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| Andrys Basten | profile | all galleries >> Egypt and Jordan 2009 >> Photos of Hot Air Ballooning over Luxor/Thebes & Valley of the Kings | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
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These are pictures from the hot-air balloon ride over Luxor (formerly Thebes) and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens that we took on October 30, only 4 days after the 6-month ban was lifted on balloon flights over Luxor due to some accidents last year, after which they tightened up the rules and pilot requirements as well as strictly limiting the number of balloons up at the same time. It was a beautiful ride.
Some are still-shots while others are smaller shots from the video I took, which you can view at Youtube.
The pictures were taken with the Canon SX10 IS.
Click on any image to get the larger version. Then you can click on "Next" or "Previous" to see other ones. |
| *** ( For FULL images: PC's, press/toggle F11. Mac's, maximize screen. ) *** |
 Taking the boat across the river Nile before 6 am |
 The balloon field - and our Sindbad balloon |
 Getting it ready for flight |
 Preparing for liftoff but holding us down in the meantime |
 The guy holding down my area of the basket |
 Saying a goodbye |
 The assistants to his left |
 Lift off |
 Up and away |
 Note the number of people in the basket at the bottom |
 Bottom of the basket as we rise |
 A view of the area with Hatshepsut's temple |
 Fields below and some passengers |
 Fields a bit clearer |
 Starting the morning - from my videoclip |
 Starting the morning - from my videoclip |
 On the desert side - from videoclip |
 Hearing pilot say Valley of the Kings is over the ridge |
 The balloon is going down prematurely |
 We're almost in the sugar cane fields |
 She was less worried about that than some were. |
 The fertile section meets the desert area |
 The pilot and other side of the basket holding 20 |
 Is this a Ramses II/III building? |
 Zoomed in to see it better |
 Valley of the Queens, Kings, and Hatshepsut temple labeled |
 Finally higher, from the video, with zoom |
 A view of Queen Hatshepsut temple |
 Hatshepsut temple, zoomed in a bit |
 Hatshepsut temple from hot-air balloon, zoomed in from another photo |
 The Glick family from the Nile cruise enjoying the Nile view |
 Zoomed view of the Nile and Luxor and the cruise ships |
 The cruise ships & river w/ more dramatic sunlight |
 From video, the Nile and our basket ropes |
 The Glicks. Craig, Jodi, and Joan, from the Nile Cruise |
 Joan |
 Anita |
 Craig and Joan |
 The pilot asking if the trip was better now that we were higher. Yes :-) |
 Balloon cannisters and tag |
 So many on the basket I kept seeing new people |
 Flames that kept us going |
 Balloon passenger |
 From the video - looking toward Valley of the Kings |
 Going lower for end of trip (50 minutes) |
 The desert mountains ahead |
 Shooting the other side of the basket as we get lower |
 The landing assistants run to to keep up with and meet us. |
 Closer up with zoom lens |
 Zoomed up even more (we weren't as low as it looks) |
 The pilot's still looking for the right spot though |
 We've found a good spot and the young ones gather |
 Beautiful child, zoom lens used |
 About to land just past this field |
 Just before the landing spot |
 Our landing strip. This man video'd our lift off and landing. |
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