Air inside of balloon getting heated after being partially inflated with large fans.
Once the balloon is vertical, heating can be done without worrying too much about burning it up.
Up, up and away!
Closeup of gas flame
We are leaving the ground. No real sensation of flying. You would not know you were going up if your eyes were closed.
A companion balloon.
The well-preserved temple of Queen Hatshepsut. To the left up against the cliffs is the remains of the mortuary temple of Montuhotep II. Closer up are remains of mud brick walls (not sure what these are)
Heating the air in our balloon.
Balloons are flown early in the morning because they are more bouyant in colder air. We arrived at about 5:30 AM.
Balloons getting ready just behind us
Shot of a bunch of sites along the hills west of the nile. Just right of center is temple is the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, who reigned 1503-1482 BC. To the right is El-Tarif, the farthest north of the Tombs of the Nobles.
Our balloon from the bottom. It just looks like a big bag full of air. How could this lift 21 people, gas tanks, and equipment???!!!
Just before sunrise looking east to the Nile and Luxor.
Our fleet of balloons. The basket has four passenger compartments, each with five people
Our pilot doing his thing.
Shot to the north of a Nile meander
Just before sunrise over Luxor, with the Nile in the foreground.
Tomb digs in the hills to the west
Archeological sites
Tombs in the hills east of the Valley of the Kings.
Part of the town to our north as we leave the ground.
Our heat source.
Wide shot looking east to the sunrise. farmland close to us, then the Nile, then Luxor, then low hills and the desert.
The sun coming up over the hills east of Luxor
Farmland to the east of our take-off area. We will eventually land somewhere in here.
Preparing balloons for lift off.
Long shot of the nile as the sun comes up, with river ships along the opposite bank, and the city of Luxor beyond.
Hills highlighted by the sunrise. All along this side of these hills are tombs and temples built over thousands of years.
The tombs of the nobles - highly ranked officials who don't rate a big mortuary temple. There are several hundred tombs here. The Valley of the Kings is on the other side of these hills.
Farmland below us
A shot of me aloft with the sunrise behind me.
view of the hills. Just below the green balloon is the Ramesseum - the mortuary temle of Ramses II, who ruled for 67 years about 1300 BC
Checking out landing sites.
Balloon ground crew headed out for rendevous with their balloon.
Traffic on the farm service roads
Farm families headed out to the fields
Balloon coming in for a landing. They pay extra to the farmers if they land in the crops, so the goal is to land on parts that are not currently occupied with crops.
Landed on newly ploughed ground. Note ground crew hanging on the side to hold it down and the truck ready to carry it back for another flight.
The red balloon being packed up.
We cross over another balloon getting ready to land
Temple of Seti I
This is a large necropolis adjacent to the temple of Seti I
The western end of the same necropolis
Necropolis detail. My last shot before putting the camera away for landing.
...so we have landed. This is our ground crew packing up the balloon for transport back to the take-off site.
Once the balloon lands, it is vented and pulled down for packing immediately, and it folds up into a pretty small package.
Our basket with our pilot still aboard. Some of our fellow passengers are still in the process of getting out.
Our pilot. Egyptian balloon operators are licensed pilots with years of training and practice.
Loading the basket on to the truck. This is the heavy part.
We are walking across the field to our van, which will take us down to the river for a boat ride back to our ship.
Our ride, the Lady Mary, arrives.
Some wildlife near the dock.