I was quite pleasantly surprised yesterday to find this little piece of coastline near Glenmore Beach, about 5km north of Port Edward, on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast. The area is very well looked after, and very quiet. Glenmore is well known as a little retirement village, and certainly lives up to its reputation.
Click for full screen high quality Panoramic Virtual Tour of Glenmore Beach
Red Desert in Port Edward is (claimed) the smallest desert in the world. It is just 200 meters in diameter, forming a near perfect circle in the middle of a lush, green area of KwaZulu Natal. Very strange indeed! This had lead some to believe that aliens must have landed here, and the pollution from the circular space ship caused instant desertification. Haha!
Locals tell a different story however, of a time long ago when a small village lived on this land, and kept the cattle in a confined space for long periods, thus forcing them to eat everything in sight, and trample the ground, starting the desertification process. Personally I find this quite hard to believe, as when you are there in person its clear to see this is far more than merely compressed soil. This is a REAL desert, tiny that it may be.
Whatever you choose to believe caused the worlds smallest desert, the virtual tour will give you some more insight into this phenomenon. Enjoy!
Click for full screen high quality Panoramic Virtual Tour of Red Desert
This one is not for you if you have fear of heights! This 80 meter long suspension bridge over the magnificent Oribi Gorge, is over 70 meters high! As you cross over the bridge, while it sways back and forth, one can’t but help looking down through the wire mesh floor to the tree tops far below. Nail biting stuff!
Pictured below is the safety of the “other side” of the bridge, know as the Eagles Nest, where yet another magnificent panoramic view awaits. A steel structure perch (it is the Eagles Nest after all) juts out into space, high above the tree tops of the Oribi Gorge below. Sounds of the wildlife echo through the gorge below, monkeys chatter, and a fish eagle flies by (below you!). A must visit!
Click for full screen high quality Panoramic Virtual Tour of the 80 meter suspension bridge over Oribi Gorge in Lake Eland Game reserve
The world is panoramic. We are able to turn our heads and look in all directions and get a feel for where we are, but the typical photograph can not capture that experience completely. But there is an answer, a technology, a methodology, that makes it possible to share the world around us in a 360 degree panoramic way, that really makes the viewer feel as though he is really there!
Many moons ago I was introduced to this technology (then only available on QuicktimeVR) and was immediately fascinated by the possibilities. Although back then the quality was very low, the concept was very real. Since that day I have always wanted to produce 360 degree high quality panoramic virtual tours, and make them available to the world. Just think, a person sitting in Germany can “virtually” see the view from the beach down the road from my home, without leaving his chair. World travel just stepped up to the next level!
Now, this dream of many years has finally been realized, and I now have all the equipment and experience (learning and improving techniques never stops) to offer some of the highest quality virtual tour photography available in South Africa!
This blog is where I will be sharing my experiences with you, and of course the final product!
Comments are always welcome. Please subscribe to the RSS feed for updates in your reader, and share the website with friends. My name is John Gore, by the way.
