The Mzansi Experience, thanks to Google Maps

Google Street View will for the first time allow tourists to visit a family of elephants in the KNP, take a virtual walk on Table Mountain, or along Durban's Golden Mile.

Cape Town - Google’s 360º panoramic imagery, taking local and international tourists on virtual tours of some of South Africa’s top natural attractions, has been expanded to SANParks areas.

The Mzansi Experience – Discover South Africa on Google Maps, a Google Street View was launched on Tuesday. It will, for the first time, allow local and international tourists to visit a family of elephants in the Kruger National Park, take a virtual walk on Table Mountain, Cape Point or along Durban’s Golden Mile.

Google partnered with SANParks in collecting the iconic images. The imagery is available in more than 75 countries and in parts of the Arctic and Antarctica.

The maps collection includes Table Mountain National Park, Cape of Good Hope, Kruger National Park, West Coast National Park and Lion’s Head.

Google SA communications and public affairs head Mich Atagana said there were more than one billion monthly active users of Google Maps services.

“We are launching this imagery on Google Maps as part of a campaign to showcase the beauty of South Africa as a tourist destination for local and international travellers,” she said. “We are excited about the many possibilities we have yet to explore and to bring more useful and beautiful imagery to Google Maps users around the globe.”

South Africa is home to some of the top tourist destinations in the world, including the eight Unesco World Heritage Sites, and home to the Kruger National Park – one of Africa’s largest game reserves.

“This imagery seeks to showcase the beauty of the country to those who are interested in virtually travelling here, and will hopefully inspire them to visit in person.”

SANParks acting head of communications Reynold Thakhuli said Google Maps had been collecting imagery in a number of national parks in order to bring a broad spectrum of the public closer to wilderness features.

“SANParks is proud to partner with Google Maps, making use of its technology to improve accessibility to South Africa’s natural heritage,” said Thakhuli.

Cape Times