The Flying Sphinx and Cairo's New Balloon Ride: Four Decades Apart

<h2>A Giant Yellow Sphinx Over the Real One</h2><p>In February 1984, American publisher Malcolm Forbes brought an unusual creation to Egypt: Sphinx II, a hot-air balloon shaped like the Great Sphinx, 40 meters long and 20 meters high. It was part of a goodwill expedition that combined motorcycles and balloons, and its first major stop was the Giza Plateau itself.</p><p>The first launch attempt at Giza was scrapped almost immediately when strong wind buffeted the balloon. The team tried again the next morning, and this time the giant yellow Sphinx lifted off in front of roughly 500 spectators, floating above the real Sphinx and the pyramids behind it.</p><h2>3,700 Kilometers Through Egypt</h2><p>From Giza, the expedition continued as a 20-day, 3,701-kilometer loop through nine Egyptian cities, with the balloon crew and a parallel motorcycle caravan tracing the Nile south to Aswan, crossing the Eastern Desert to the Red Sea and Suez, then returning to Cairo through Sinai. Along the way, Sphinx II flew free over Luxor's Valley of the Kings and near the temples of Karnak, and again over Aswan, where the wind gave the crew a tense afternoon.</p><h2>Millions Watching Over the Nile</h2><p>The last flight, saved for the end of the trip, was over Cairo itself rather than an archaeological site. After a weather delay, the balloon finally lifted off early one morning as the city was heading to work, drifting north over the Nile before coming down in a field outside town. According to a contemporary account in Saudi Aramco World, millions of Egyptians saw the giant yellow Sphinx pass overhead that morning, briefly turning an ancient symbol into part of the modern skyline. Forbes closed out the trip with a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak before flying home.</p><h2>A Very Different Kind of Balloon, Four Decades Later</h2><p>Egypt's newest balloon project has little in common with Sphinx II beyond the location. In August 2026, Egypt's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities inspected a fixed balloon attraction under construction near the Giza Pyramids, built by Tashreef for Tourism Marketing with the French company Aerophile, which specializes in tethered balloon rides. Rather than drifting with the wind, this balloon stays anchored to the ground and simply rises and descends, lifting visitors about 150 meters for a ride lasting around 15 minutes.</p><p>The site sits about 2 kilometers from the pyramids and 2.2 kilometers from the Sphinx, built with lightweight, prefabricated structures rather than concrete or underground work, a design choice clearly made with the surrounding archaeological zone in mind. As of this writing the project is still moving toward its trial run, with no public launch date yet.</p><h2>Why the View From Above Matters at Giza</h2><p>Ground-level visits to Giza tend to happen one monument at a time: the Great Pyramid, then the Sphinx, then whichever temple is next on the route. From the air, the layout reads differently. The Giza Plateau isn't just three pyramids and a Sphinx; it's a much larger funerary landscape of temples, causeways, smaller pyramids and cemeteries built around Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and a height of 150 meters is enough to take in how those pieces actually relate to each other and to the desert around them.</p><p>That's not a reason to skip walking the site itself. The two views answer different questions, and a Giza visit that includes both probably tells you more than either one alone.</p><h2>Planning Around It</h2><p>The Pyramids remain the centerpiece of any Cairo trip, but they're one part of a bigger story that includes the Grand Egyptian Museum, Islamic and Coptic Cairo, and the Nile itself. Gentoura can help build a Cairo itinerary around whichever of these matter most to you, balloon ride included once it's open to visitors.</p>