15 | Viking Explorer Society News
Up, up
AND AWAY
Suddenly we're airborne, rising soundlessly
as the ground slowly recedes. Take-off is
imperceptible: no roaring down a runway,
no white-knuckle bracing against thrust and
G-force. Just the soft kiss of earth and aircraft
parting ways.
Thus far, the morning has felt full of
excitement: a quick cup of coffee as we
disembarked the ship; a journey through the
dark streets of Luxor and motor launch
across the river; the shouts of drivers and
guides as we clustered around our inflating
balloons, watching each fire-breathing globe
swell magnificently into life.
But now the hubbub is stilled as though
at the flick of a switch. The only noise
is the periodic exhalations of the burner,
each deep sigh lifting us higher. We are
weightless, borne above the world in a big
wicker cradle.
At first, in the pre-dawn gloom, detail
eludes us. The ground is a formless jumble,
bisected by the Nile's broad silver ribbon. But
as the sun breaks free of the eastern horizon,
it gilds the jumble to reveal houses, mosques,
roads, a marketplace. Beyond the buildings is
the neat green geometry of agriculture,
delineated by its gleaming lattice of
irrigation canals.
Soon Luxor is unveiled in its entirety: the
city grading into lush fields, which transition
into stony goat farms. And beyond that—
demarcated with brutal abruptness—the
desert: an infinity of sand and rock that
stretches away on either side, confining
humanity to this single snaking valley.
A hot air balloon ride over Luxor offers stunning views of the ancient
temples and desert landscapes below, as told by Mike Unwin.
"Other balloons dot the still air around
us; coloured orbs, suspended like party
bubbles. I imagine them as Martian
spacecraft on a recce."
Balloons aloft in the West Bank of the Nile River, Luxor
