Meet the Team

‘Riz’ was born and raised in Kenya, grew up in Nairobi and travelled widely as a child with his outdoor oriented family. His flying career began with a fixed wing pilots’ license, which was hardly used as a camp manager in the Masai Mara. It was during this time that he met Andrew, and with that meeting came the opportunity to experience the magic of ballooning.

It didn’t take long before Riz decided to become an ‘Aeronaut’, and he travelled to the world renowned ballooning destination of Albquerque, New Mexico, for his training. Since 2009 he has worked in Amboseli, in the South East of Kenya, flying passengers to view the highest mountain in Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as the abundant wildlife in the area.

Born and raised in Kenya, David started off as a balloon crew in 1991 and grew to love the flying experience over the majestic Mara. In the year 2007, he went for advance training in Gatwick, England and thereafter mondovy-Italy as a Balloon Pilot. He was recognized as a candidate with exceptional abilities and the company he worked for at the time sponsored his training as a Balloon Pilot in Italy and England.

Since completing his training, he has been flying full time in the Mara, and has been with Africa Eco Adventures Hot Air for the last 4 years. He has over 2700 hours logged flying time and has flown more than 35,000 international and local tourists combined, including celebrities like Sir Richard Branson.

As a Balloon Company owner and operator this led him to choose to share his unique set of skills with the rest of the world. We are fortunate to have him as part of the Team. His over 25 years of Ballooning experience from all over South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, as well as Myanmar to mention a few, gives him a unique perspective with which to share the experience of flying over the Maasai Mara.

The first time he saw the balloons in the sky over Cappadocia, he lost his heart to the thought of flight. This altered his career plan entirely, and now with more than 2,000 flying hours, he is a world-renowned hot-air-balloon pilot and brings a unique contribution to the team. Prior to Africa eco Adventures Hot Air, he has worked as a hot-air-balloon pilot in many countries around the world and is experienced in flying in a variety of weather conditions.