Bwana John here...

We had a 4.30am start this morning as Laurel, Nick, Judy and I had a balloon ride over the Mara savannah. We were picked up from our hotel and saw some jackals and a hippopotamus on the way to our balloon launch site. On the briefing from the pilot we discovered that take off and landing would be in the astronaut position with the balloon basket on its side - oh s***!

Take off was at dawn and a bit bumpy. We glided on the wind up to a 1000 feet but the highlight of the flight was the sun rising on the horizon and to see the sheer majesty of the countryside. After a short flight we dropped to land and we were told to take our landing positions - oh s***!

The basket hit the ground, turned on its side and bounced - oh s*** - it hit the ground again and was dragged by the ballon as it deflated and acted as a sail for around 100 feet - oh s*** - but we survived!

We then drove to our breakfast site on the Mara, complete with our own cook and an outside "dunny" with a view - oh s***! . Champagne was served and we toasted surviving our crash landing.

Our next activity was a game drive after picking up Elaine and Kevin. Joshua was taking us to see a migration of Wildebeest crossing the Mara River. En-route we saw more hippos and our first crocodile. Watching the Wildebeest jumping into the river to swim across we saw crocodiles approaching - oh s***. I saw 2 Wildebeest taken by the crocs only to resurface after a while and take their prey up river. Watching the crossing was mesmerising as some young who lost their parents came back and re-crossed always with the risk of falling victim to the crocs - oh s***!

In the afternoon, we decided to do our own thing, so Judy and I spent time by the pool, L & N rested, E & K went on yet another game drive.

We celebrated Laurel's milestone birthday Masai style, with lots of singing, drums, horns, clapping and a gorgeous black forest cake by the staff from the hotel, along with a troupe of Masai men jumping, quite a spectacle - another birthday - oh s***!

Quote of the day - from an Aussie tourist (not us) to unknown tourists out of their van walking down to the riverbank with cameras "Get back in your van, you bloody idiots, there are crocodiles in the river near you" - from John "Oh s***"

Sunny 26deg - Altitude 1,625m