With less than 2 weeks before the kick-off of the highly anticipated World Cup in South Africa, then i think its about time for an update on whats happening down here.
Are we ready for the biggest fanfare and festival of football in the world to descend upon South Africa – the 2010 World Cup -
YOU BET WE ARE!! :-))))
All the stadiums are finished; all having staged dress rehearsal matches on their pitches. Monumental improvements and building work is now completed at Airports, 100's of major roads and all sorts of infra-structure are finished. So bring on the football games!!
Even tho’ there have been mixed reports afew months ago of slow ticket sales, expensive flight tickets and over-priced accommodation, there is now thankfully price-cutting in all areas so that a much more realistic pricing structure has appeared. Which is a huge relief, as the South African World Cup is now easily affordable to ALL fans. (Plus all those doom-sayers afew years ago saying that SA could never pull it off, can now certainly eat a ton of humble pie.)
Airlines are organising more flights to South Africa than their normal scheduled flights - Air France has an extra 15 planes booked from Paris to Jo'burg and SAA has over 43,000 extra flight tickets available.
To say that the excitement has reached fever-pitch is the under-statement of the year - it is literally football, football, football all over South Africa - EVERY newspaper, every TV show, every TV advert, every car (covered in flags), every person (wearing football shirts), every street in every village, town and city is completely football mad.......it's bonkers and we are all totally enjoying the madness too. Complete strangers just keep smiling at each other - it's like we are all 10 year old kids at Christmas Eve, about to receive a fab shiny present from Santa Claus.
And (nearly) every famous person on the planet will be here to soak up the excitement too - so far confirmed are - Prince Harry and Prince William, Paris Hilton, multi-billionaires such as Roman Abramovich (he will have his 138metre ship anchoured here in Cape Town - which only has a helicopter pad, 2 swimming pools, 24 gold plated rooms and a submarine - yeah right :-)); loads of international music mega-stars and Hollywood film stars; the famous WAGs going on mega shopping sprees; heads of state from every corner of the globe; media moguls; captains of industry and high-flying A-listed stars will be glittering all over South Africa.
Then theres over 3 million seats - including half a million foreign ticket holders coming to visit South Africa - 130,000 from the USA, 100,000 from the UK, 43,000 Australia, 40,000 Germany, 36,000 Mexico, 22,000 Japan, 18,000 Brazil, 17,000 Canada, 16,000 Switzerland and many more from all corners of the globe.
The amassed international media will be here in huge numbers - for example, the BBC has a massive TV studio in a double decker bus travelling 6,000 kms to film every corner of the country over 8 weeks; TV sports commentators; newspaper journalists; camera and documentary film crews; photographers; freelance writers and bloggers and everyone thats anyone is coming to join in the party.
Across the country, 100’s of Fan Parks have been organised, mostly at large indoor halls where massive visual sound systems will broadcast all the games live. These Fan Parks are a fantastic idea, as they allow the non-ticket holders from all social back-grounds of the world to totally soak up the atmosphere and get into the football party fever. Some of the German 2006 Fan Parks had over 100,000 people at each one, that’s more than any stadium could hold.
This will also be the first ever World Cup (or world class event) where ALL the action will be broadcast in HD vision, making the TV viewing an utter pleasure to be behold - HD TV sets are selling like hot cakes the world over, so that every household will be a surround-sound visual high entertainment master-piece. The high technology that is to be used to broadcast all the action is utterly gob-smacking - 25 of the matches will be broadcast in 3D - yes 3D - outrageously excellent - the state-of-the-art 30,000m sq media centre took 6 years to build, has 2,500 full-time staff and cost a whopping R1Billion - each stadium has 32 HD cameras (some in helicopters) and will beam their footage to 2 hi-tech studios at each stadium, yes 2 studios, not 1. The data transfer rate is outstanding - at 20Gbps down fibre-optic cables, thats equal to a full length Hollywood movie being downloaded in less than 2 seconds. Most impressive!!!
World Cup merchandise is selling so fast off South African shelves that manufacturers and shops can not keep up with supplies - Edgers (a large department chain store) has already sold 1/2 million SA football shirts retailing at R600; 300,000 footballs and 152,000 vuvuzelas - while other retail chains like Makro and Game report equally high demand for all items World Cup related. TV sets and satellite dishes are in high demand and flat screen HD TV sales are up by 20%.
Oh and I nearly forgot - what about the football itself - 64 massive matches, held over 4 weeks, in 10 gleaming brand new stadiums each able to hold 55,000 to 95,000 screaming enthusiastic fans, 32 countries with squads of 24 players each, including international super-stars like Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo, Kaka, Drogba, Henry, Torres and 100's more, plus their management teams, trainers, physios; then theres all the FIFA officials, the event sponsors corporate hospitality groups like - Sony, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Visa card, Mcdonalds, Hyundai, Vodacom, Emirates, Budweiser etc.....
Music - International music stars will be performing at the Kick-off concert on the 10th June at the Orlando stadium in Soweto, Jo’burg, with – Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Alicia Keys, John Legend, The Parlotones, Freshly Ground, Vusi Mahlasela, Juanes, Angelique Kidjo, Amaduo & Mariam, Tinariwen, Vieux Farka Toure, Soweto Gospel Choir.......
What to see and do when you are not watching a match??
Thankfully South Africa has literally 1000's of amazing activities, sights to see and experience and is an incredible adventure playground - Whale watching and Great White Shark cage diving at Hermanus, near Cape Town; Wine Tours of our 600 wine estates offering over 10,000 different award winning wines to sample; Safari parks to meet our African animals (18% of SA is a nature reserve); 1000's of sandy beaches along a stunning 2,700 km coastline; 100's of massive mountain ranges; gigantic open pretty countryside with no-one for miles; vast History and Culture; Township tours; African art, crafts and colourful imaginative creations; mouth-watering cuisine - try Springbok steaks, Ostrich, Warthog, Crocodile, Wilderbeest, Kudu, Impala, Cape Malay curries, huge lobsters and prawns, Malva pudding, Milk Tart - yummy.......; Quad Biking thro vineyards; Cessna plane flights over fantastic scenery; Kayaking and Canoeing; Horse Riding; Cape Floral Kingdom; Penguin colonies; Fishing; Scuba Diving; Tree Top canopy rope slides; Worlds highest bridge Bungee jump; luxury yachts and power-boating; World Heritage sights; Table Mountain, Robben Island, Cradle of Mankind; diamonds and gold; tropical/semi-arid deserts/Mediterranean climates; and above all it's marvelously friendly and loving people.......
Welcome to the Rainbow nation of South Africa :-))))
So let the whole country (and world) UNITE behind what is going to ultimately be the biggest marketing campaign (and party) that South Africa has ever had, with well over 4 BILLION people on the planet watching 1 whole month of non-stop SOUTH AFRICA on their TVs.
Enjoy the football, we sure will be :-)))))
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Authored by Percy from Percy Tours, based in Hermanus, South Africa (only an hour from Cape Town) -
www.percytours.com / +27 (0) 72-062-8500
Designer tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Capealso check out our other gorgeous and informative websites -
www.hermanusactivities.net - for 100's of things to see + do
www.xploratours.co.za - for loads of info on Whale Watching and Great White Shark cage diving etc...
see you in amazing South Africa........
