I mentioned this on our Namibia trip page, but it’s worth revisiting.  One of the absolute highlights of our time in the Namib desert was the hot-air balloon ride. Now keep in mind, we were at the bar of the Lodge with our guides until about midnight. Then they came around and gave us a wake up call at around 5:45 AM.  It was possible (no probable) that I was still drunk.  We were driven out to a clearing. It was the desert, so everything was a clearing. We arrived just before 7 AM.  I believe we were actually the last of the guests to get there. There wasn’t much waiting around. We went straight onto the balloon. Within about 5 minutes, we’re up in the air.  Just to give a little idea of how this was setup – it was a large-ish basket. It could accommodate around 14-16 people. Plus, there was a pilot.  We were in the air for ~1 hour, and we hovered around 1000-1200 meters for most of the time.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  This was one of the most remarkable mornings I’ve had. It concluded with a champagne breakfast once we hit the ground again.

Sony A7R II | Sony FE 24-70mm F4 | 25mm | f/4.0 | 1/60th | ISO160