Floating over the desert at sunrise is already one of the UAE's signature experiences — and soon there'll be a place to explore the story behind the balloons themselves. The UAE Hot Air Balloon Team has signed an international partnership with Japan's Saga Balloon Museum to open UAE Balloon Museum 7, the first museum of its kind in the Middle East. The announcement came via state news agency WAM, and the project marks the seventh global edition of the museum brand.
The Sharjah-based team behind it is led by Captain Pilot Abdulaziz Nasser Al Mansouri, and they've been busy on the world stage. This summer the team announced it would become the first Arab squad to fly at a balloon festival in Saga — a fitting precursor to the museum deal.
If you want a preview of what's coming, look to Japan. Saga, which styles itself "The City of Hot Air Balloons", has hosted the Saga International Balloon Fiesta since 1980; it now draws more than 100 balloons into the autumn sky each year. The city's museum opened in October 2016 as Japan's first permanent hot air balloon museum, and it's genuinely hands-on: there's an indoor balloon flight experience that works in any weather, a flight simulator for aspiring pilots, a high-definition theatre screening festival footage, and a prized artefact — the real Icarus No.5, the balloon that carried Japan's first manned hot air balloon flight over Hokkaido in 1969.
The UAE version is planned as an international platform covering the history of hot air ballooning and the technology used to build and fly the aircraft. The catch for now: location, design and opening date are all still under wraps. Worth watching, though — especially for anyone combining a desert balloon flight with something more educational on the ground.
For travellers, this slots neatly into an existing UAE itinerary. Sunrise balloon rides over the desert dunes are already a bucket-list staple, and a permanent museum would give the experience a rainy-day (well, hot-day) counterpart — much as it does in Saga, where indoor flying means the weather never grounds you.
Story via What's On Dubai.
