The image at the left shows the location of Breitling balloon landing site on a high plateau 520 km as the crow flies from Cairo. It landed almost exactly in the center of the country and on a high plateau surrounded by two escarpments, the second of which was seemingly impassable to 4-wheel drive vehicles. The top of the second plateau where the balloon landed was perfectly flat, but only a couple of miles wide. It was certainly a miracle that the gondola was not dashed against the face of the escarpment on the approach side (it did make momentary violent contact with those cliffs), or carried over the escarpment on the other (eastern) side which was less than a mile away from where the balloon eventually came to rest.
The image at the left shows the location of Breitling balloon landing site on a high plateau 520 km as the crow flies from Cairo. It landed almost exactly in the center of the country and on a high plateau surrounded by two escarpments, the second of which was seemingly impassable to 4-wheel drive vehicles. The top of the second plateau where the balloon landed was perfectly flat, but only a couple of miles wide. It was certainly a miracle that the gondola was not dashed against the face of the escarpment on the approach side (it did make momentary violent contact with those cliffs), or carried over the escarpment on the other (eastern) side which was less than a mile away from where the balloon eventually came to rest.
The image at the left shows the location of Breitling balloon landing site on a high plateau 520 km as the crow flies from Cairo. It landed almost exactly in the center of the country and on a high plateau surrounded by two escarpments, the second of which was seemingly impassable to 4-wheel drive vehicles. The top of the second plateau where the balloon landed was perfectly flat, but only a couple of miles wide. It was certainly a miracle that the gondola was not dashed against the face of the escarpment on the approach side (it did make momentary violent contact with those cliffs), or carried over the escarpment on the other (eastern) side which was less than a mile away from where the balloon eventually came to rest.