KZN farmer Hennie Strydom and his wife woke to a strange sight on their farm near Rorke’s Drift in KwaZulu-Natal recently – a crashed Google Loon.

“You just see flashing lights and things that can turn or spin,” Strydom told MyBroadband.

Not initially knowing what had landed on their farm, Strydom noticed a phone number on the wreckage – which he dialled.

He reached a call centre in South Africa, which put him through to an operator in Brazil, who connected him to someone in the United States.

The Google Loon had been in the air since February 2016, he was told, and was asked to keep it safe until Google could send a team to recover it.

Strydom said people were ready to plunder the device for its solar panels, but they secured it and are holding it for Google.

Google plans to fetch the balloon and its equipment, and transport it back to the United States, he said.

Strydom said the Loon has minimal external damage, while its balloon has a few holes in it.

What is Google Loon?

Google first announced Project Loon in 2013, a collaboration between it and Raven Industries which aims to bring high-speed wireless Internet to under-served areas around the world.

The balloons ascend until they reach the stratosphere, where they drift higher than 18km (60,000 ft) above the altitudes commercial airlines use.

Each balloon is designed to stay in the air for approximately 100 days.

Signals are transmitted from the balloons to a specialized Internet antenna mounted to the side of a home or workplace, or directly to LTE-enabled devices.

Google has said one Loon balloon costs tens of thousands of dollars.

More on Google Loon

Google balloon found in Karoo: report

Google’s Project Loon flies over SA

Google Project Loon: Balloon powered Internet access