Hot Air Balloon Safaris in the Magaliesberg

Though Your Correspondent has never had the pleasure, he can’t imagine anything more spectacular than a hot-air balloon ride over a game reserve. This is precisely what Bill Harrop offers, with his Magaliesberg Balloon Safaris, breezing over the world’s oldest mountain range (2 billion years and counting, or so the tourist literature purports) since 1981.

Harrop offers two main “safaris”, one which follows the Magalies River Valley in North West Province, and one which floats above Mabula Private Game Reserve in Limpopo Province. Mabula boasts a good-sized rhinocerous population, among other major African fauna, and the sheer delight it must be to see rhinos while gliding silently above them causes Your Correspondent to break out in goose pimples. SA Blog urgently advises booking this once-in-a-lifetime-category experience if you’re ever within throwing distance of the Magaliesberg.

• For more on the Magaliesberg, click here.