The newly built Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban will seat 70 000 soccer fans during the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Its most unique and outstanding feature is the Arch of Triumph. The peak of the Arch stands 106 meters above the soccer pitch below, and is built in the shape of the letter Y, inspired by the South African Flag.
Activities at the stadium include an adventurous Sky Walk and the Sky Car funicular which end at the peak of the Arch. Visitors are allowed to spend 20 minutes on the Sky Platform, at the peak of the Arch, to take in the 360 degree panoramic view from this amazing vantage point.
It’s finally here, Google Street View South Africa is LIVE ! Little over 9 months ago, on 1 September 2009, Google announced it was collecting data to launch Street View in South Africa, using specialized cameras mounted on top of a fleet of Toyota Prius cars. As the cars drive down the street, the camera automatically takes still photos in all directions simultaneously. These photos are then stitched together, and loaded in to Google Maps. Users of Google Maps can use Street View to look around a panoramic photo of a location shown on a map. Today, 8 June 2010, Google has activated these 360 degree street view photos for South Africa!
Google Street View will not cover every street in South Africa, but will focus on 360 degree street scenes, covering Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban. They also used a Google Street View Trike to photograph Chapman’s Peak drive, Table Mountain, Soccer City, Moses Mabhida Stadium, and more…
“We are not launching Street View [yet] – we are only launching the collection of data for Street View,” said Google country manager for South Africa Stephen Newton in September 2009, “The launch [of Street View] will be . . . way before the 2010 soccer World Cup.”
With the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup just 3 days away, Google Street View has been launched a little later than planned, but rather late than never. Read more »
This video gives a great overview of the Soccer World Cup Stadiums in South Africa, using the 3D models that Google had created for each of the Stadiums.
The new soccer stadiums we have visited are looking very good, and are ready to host the Soccer World Cup which kicks off in just a few days, on 11 June.
The Cape Town Stadium, previously known as the Greenpoint Stadium, is visible from a great distance, and certainly will remain an icon in Cape Town long into the future. The stadium has a seating capacity of 68 000, and cost R4.4billion to build (approximately $600 000).
Enjoy the 360 degree panoramic Virtual Tour of Cape Town Stadium:
More Virtual Tours of some of the other South African stadiums coming soon…
Cape Town Stadium will host the following matches:
2010-06-11 at 20.30 : Uruguay vs France (Group A)
2010-06-14 at 20.30 : Italy vs Paraguay (Group F)
2010-06-18 at 20.30 : England vs Algeria (Group C)
2010-06-21 at 13.30 : Portugal vs Korea DPR (Group G)
2010-06-24 at 20.30 : Cameroon vs Netherlands (Group E)
2010-06-29 at 20.30 : Winners of Group H vs Runners-up of Group G (Round of 16)
2010-07-03 at 16.00 : Winners of Match 52 vs Winners of Match 51 (Quarter Finals)
2010-07-06 at 20.30 : Winners of Match 58 vs Winners of Match 57 (Semi Finals)
Last weekend the annual Tourism Indaba, Africa’s top travel show, was again hosted at the ICC in Durban, from 8 to 11 May 2010, attracting the who’s who of the global travel industry, as well as local product owners. Products from all over Africa were showcased.
We spent all 4 days at the Tourism Indaba, meeting with our old clients, making new friends, and of course enjoying the atmosphere. With a nearly full schedule for the rest of the year, we were not planning on looking for new business, but, as it turned out, we picked up a number of quality contacts and clients. We are excited about the new partnerships we have formed, and look forward to a great year ahead in the Tourism Industry.
We created this 360 degree Virtual Tour of the 2010 Tourism Indaba. This tour can be embedded into your website or blog at no charge (creative commons). Contact me if you would like the code to embed this 360 degree Virtual Tour into your website.
This 360 Virtual Tour is just scratches the surface of this very large show. The Virtual Tour includes some of the highlights such as the Global Media Face-Off in the Moses Mabhida Stadium, the SA Tourism Welcome Awards, the AA Travel Guides American Express Accommodation Awards, a single view in each of the main exhibition halls (ICC, DEC and SADC), and Miss South Africa at the AVIS stand. Enjoy the virtual tour!
Find out more about the Tourism Indaba on the official website www.indaba-southafrica.co.za and download photos (free for media) by the official photographer on www.jpg.co.za .
Update: Now on the official Tourism Indaba website! We are glad to say that the Virtual Tour we created of Tourism Indaba 2010 has been published on the home page of the official Tourism Indaba website ( www.indaba-southafrica.co.za ), and Zaida Enver (GM of Kagiso Events) has personally expressed how they like our work.
We recently visited these little penguins on Boulders Beach in Cape Town. These are the vulnerable African Penguin, a type of Jackass Penguin. The Jackass Penguin gets its name from the sound it makes, which is similar to a donkey. So funny to hear such a tiny animal that sounds like a donkey! Enjoy the 360 degree photo of the penguins on Boulders beach in Simonstown, Cape Town.
We took a drive down to Cape Point, where the 2 oceans meet. The warm Indian ocean current which flows down from the equator, down the east coast, and the cold Atlantic current which flows up the west coast of South Africa.
This spot is near the top of the walk up to the Cape Point Lighthouse, which is at 247 meters above sea level. Quite a walk up from the car park! Seems like thousands of steps, that never end! A funicular (car) is available to take visitors up if you are not up for the walk.
This is actually the old lighthouse, which was not very effective because it was too high up! Often due to thick fog or cloud cover, this lighthouse was not visible to ships. After a ship wreck in the early 1900s, this lighthouse was taken out of service, and replaced by a new lighthouse much lower down, closer to sea level, which is still in service today.
We recently did a 360 degree Virtual Tour shoot for Protea Hotel North Wharf in Cape Town, and used the opportunity to do some 360 photos on the roof of the Hotel. Enjoy.
View from above the Mossel Bay Lighthouse. Down below one can see the Point Village, Caravan Park and the War Memorial. The Mossel Bay Lighthouse is the only Lighthouse in South Africa that is still manned 24 hours a day.
