Balloon Festival in Sri Lanka

It's like floating along with a "cooker on top of your head," says Captain Anil Jayasinghe, of the Ceylon Airship and Balloon Club (CABC). Captain Jayasinghe is also the organizer of one of this year's most fun events – the Sri Lanka Hot Air Balloon Festival. With 22 balloons and 72 participants from all over the world, the festival lasted a fortnight – from Friday, March 21 to Friday April 4.

Even though they are on holiday and travelling to beautiful places like Sigiriya and Hambantota, balloonists are a disciplined lot. For instance, a pilot must always keep a watchful eye on the wind that propels his balloons along. "In a balloon you've got to adjust your height to adjust your wind," says Captain Jayasinghe, explaining that throughout the atmosphere the winds are always changing in strength and direction. "The slightest twitch of a branch is recorded in your memory," he adds, explaining that for the balloonist, the indicators are many, if subtle. A sudden puff of wind felt across the face, the direction of a smoke trail from a bonfire, the leaves bending across the tops of the trees and even the direction in which the cows are grazing (they always graze with their backs to the wind) give an observant balloonist the information he really needs.

Today's balloons are a whole lot tougher though. The balloon itself – known as an envelope – is made of a fabric called ripstop that resists tears, and holds heat. The size of a balloon is measured by the amount of air its envelope holds – this can be anything from 30,000 cubic feet to 425,000 cubic feet of air. Some balloons are over 7 stories high and the largest can carry 20 people or more. They qualify as lighter than air aircraft and come equipped with a basic GPS, a normal communication set, a fire extinguisher and something which can be used to ignite the burner in a case of emergency, says Captain Jayasinghe.

Ballooning has its own appeal. KSH Imochaoba Singh, a balloonist from Manipur, was at the festival for the first time. He says his flights in Hambantota and Sigiriya have made for a unique safari experience – skimming the tops of the trees in his balloon, he has spotted several animals and birds, including elephants.

Another balloonist, Anthony Brown, agrees. Anthony used to be a Flight Engineer for the Concorde – the plane that could outrace sound. He believes the balloons slow, floating pace is one the best ways to see a country. Ballooning is a one way ride, and landing in someone's backyard in a six story balloon may be one of the most interesting ways to introduce yourself. Often language is a problem, "and so you have to find a way of communicating with them, invariably you can talk with your eyes, and your smile and your body language," says Anthony.

Maddy Gyselynck, her brother and their parents love to go on ballooning holidays for this very reason. "I get the opportunity to go to some fabulous places, that if we didn't balloon, we would never even dream of going, like Sri Lanka," says Maddy, who after a landing in a paddy field now boasts a Sri Lankan pen pal.

However, landing in a farmer's field can put one in touch with a whole new lot of wildlife – as 10 year old Mathew Bayly discovered. Having flown since the tender age of three months, Mathew is an experienced, if wary balloonist. He and his brothers and sisters have kept a careful look out for leeches on this trip.

Mathew has already been to several places, including Italy and Albuquerque. But this doesn't seem to be unusual among balloonists, many of whom seem to have a decidedly nomadic streak in them. "Just this winter, we started off by flying in Ireland, we then went to Thailand and we had three weeks there, we've been to Austria and flown over the Alps, we've been to Finland and flown above the Arctic circle, and now we're in Sri Lanka," says Anthony, adding with relish, "from minus 10 degrees to plus 30 degrees, in the space of a month – not bad at all."