). The Ranch is a magnificent place with friendly staff, and impala, kudu, giraffe and zebra wandering around your rondavel. (One of the young ladies with us liked it so much she said she wanted to get married there).
After enjoying some warm drinks and a safety talk at the reception of the Heia Ranch, we got into the combi and drove down to Lake Heritage, with our mittens, beanies and gloves helping us to feel toasty in the early morning frost.
Here's Eddie Jacobs operating the propane burner and his assistant with the fan, filling the balloon. It took 30kg of propane just to fill up!
The soft early morning light is conducive to taking great photos of the light mixing with the vapour lifting off Lake Heritage.
We were in the massive 16-person balloon, which is great for company team-builds. There are only a handful of qualified pilots in South Africa for these biggest of balloons. We took off from the beautiful Lake Heritage - a "dam" fine experience!
Situated on the Crocodile River and completed in 2006, Lake Heritage is the largest hand built stone dam on the African continent (and possibly in the world), standing 300m wide and 20m tall. All stones used in its construction were found on site, and cement was used to hold them together.
And then we passed over what looked like it could be situated in Tolkien's middle-earth. Whilst it was cold on the ground, the propane burners of the balloon kept us warm.
Forgetting your camera would be like not taking photos after your child is born. Even the most hardened tourist will want to record the unforgettable views for posterity (and to send us your clickies to earn travel vouchers).
Beautiful fields
Here's a township we ballooned over. I have no idea what its name is (if you do please let us know).
As we came in to land the shadow of our hot air balloon got closer. This was the last photo in the air before I assumed the crouch position for landing.
Eddie gave the instruction to assume the crouch position in the basket. As our balloon came down, the basket clipped the top of some trees, spraying seeds from the trees into the air. (This is intentional - to slow down the balloon). We then had a relatively gentle landing in a field near a school. Some of the school children came running to the balloon, before their teacher rounded them up again. We enjoyed the traditional champagne and orange juice, which harks back to the first balloon flights in France, where you would carry champagne as proof to those meeting you at your landing that you weren't foreigners!
A highlight for me was feeding the giraffe! I've never come across a tame giraffe before, and they had 2. I took some of the feed out of the bucket and fed the beast with my hand. The giraffes have just had a young one, which looks like it might survive - the youngsters struggle on the highveld because of the cold (and the older ones sometimes get hit by lightning).
After feeding the giraffe we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, with Sheree handing out certificates to all participants: "This is to certify that Bob had the courage to defy the laws of gravity and explore the oldest form of flight known to man. Floating like a cloud and looking back at the earth as few ever have. This new discovery took place over Heia Safari Ranch".
Air to Air Africa are an experienced and professional outfit, headed by Eddie Jacobs, who showed the utmost expertise in piloting our balloon, and Sheree Jacobs who headed up the ground crew. I thorougly recommend using their services.