AsubuhiA balloon morning in Masai Mara, Kenya
A Masai Mara hot air balloon flight with Governors' Balloon Safaris costs USD 490 per adult from July to October 2026, against USD 400 in April and May and USD 430 in the other months (rate sheet dated 25 March 2025). Add the landing fee, a USD 20 community levy and USD 5 evacuation cover, and a July flight comes to USD 595. Skyship Company lists USD 430 plus USD 50 on an undated page. Decide on that total, the launch side and a camp pick-up between 4:00 and 5:30.
Photo: Ninara / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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The headline rate is not the whole bill. Narok County's Finance Act 2023 sets the balloon landing fee at USD 80 per person per landing, and the Mara Conservancy charges the same USD 80 per adult per landing in the Mara Triangle. Governors' launches beside Little Governors' Camp, one of two places to sleep inside the Triangle; Skyship launches from its own camp on the west bank of the Mara River near Kichwa Tembo. Both lift off at sunrise, and the reserve allows take-off only from 6:00 to 7:00. If you stay outside the reserve and leave after breakfast, you need no park ticket for the flight.
SaaFrom the wake-up to the drive back
The top half shows when each part of the morning happens. The bottom half adds the lines one person pays: pick the month, who flies and whether you will also need a park ticket that day.
One balloon morning, two operators
From the wake-up to the drive back, on one clock. Under it, what the flight costs one person once the fees are in.
Reserve rules
Governors' Balloon Safaris
Skyship Company
Landing times are the launch window plus the flight time each operator states; the wind sets the real one. The blue band is the reserve's take-off window, and both operators' launch windows sit inside it.
Launch beside Little Governors' Camp, inside the Mara Triangle; price rate sheet dated 25 March 2025.
USD 595per adult
Launch beside Little Governors' Camp, inside the Mara Triangle; price rate sheet dated 25 March 2025.
USD 795per adult, park ticket in
Launch beside Little Governors' Camp, inside the Mara Triangle; price rate sheet dated 25 March 2025.
USD 335per child
Launch beside Little Governors' Camp, inside the Mara Triangle; price rate sheet dated 25 March 2025.
USD 385per child, park ticket in
Launch from its camp on the west bank of the Mara River, near Kichwa Tembo; price listed on an undated page.
USD 480per adult
Launch from its camp on the west bank of the Mara River, near Kichwa Tembo; price listed on an undated page.
USD 680per adult, park ticket in
Launch from its camp on the west bank of the Mara River, near Kichwa Tembo; price listed on an undated page.
USD 240per child
Launch from its camp on the west bank of the Mara River, near Kichwa Tembo; price listed on an undated page.
USD 290per child, park ticket in
Governors' rate sheet adds "the applicable landing fee" without naming who collects it; the figure here is the one in both the Narok County Finance Act 2023 and the Mara Conservancy's fee table. Skyship's added fee is in its own words a "game reserve Masai Mara conservation fee". The child rate applies under 15 at Governors' and to ages 4 to 12 at Skyship; the child park ticket shown is the rate for ages 9 to 17. Evacuation cover drops out if you already hold AMREF cover.
Read the clock from the left. Skyship lists its first pick-up at 4:00, from Richard's Camp. Separately, inside the reserve, the management plan allows no passenger transfer vehicles to move before 4:30. Governors' asks you to be at the launch site about 30 minutes before lift-off for the safety briefing, and its booking terms say a passenger who misses the briefing is refused.
Read the stack from the left too. The blue part is the operator's own rate; everything after it is a fee the rate sheet lists as extra. Governors' price includes transport from approved collection camps in the Masai Mara, the flight and a cooked bush breakfast with sparkling wine; park fees, balloon landing fees, community fees and the AMREF cover are outside it. The red block is the landing fee, the one figure set by a public body rather than the operator.
BeiThe rate by month
Governors' prices its flights by period; Skyship lists one price for the year. The totals add the levy, the evacuation cover and the landing fee for the same traveler.
USD 490Per adult, July to October and 16 to 31 December
USD 400Per adult, April and May
USD 275Child under 15 or guide, every month
| Period | Adult flight | Adult total | Child flight | Child total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| February | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| March | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| April | USD 400 | USD 505 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| May | USD 400 | USD 505 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| June | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| July | USD 490 | USD 595 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| August | USD 490 | USD 595 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| September | USD 490 | USD 595 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| October | USD 490 | USD 595 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| November | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| 1 to 15 December | USD 430 | USD 535 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
| 16 to 31 December | USD 490 | USD 595 | USD 275 | USD 335 |
The month you fly moves the adult rate between USD 400 and USD 490; the extras do not move. The levy is USD 20 per non-resident adult and per non-resident child per flight, and the evacuation cover is USD 5 for anyone who has none: Governors' makes AMREF evacuation cover a condition of flying. The child rate of USD 275 applies under 15 and is the same in every month (2026 rack rates).
Skyship Company lists USD 430 per adult plus USD 50, which it calls a "game reserve Masai Mara conservation fee", and USD 215 per child aged 4 to 12 plus USD 25 (rates page, no date shown). That page names no landing fee, so ask whether one is added before you compare its USD 480 with Governors' totals.
Through a seller, the flight is a listing like any other. A balloon safari with champagne breakfast on GetYourGuide was listed from USD 495 per person on 12 November 2026, for a 70-minute ride in a shared balloon of up to 8 or 15 people, with pick-up from camps in the Masai Mara except the far west. Ask the seller whether park fees, the landing fee and the levy are in the price. Governors' terms add that a refund for a flight booked through a third party is claimed from that seller.
Some multi-day trips fold the flight in, such as a three-day safari with a balloon ride from Nairobi; check which of the fees above its price covers. The safari cost page sets the balloon beside park fees, flights and beds, and the safari page compares group, private and fly-in trips. The Serengeti in Tanzania charges its own balloon fee; Masai Mara vs Serengeti sets the two fee schedules side by side.
Photo: Ninara / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
AsubuhiLift-off at sunrise
The reserve's plan allows take-off only between 6:00 and 7:00.
RamaniWhere the balloons fly
Governors' Balloon Safaris says it takes off from a site beside Little Governors' Camp, sheltered by trees, and launches at dawn. On 95 days in 100 it flies south over the Mara River and its riverine forest, then onto the open plains of the Mara Triangle. The Mara Conservancy lists Little Governors' Camp as one of the only two places to stay inside the Triangle, so the launch is on its side of the river.
Skyship Company launches from its camp, which it puts 10 minutes by road from Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp and 15 minutes from Oloololo Gate (Skyship FAQ). It gives an average flight of 1 hour covering about 15 to 25 km (9.3 to 16 mi), and says that on about 95% of days the wind takes it south into the reserve, where it lands.
The sky is not empty. The reserve's management plan 2023 to 2032 records up to 33 balloons over the reserve at one time in 2020, against a limit of five a day in the plan before. It now allows no new or larger balloon concessions, at most five balloons per concession and 20 passengers per balloon.
TiketiThe park ticket
USD 200Per non-resident adult per day, 1 July to 31 December
USD 100Per non-resident adult per day, 1 January to 30 June
Not if the flight is all you do. Governors' Balloon Safaris states that guests staying outside the reserve who enter only to fly and leave after breakfast no longer need a park ticket. Anyone who takes a game drive after the flight needs one, and a guest sleeping inside the reserve holds a ticket for that day as part of the stay.
A ticket is USD 200 per non-resident adult per day from 1 July to 31 December and USD 100 from 1 January to 30 June, on the co-branded rate card of the Mara Conservancy and Narok County. It is valid from 6:00 to 18:00 on its day, whatever time you enter, so a balloon morning followed by a drive uses one full ticket day. Tick the box in the stack above and the July total becomes USD 795 per adult at Governors'.
The entrance fee page counts ticket days for your dates, and the itineraries show where a balloon morning fits into three to seven days. If you are choosing between a camp inside and one outside, where to stay sorts the areas and the conservancies page covers the private land around the reserve, where several camps list balloon safaris as an activity.
SheriaAge, weight, cancellation
From Governors' flight terms, valid from 26 March 2025. Skyship's pages give no such rules; ask before you book.
8 years
Minimum age, and a minimum height of 1.2 m (4 ft). Younger or shorter children fly only at the pilot's discretion, under-18s with a responsible adult. There is no upper age limit, but every passenger must climb in and out of the basket unaided.
120 kg
A passenger over 120 kg (265 lb) with hand luggage and equipment must tell the company at least 48 hours before the flight and may have to buy a second ticket.
Every passenger signs an indemnity form. Governors' states that flying is not recommended for anyone who could be pregnant, has had recent surgery or has severe neck or back problems.
25%
A non-refundable deposit of a quarter of the flight cost at confirmation, the balance 60 days before. Cancelling 60 to 30 days before costs 25%, 29 to 15 days before 50%; closer than that, the terms list the full cost.
100%
Refund when the company cancels for weather or a technical problem. If a flight has to land early, there is no refund unless it lasted under 30 minutes, when half the cost is refunded.
1978
Governors' says it has flown over the Mara since then and shows counters of 8 pilots and 700+ flights a year on its home page. Skyship states it has flown in the Mara since 2006 with 3 balloons, one for 8 and two for up to 18 (about Skyship).
KambiFrom your camp
Your camp decides the operator more than the price does: each collects from its own list of camps, and the far ones leave first.
| Pick-up | Camps |
|---|---|
| 4:00 | Richard's Camp |
| 4:30 | Cheetah Tented Camp, Elephant Pepper, Mara River Lodge |
| 4:45 | Karen Blixen, Mpata Safari Club, Kicheche Camp |
| 5:15 | Kilima Camp, Mara Siria |
| 5:30 | Kichwa Tembo, Bateleur, Olonana |
Skyship's drop-off back at camp is 9:30 to 10:30, after a bush champagne breakfast and a game drive back (about Skyship). Governors' collects from approved and agreed camps in the Masai Mara and has you back at Little Governors' Camp by about 11:00, earlier if you leave the Mara that morning (Governors' FAQ); its terms list no pick-up times, so ask your camp when the vehicle leaves.
A flight on the morning you leave works if the drive back ends before your road transfer or flight out. Nairobi to the Masai Mara has the road and flight times, and the best time to visit and the weather page weigh the months against rain and wind.
MaswaliBalloon questions
For the fee schedules themselves, see the Mara Conservancy's conservation fees and Narok County's Finance Act 2023.
Governors' Balloon Safaris lists USD 400 to USD 490 per adult in 2026, by month. Add the USD 20 community levy, USD 5 evacuation cover if you have none, and the landing fee of USD 80: a July flight comes to USD 595 per adult. Skyship lists USD 480 with its own fee, on an undated page, and a GetYourGuide balloon safari with champagne breakfast starts from USD 495, park fees not stated.
Governors' states that flights typically last 45 minutes to one hour, and its pilots aim for about an hour. Skyship gives an average of 1 hour, covering about 15 to 25 km. A GetYourGuide listing describes a 70-minute ride. Breakfast and the drive back follow; Governors' has guests back at Little Governors' Camp by about 11:00.
Governors' launches at sunrise, between 6:15 and 6:45, with check-in about half an hour earlier. Skyship launches between 6:00 and 6:30 and collects from camps from 4:00 to 5:30. The reserve's management plan allows take-off only between 6:00 and 7:00, so every flight starts in that hour.
At Governors' the minimum age is 8 years and the minimum height 1.2 m (4 ft), with younger children only at the pilot's discretion. There is no upper age limit, but you must climb in and out unaided. A passenger over 120 kg must tell the company 48 hours ahead and may pay for a second seat.
Only if you do more than fly. Governors' states that guests staying outside the reserve who enter only for the balloon and leave after breakfast no longer need a park ticket; a game drive after the flight needs one. A ticket costs USD 200 per non-resident adult per day from July to December and is valid 6:00 to 18:00. The entrance fee page has every rate.
