Doha: Attracting more than 3,000 people on the inaugural day, Qatar’s first Hot Air Balloon Festival began yesterday at Aspire Park.
“Being held for the first time in Qatar, the event will continue for 12 days, until December 18, as 33 hot air balloons from 13 countries adorn the skies over Aspire Park,” said Noof Al Saffar (Pictured), a member of the organising committee of Qatar’s Hot Air Balloon Festival.
Teams from UK, India, the US, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Ireland, France and Qatar are taking part in the event.
Noufah Al Saffar said that the 12-day event of majestic sights are combined with live music, and guests could enjoy cuisines from best brands, kids’ entertainment, balloon night glow and more.
The event has been scheduled to coincide with three major events in the country namely the 24th Edition of Arabian Gulf Cup Tournament; the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup and Qatar National Day celebrations, she added.
The scene of the colourful balloons will be a fantastic opportunity to take photographs of the memorable experience.
The surreal scene of a group of Hot Air Balloons taking off and colouring the skies at sunrise is unforgettable. The balloons will start taking off and fly for a period of 45 to 60 minutes.
A couple of hours before sunset, the Hot Air Balloons will be lifting off together to colour the skies. This would be a perfect opportunity to those that can’t get up with the crack of dawn to see the mass balloons flying in the air.
There will be a flight every day at 6.15am where all the balloons will be flying in the direction of the prevailing wind for about 30 to 45 minutes. The (free) flights will be a spectacular scene to watch over Doha skies. Also, there will be flights plus tethering in the early afternoon at 2pm as well as a nightglow at 6:30pm after which the festival will close by 8:30pm everyday. Visitors will not be able to ride inside the balloon, only watch them from the ground.
'Free flight' means the balloons are not tied to the ground or an anchor point and people will see the balloon flying in the air. Tethered flights from 2pm until sunset will see balloons inflated and tied to anchor points in the arena and flown up to 20 meters high.
One of the visitors said that the concept of a hot air balloons festival is wonderful but it is sad that we cannot ride on them, adding that it makes for a good picture.