by Jonathan Robinson of Balloonabout
The Great Rift Valley is a great
place to fly balloons. Yet so far as we know, there are only two of us doing
it. Lake Naivasha is the highest lake in the Great Rift Valley, at an altitude
of 6200 feet above mean sea level. Fed by streams flowing in from a volcanic
catchment area, it is roughly circular and approximately 7 miles across.
No one knows how deep it is. The lake lies within the Rift, some 50 miles
north of Nairobi, Kenya's capitol.
Escarpments enclose the broad valley on three sides. To the south the extinct volcano "Longonot" and the not-so-extinct "Hell's Gate" National Park, punctuate the Great Rift. Around the lake's fertile shores, roses and carnations are cultivated for airfreight to the markets of London and Amsterdam. Numerous fruit and vegetable farms attempt to sate the growing appetite of European supermarkets.
Translated from the native Masaii, "Naivasha" means "The Lake of Waves." Indeed by midday, the wind even makes water skiing difficult. By contrast, each morning at dawn....calm! Total calm! Perhaps too calm! After an impressive minimum distance flight well away from the shore, we set about studying the microclimate in detail. According to my meteorological text, a large body of water plus plenty of sunshine should equal onshore and offshore breezes. Therefore we should be able to fly the offshore breeze out over the giraffe and grazing buffalo, view the hippos and flamingos on the lake and return with the subsequent onshore drift. We decided to find out.
Two things are virtually unobtainable in Kenya: weather forecasts and propane. The former is unnecessary: "It'll be beautiful tomorrow," always does it. Propane has a perfectly acceptable substitute in butane. Because Kenya is "hot and high," balloons flown here tend to be large. But you just can't take a 300,000 cubic foot balloon on safari! Well, you canbut only once! Retrieving it is often impossible. We settled for a 105.
Pressurization had been a problem at first; butane only produced about 40 psi. Spiking with Nitrogen was fine initially but produced a dramatic pressure drop over the last 30-40% of fuel remaining. Carbon dioxide was found to be much more effective, "bubbling" into the butane, and maintaining satisfactory flying pressure throughout. A separate unpressurized mini-cylinder supplied our vapour pilot lights.
We chose a launch site about half a mile from the lakeshore. Over the previous few days we had studied the breezes from various lakeside locations. For the first half hour or so after sunrise, the air was calm. A gentle surface offshore breeze then developed which turned onshore about an hour later. High level winds remained light and variable.
A typically beautiful dawn saw two excited pilots earnestly studying our hydrogen pibals (helium? in Africa?) with a crowd of bemused Africans earnestly studying us. With the first signs of the developing offshore breeze we inflated and rose gingerly into the air. Drifting toward the lake we flew over suitably unimpressed giraffe and some very surprised Cape Buffalo. On seeing the latter we decided against an early landing! Decision now taken, we continued out over the reeds and onto the lake. Hippo eyes regarded us curiously before snorting and diving to play "follow the leader" under water. Ahead, an area of brilliant pink gracefully ascended from the surface to float away like a sunrise cloud as hundreds of greater and lesser flamingoes took to the skies.
Climbing, the view was magnificent. Steam jets from "Hell's Gate" rose vertically into the cloudless sky. The mighty volcano "Longonot" cast its shadow over the grazing zebra and impala. Birdsong drifted out to us from the surrounding candelabra and acacia trees. From 10,000 feet (3800 feet AGL) we viewed the snow-capped peak of Mt Kenya, 80 miles away to the northeast.
Gradually our progress over the lilies and hyacinth slowed until we were stationary over the water about a mile from shore. Neither of us said a word as the balloon painted its reflection on the mirrored water, disturbed only by the occasional passage of a group of hippo. We waited...
We descended....
We waited....
Hippos snorted and cormorants fished but theirs was the only movement on the lake. We were completely becalmed.
"How about a splash and dash- well, splash at least?"
We settled the basket onto the water but the hippos, thinking we were a picnic basket, rushed in for a closer inspection. We beat a hasty vertical retreat. Was it just my imagination or were they taking an undue amount of interest in us? More people are killed or injured by hippos than by any other wild animal in Africa. They circled the basket like aquatic vultures.
I began to question the parentage of the author of my meteorology book as we hung there and listened to the needles on the fuel gauges "tick" inexorably down. Another climb to flight level "nosebleed"...nothing. A slightly misjudged descent...wet feet. No movement. We were going nowhere!
We were reluctant to admit defeat but, working on the principle that embarrassment was preferable to swimming with hippos, we were about to signal for our pre-arranged rescue boat when, very gently we turned and started heading back towards the shore.
We both burst out laughing.
The hippos appeared less sinister now as the water rippled in the breeze and the reeds that had seemed so distant and uncaring grew larger and more welcoming as we approached. Giraffe looked up and a fish eagle called a welcome as we made our landfall.
"Same again tomorrow?" greeted our chase crew.
"Absolutely!"
We did repeat the experience the following day and many times after that, always returning with dry feet and delighted passengers. Since those early days we have explored many locations in Kenya. Further adventures at the giant soda lake at Magadi and on the slopes of snow-capped Mount Kenya will be addressed in a future column. We now balloon safari over an 80,000 acre private game ranch near the shores of Lake Naivasha - over 6000 head of game and some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Mount Longonot volcano lies in the centre.....now, there's a thought!
