Posted under: Adventures, Birthday Shenanigans, Things That Made Me Cry Happy Tears
Let me tell you something about turning 33. It sneaks up on you. One minute you’re casually scrolling through Instagram, half-jealous of someone’s aesthetic birthday brunch, and the next minute you’re standing in the Magaliesberg at 5 in the morning, wearing every layer you own, staring up at a balloon the size of a small apartment building being inflated in the dark. And you think to yourself: yes. This is exactly what 33 should feel like.
But let me back up.
The Night Before: The Calm Before the (Literally Very Calm) Ride
I decided that if I was going to do this whole hot air balloon thing, I was going to do it properly. No rushing from Joburg at 4am half-asleep with a gas station coffee in hand. I booked a night’s stay in the Magaliesberg area, because if you’re going to float over one of the most ancient landscapes on earth, you should at least sleep somewhere that matches the drama.
And dramatic it was, in the best possible way. The Magaliesberg has this quality of light in the evenings that makes everything look like a painting someone hasn’t quite finished yet. Rolling hills, big African sky, the kind of silence you forget exists when you live in a city. I had dinner, went to bed embarrassingly early like the almost-responsible adult I am trying to be, and set three alarms because there was absolutely no way I was sleeping through my own birthday adventure.
Spoiler: I didn’t need any of them. I was awake at 4:15am, already buzzing.
5am: What Are We Even Doing Here
The meeting point has the chaotic, quietly thrilling energy of an airport at Christmas except everyone is in puffer jackets and nobody knows where to look. I linked up with the team from Air Ventures and immediately felt at ease. These people are warm, impossibly efficient, and clearly love what they do, which is the kind of thing you notice when you’re about to trust strangers with your literal altitude.
The crew got straight to work inflating the balloon and I want to pause here and say: watching a hot air balloon come to life is a whole experience before the experience even begins. It starts as a massive crumpled pile of fabric lying flat on the ground, and then the fans kick in and it starts to breathe. There’s no other word for it. It slowly fills, it billows, it stretches and rounds and then suddenly the burner fires and that roar of blue flame kicks in and the whole thing lifts, glowing from the inside, and you go a little quiet inside because something ancient in your brain recognises that this is not ordinary.
Lifting Off: The Part Where I Possibly Teared Up
We were given a safety briefing that was thorough but not scary. Our pilot was exactly the kind of person you want holding the tiller (or whatever the technical term is) on something like this: calm, knowledgeable, funny in that dry, offhand way that makes you feel like everything is completely under control even as the earth slowly drops away beneath your feet.
And then, just like that, it does.
There is no big jolt. No dramatic countdown. One moment you are standing on solid South African ground, and the next you are floating above it, and the transition is so gentle that your brain takes a second to catch up to the fact that you are now, technically, flying.
We rose over the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that contains some of the oldest fossilised human remains ever discovered. That fact alone would make this flight mean something, but paired with the view? It becomes something else entirely. The landscape stretched out beneath us in every direction, deep valleys carved by millions of years of slow water and wind, rocky ridges glowing amber in the first real light of sunrise, clusters of acacia trees throwing long morning shadows across the golden grass.
The sunrise, by the way, is not something I am going to attempt to describe in full because words will not do it justice and I will embarrass myself trying. What I will say is this: watching the sun come up from 1,000 feet above the earth, over ancient African terrain, on your birthday, is the kind of moment that rearranges something inside you.
Wildlife From Above (!!!)
Here is something I did not fully anticipate: the animals. Air Ventures offers safari flights over land that is home to actual wildlife, and we were not disappointed. From up above, you get a view of animals that most people never see. We spotted game below, moving through the early morning with no idea we were watching from above, and there is something profoundly moving about that perspective. No fences in your eyeline. No jeep engine. Just the rustle of the wind and life going about its morning.
Our pilot pointed things out with the ease of someone who has done this hundreds of times and still finds it genuinely wonderful, which is exactly the kind of enthusiasm that is contagious in the best possible way.
The Champagne Landing (A Tradition I Fully Support)
After about an hour of floating, drifting, gasping quietly and attempting to take good photos (spoiler: just live in the moment, your phone cannot capture this), we began our descent. Landing a balloon is a collaborative thing; the ground crew had been tracking us the entire time and met us at the landing spot with the kind of precision that felt like watching a choreographed routine.
And then, the champagne. Apparently this is a ballooning tradition that dates back to 18th century France, when the Montgolfier brothers’ early balloon flights caused enough alarm among local farmers that the crew had to arrive bearing wine to prove they were, in fact, not demons descending from the sky. I cannot think of a more French solution to a problem, and I am grateful the tradition stuck.
We toasted the morning, the landing, the birthday, and honestly just the fact that we were alive and had just done that. Then came a beautiful breakfast spread and the chance to sit and decompress, share photos, and talk to the other passengers who were all, to a person, completely lit up with the same glow that I imagine was all over my own face.
Okay, But Was It Worth It?
I am going to be real with you: hot air ballooning is not cheap. It is an experience that requires planning, an early wake-up, and a willingness to hand your comfort zone over to the wind. But if you are the kind of person who has been saying “one day I’ll do that” for years and years, let me gently tell you that one day is happening without you.
Air Ventures has been doing this for years and the experience shows in every detail, from the professionalism of the crew to the quality of the safety briefing to the sheer magic of the flight itself. They have multiple flight options including the classic flight over the Cradle of Humankind and the safari flight if you want the full wildlife angle, and they partner with some beautiful lodges in the area if you want to make a proper weekend of it.
What 33 Taught Me Before 9am
I floated over the oldest human heritage site on the planet on the morning of my 33rd birthday. I watched the sun come up over hills that have been there since before our species had language to describe what beauty was. I drank champagne at 7am and felt not one ounce of guilt about it.
33 and I are going to get along just fine.
If you want to cross this one off your own list, head to Air Ventures to check out their flight packages and accommodation options. Book well in advance because spots fill up fast, especially on weekends. Dress in layers (it is cold up there and also cold at 5am in general), charge your camera, and then put your phone away and just look.
Trust me on that last part.
Have you done a hot air balloon ride? Was it everything you hoped? Tell me in the comments below because I genuinely want to know if everyone cries a little or if it was just me.