Monique Carrera Gad El Karem born in Switzerland on June 5th, 1960

I have been a globetrotter since my youth and I have always been drawn to new adventures in all four wind directions.

And so it happened as it had to happen.

In 1996 I came to Egypt for the first time to visit a friend. The result of this was that in 1997 we took a three-month trip through Egypt in my hot air balloon. Me as a pilot (I was a hot air balloon pilot for 12 years) and Bea Dolder as a photographer.

I then stayed in Hurghada and founded a hot air balloon company in Egypt. This made me the first professional female balloon pilot in Egypt with an aviation company.

In 2001 I married Salah and together we founded a house gallery in Hurghada. One day Salah heard a pitiful meowing outside the window. That was the beginning of today’s bluemoon animal center hurghada, which we founded in 2002.