Finally gotten over my El Nido, Palawan trip with occasional separation anxiety on my island living in the Philippines because the little miss is an island lady by heart. As soon as I arrived in Dubai last Nov. 28, hustling and grinding continued and you will surely be excited on a few upcoming Dubai posts because the events I went to for the past weeks are waaaay over the top and even ticked of a few of my bucket lists - one of them is riding a hot air balloon.
MY HOT AIR BALLOON EXPERIENCE IS BETTER THAN YOURS...
I could have waited for a trip to Turkey for a hot air balloon ride but with Land Rover's invite to hop on one and fly with our new falcon friends, I couldn't say no. But wait, what? FLY WITH THE FALCONS?
On Land Rover's MYLAND Falconry World-First Experience , we flew with 'Bomber' , a six-month old falcon born in Europe and was trained to fly and interact with humans here in Dubai. The falcons were trained differently and if you wish to see and understand the journey, you can watch this video:
These falcons interact with humans very well and were even trained on how to fly with hot air balloons. I'm pretty sure you know how much they are very sensitive with light, sound, and heat but with their intensive training from Royal Shaheen, they got used to it as humans do.
Our flight was taken cared of Balloon Adventures Dubai, the world’s most experienced hot air balloon company so if you have been wondering if we ever had any problems with landing back to the desert, we didn't.
I took a few shots from my camera and here's how our day went:
From Meydan Hotel, a few Land Rover 4X4 units took us to Margham Desert. It was a little foggy at around 6:45am so we had to quickly stop at the nearest gasoline station. Safety first, that's what our pilots said and they also like for us to fully see everything in the desert.
We had a very quick briefing on what to do when boarding the balloon and safety tips during landing. You won't believe it but everything went very smoothly, some of those who have tried hot air balloon rides even said it was the safest rides they had. Well, we are on board the world’s most experienced hot air balloon company so I guess that should explain it.
While riding the balloon, I was able to take these photos (that I'm quite proud to showcase) from a 50mm lens:
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| 'Bomber' the falcon, the star of Land Rover’s MYLAND Falconry experience |
We landed safe and sound, no tipping over and even got the chance to talk to 'Bomber' and have a few photo op, she's super chill.
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| Photo by Land Rover MENA |
Right after the ride, we were able to enjoy a gourmet breakfast complete with hand-cut smoked salmon, caviar, bread selection and fresh fruits in one of the fanciest desert camps in Dubai. We were then transported back to our main trucks via a vintage 1950’s Land Rover.
So why am I sharing this? Because you too can enjoy this ultimate hot air balloon experience as I did on this epic trip!
TRY IT FOR YOURSELF!
What you will get if you book the world's first hot air balloon falconry show:
- Pick-up and drop off from where you are staying in Dubai
- You get to experience a world first – fly with the world’s fastest animal (trained by the best falcon trainers) on a hot air balloon by the world's most experienced hot air balloon company
- Enjoy a gourmet breakfast at the fanciest 5-star desert camp
- A drive in a vintage 1950’s Land Rover
All these can be availed for only AED 1,100 per person and can be booked on Balloon Adventures website OR via phone enquiries on+97143884044. They will be flying everyday of course dependent on the weather except summer season.
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| Photo by Land Rover MENA |
Allow me to end this post with my biggest thank you to Land Rover MENA for the invite and for ticking one of my bucket lists. Please do follow them on their social networks for any updates:
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I was invited to this event by Land Rover MENA, opinion and photos are my own unless stated in the caption.
wow great! very nice content and also photographs
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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