Hot Air Balloon Safari Cost: Serengeti and Maasai Mara Compared

Hot air balloon safari cost is the first thing to settle before you add a flight, and the honest answer is a range: roughly US$550 to US$750 per person for about an hour in the air followed by a bush breakfast, confirmed in your quote. This page settles what that buys, how a flight over the Serengeti or the Maasai Mara works, whether it is worth it and where it adds most to a migration safari. For the herds themselves, see our Great Migration safari guide.

Facts checked 12 October 2026. Fees, schedules and herd positions change, so we confirm them again when we quote.

How much does a hot air balloon safari cost?

A hot air balloon safari typically costs about US$550 to US$750 per person, in the Serengeti and in the Maasai Mara alike. Treat that as an indicative balloon safari price. The exact figure for your date, your camp and your group is confirmed in your quote, because fees and availability change.

What the balloon safari price covers

The figure is for a flight of about an hour in the air, followed by a bush breakfast. We spell out exactly what is included, line by line, when we quote. The balloon appears as its own optional line, so you can see the Serengeti balloon ride cost separately from the rest of the trip.

Indicative figures, confirmed in your quote.

What is not in the package price

Balloon flights are not in a package price unless the itinerary page lists them, alongside international flights, visas, travel insurance with medical evacuation and tips. What our quotes normally include is accommodation, meals on safari, a private vehicle and specialist guide, park and conservation fees, airport transfers and the internal flights that are listed. For the total picture of what a migration safari costs, read our Great Migration safari cost guide. This page stays with the balloon.

What a balloon safari is like, hour by hour, to the bush breakfast

A balloon safari is a short, early part of a safari day, built around about an hour in the air and a bush breakfast. This is the sequence.

1. An early start. The flight is a morning activity, so the day begins early. We confirm the pick-up time in your quote.
2. About an hour in the air. You see the plains and the animals from above. No route and no sighting can be promised, and the flight depends on the weather.
3. The bush breakfast. After the flight comes a bush breakfast out in the open. That balloon safari bush breakfast is the usual end to the flight.
4. The rest of the day. Plan the afternoon lightly, because the day started early.

Photographers should bring a wide lens, because the view is about scale, not close detail.

Hot air balloon safari in the Serengeti or the Masai Mara: which flight?

Choose the balloon flight that matches the rest of your trip, because the price is about the same in the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara (Masai Mara). A balloon safari in the Serengeti suits you if your days are in Tanzania, and a balloon safari in the Masai Mara suits you if they are in Kenya. The two parks differ in size, in how long the herds stay and in how you reach them.

Prices are indicative and confirmed in your quote.

A balloon safari in the Serengeti gives you the longer window and the larger area. If your Serengeti days are in the north, see our guide to the northern Serengeti migration around Kogatende and Lamai. A balloon safari in the Masai Mara is reached by a flight of 45 to 60 minutes from Nairobi Wilson, and our guide on where to stay in the Masai Mara for the migration helps you decide where to base yourself.

Moving between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara

Do not plan on flying between the two. There is no direct flight between the Maasai Mara airstrips and the Serengeti airstrips. To get from one park to the other you route through Nairobi and then Kilimanjaro or Arusha, which takes about half a day and adds cost, so choose the balloon park to match where you are already staying.

Off-road driving is not allowed in the Maasai Mara National Reserve or in Serengeti National Park, so a flight is one of the few ways to see the plains from a different angle.

Packages that pair with a hot air balloon safari

If you are based in Tanzania, our Tanzania Grand Migration Explorer is 10 days through Ndutu and the southern Serengeti, central and northern Serengeti and the Mara River, from US$7,200 per person. It is timed for calving from late December to March or for crossings from late June to September, and you can ask us to add a balloon flight as an optional extra.

If you are based in Kenya, our Kenya Migration Explorer runs 8 days through the Mara Triangle, the central Mara and the Mara North Conservancy by private 4x4, from US$6,100 per person. It fits late July to early October, and again a balloon flight can be added as an extra. Whether a balloon flies near your camp is confirmed in your quote.

Does a balloon safari add to the Great Migration?

A balloon safari on the migration adds perspective to the Great Migration, not access to it. From above you see the scale of the herds and the shape of the land, which a vehicle cannot show. What a balloon will not do is take you to a river crossing.

The balloon adds most when the herds are on the open plains near where you are staying, because the scale is easiest to read there. In the southern Serengeti the herds spread across short-grass plains from December to March. In August and September they spread across the Mara and the northern Serengeti. For the month-by-month detail, see our guide to the Great Migration in August, or compare all twelve months in the Great Migration by month.

There is also an honest trade-off. In a short stay at a crossing camp, a balloon morning is a morning not spent waiting at the river. A typical crossing-season day includes a midday vigil, roughly 10:00 to 14:00, and an early morning start. If a crossing is your priority, allow at least four nights at the river camp, so the balloon safari migration plan does not force you to choose.

Is a balloon safari worth it?

A balloon safari is worth it if you want a different way to see the plains and are happy with an early start. Weigh the hot air balloon safari cost against what you get: an hour in the air and a breakfast in the open.

Is a balloon safari worth it? It suits you if

• You like the idea of seeing the scale of the landscape and the herds from above.
• You are comfortable getting up before first light and spending the morning outdoors.
• You photograph with a wide lens and want a view of the whole landscape.
• You have enough nights in one place that a cancelled flight can be moved to another morning, where that is possible.

A balloon safari is not worth it if

• You dislike heights or very early starts.
• Your stay is short and a crossing is your one aim, because the morning is better spent at the river.
• Mobility is limited, or you travel with young children. Ask us about age and mobility rules for your date before you decide.

Whether a hot air balloon safari is worth it also depends on what else the money could do. The same money could instead go towards internal flights or an extra night nearer the herds. We will help you weigh those against each other when we quote.

How to add a balloon flight to your safari

A balloon flight is added to a safari as an optional extra, shown separately in your quote, so the balloon safari price never hides inside the package total. The steps are short.

1. Choose the park that matches your trip, and the weeks you will be there.
2. Tell us your dates, group and any mobility or age questions, so we can check the rules.
3. Book early for peak months, especially July to September and Christmas and New Year.
4. Put the flight early in your stay at that camp, not on the last morning, so there is room for another attempt if the weather stops the first.
5. Ask what happens if a flight does not go ahead. We confirm this when we quote, and the terms for your booking are shown on each itinerary page.

If you are still choosing the shape of the whole trip, our guide to planning a Great Migration safari walks through the decisions in sequence, and the balloon fits in at the end.

Next steps: price your hot air balloon safari

1. Decide whether your balloon morning will be in the Serengeti or the Maasai Mara.
2. Send us your dates and group size, and ask us for the hot air balloon safari cost for those dates.
3. Choose a package or ask us to build your route, then add the balloon as an optional extra.
4. Ask what happens if the weather stops the flight, and keep a spare morning, because a balloon safari in the Serengeti or the Masai Mara depends on the weather.

Keep reading: related Great Migration guides

For the whole picture, see our Great Migration safari guide. If you are ready to price a trip, Tanzania Grand Migration Explorer starts from US$7,200 per person.