Virtual travel: See the world without leaving your home
With a second wave of coronavirus sweeping the country, South Africans have been advised to avoid travelling and preferably stay at home. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy top attractions – all you need to do is head online and enjoy a virtual tour, hike or safari.
Here are a few streaming channels that will take you outdoors on a virtual adventure while you are stuck inside.
1. Take a Virtual Trip Around the World
Fancy diving the Blue Holes of Palau or flying over the Sahara Desert in Chad? Now you can go to places you once only dreamed of on virtual-reality trips created by multi-award-winning Russian-based content creators Airpano.
The company has travelled to more than 400 countries and created the most spectacular, high-quality 360-degree aerial and underwater trips and tours for streamers to enjoy. Every Wednesday they publish a new video on their website and social media accounts, and these are nothing less than mind-blowing.
They also capture cities, shopping malls and museums, so for the global traveller who is stuck at home, or nomads dreaming of travelling to exotic places around the world, this is the answer.
2. Bring the Big Five into your Living Room on a Virtual Safari
Join South African company WildEarth on a game drive with professional, knowledgeable rangers who take you into the wild. WildEarth has been running these award-winning, unscripted game drives for several years and goes out on safari twice a day in three game drive vehicles.
You can send questions to the guides so they can answer out in the field in real time.
3. Visit Robben Island Without getting on a Boat
Take a tour of Robben Island or stroll through the Louvre in Paris with Google Arts & Culture. The web giant has teamed up with more than 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to offer virtual tours and online exhibits.
Featured on the platform are famous galleries and museums like the Louvre in Paris, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Acropolis in Athens and the Vatican in Rome, as well as the Robben Island Museum and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. And it is all for free.
4. Hike South Africa’s Most stunning Trails
Now you can hike some of South Africa’s most beautiful hiking trails thanks to Google Street View. A team of 200 nature-loving South Africans took on the ambitious task of filming some amazing hiking trails around the country for viewing via Google Street View.
Today there are several fantastic spots you can virtually hike, including routes in the towering Drakensberg Mountains, Mapungubwe, the Richtersveld and iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa’s oldest Unesco site.
You can view them on the microsite South Africa in 360 which offers a host of immersive VR-adventures.
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