At last the weather in Cape Town has cleared up – and we’ve had a chance to dust off the equipment and shoot some panoramic pictures – and we got an interesting one of Rhino’s to start with.

(Like all of our pictures, this one is 360º and interactive. Click and drag to look around)

James Taylor and I headed out to Worcester to get the last bit of the footage needed for a promotional video of Goudini Spa (click here for the virtual tour).

Part of the job took us to Fairy Glen Game Farm, which has to be the closest place to Cape Town where you can see the Big Five.
The drive out takes about an hour and a half, but the scenery is magnificent. Mountain passes, vineyards, clear, trout filled rivers – it’s just everything you love about the Cape.

If you are a local, nature loving purist who loves getting lost in the Kruger National Park, Fairy Glen might feel a bit cramped.
That being said, if you are an international tourist who does not have the time or money to spend a week in the Kruger, but you would like to see the Big Five -  it’s perfect.

A rhino is a rhino and, as you can see from the panoramic image above, you’ll get to see them up close and personal and learn a lot in the process.

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Shamwari Game Reserve, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, forms the perfect backdrop for the latest Animal Planet ‘reality wildlife documentary’ – Shamwari: a Wild Life.

Seeing that it is one of the most exclusive safari lodges in Africa, not many people will have the privilege to visit Shamwari in their lifetime, so we thought we’d invite you to visit it virtually.
The map below is fully interactive: Zoom out to see where the reserve is situated, Zoom in to see if you can spot an elephant and click on one of the lodge icons to access virtual tours and interactive 360º images.

Shamwari has been voted the World’s Leading Safari and Game Reserve for the past 10 years and has hosted guests like John Travolta, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage and Tiger Woods.
Not satisfied with playing host, it seems Shamwari is now becoming a television star itself.

Recent years have seen quite a few very popular wildlife documentaries shot in and around the Reserve, with the latest offering “Shamwari: a Wild Life” promising to continue the trend.
Starting on Animal Planet in September in the UK and South Africa and in October in the US, the series centers on the people of Shamwari and their daily interactions with the animals of the reserve.
If the previews are anything to go by, it promises to be action packed and highly entertaining.

But have a look for yourself:

To enable you to explore the reserve before and during the series, Virtual Africa has integrated some 360º images and virtual tours into an interactive Google Map of the area.
The map will allow you to see exactly where Shamwari is situated and explore the lodges and their surroundings in more detail.

See you on safari!

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