Organisers of the Sky Safari are celebrating after successfully staging one of the largest hot air balloon events in the UK.
The Sky Safari took place in Longleat Wiltshire earlier in the month, with 119 hot air balloons taking to the skies as part of a mass ascent, confirming its status as one of the UK’s largest balloon festivals.
A total of 650 pilots, crew members and staff were involved at the Wiltshire event, with 127 balloon teams onsite. It attracted pilots and crews from all over the world, with some coming from Alaska in the US and another coming from Dubai. The event took place from Thursday, September 14 and continued until Sunday, September 17.
Up to 47 balloons took part in the night glow events, which saw the balloons lighting up their burners with a musical accompaniment on each of the three nights.
Longleat had its own hot air balloon taking part in the three-day festival: Simbaloo, the lion-shaped balloon. It was accompanied by penguin-shaped balloons Splash and Puddles and their ‘baby’ Tall Steve, which was at the event for the first time.
Despite some adverse weather restricting some of the planned mass ascents over the weekend, on the whole, event organisers are happy with the success of this year’s Sky Safari and are making plans on what to bring to the event for 2018.
Ballooning is becoming more and more popular among members of the public, who are undertaking their own hot air balloon adventures from Bath, Bristol and all across the country.
