Exploring Cape Town with Google

With the deployment of her latest technology in Africa, American multinational technology giant, Google has stepped up its commitment to identifying, promoting and boosting the African tourism sector.
 
In a recent event in South Africa, tagged Cape Town with Google, the tech giant invited some of the continent’s media savvy, brand influencers and journalist, among others to Cape Town to witness the growth of the country’s tourism sector and to train them on how best to use technology in identifying some significant locations in the city, the hospitality aspect of South Africa and taste of the country’s rich delicacies, among others.
  
The evening of September 26, 2019, get together for the team from Nigerian, South Africa, Kenya and members of the Google team from the US at the Radisson Red Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Waterfront Hotel marked the beginning of the outing.

A visit to Bo-Kaap, the most colourful neighbourhoods in Cape Town, situated against Signal Hill, sets the tone for the team of things to come as they learned how to make beads at the Monkeybiz and produced a bead each.

“No one likes to be poor. No one likes to depend on handouts or the charity of others. A project such as Monkeybiz addresses a very deep human need, in that it helps people to help themselves,” Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of the Anglican Church of South Africa, had said during the inauguration of the centre years ago.

The majority of Monkeybiz artists have known poverty, neglect, and deprivation for most of their lives. Against this background, Monkeybiz has achieved tremendous impact by providing a basic income to many families who would otherwise have been left destitute.
 
Monkeybiz pays the women immediately as the work is delivered on a market day. Every artist has a bank account, encouraging money management and helping with cash security. Monkeybiz pays the bead makers depending on the quality of their work, encouraging improvement and inspiring higher standards.
  
Then, the team thereafter toured Bo-Kaap to see some of the city’s iconic spots including visiting the oldest mosque in South Africa, which was built in 1794, and how the city is fighting gentrification that became another major thing to contend with after the apartheid that ended in the early 1990s.
  
If there is a festival celebrated every day around the world, the Noon Gun will be the first on the list, which the team was able to be part of. The Noon Gun has been a historic time signal in Cape Town since 1806. It consists of a pair of black powder Dutch naval guns, fired alternating with one serving as a backup. The guns are situated on Signal Hill, close to the centre of the city and are shot to honour fallen heroes.

However you choose to describe it, Google Lens can perform some cool tricks. This made the tools come handy in identifying and promoting the African tourism sector. Imagine being able to identify almost anything in the world simply by pointing your phone at it, Google Lens, allows smartphone users to do just that.
 
The object recognition technology is designed to bring up relevant information related to objects it identifies, all by using a device’s camera.
  
It’s just one of the ways that Google is allowing for AR to be incorporated into the way we consume real-world information through technology.

Meanwhile, Google lens is not built to take pictures of people randomly and tell you about them because of privacy.

“You see things in real life -whether it’s an animal or plant you don’t recognise, or even a shoe or handbag and a lot of times words aren’t great to describe the item and it’s hard to search for those specific things, that’s why we created Google Lens.
 
“One of the products we launched recently is the ability to translate in real-time. You can point your camera at words you don’t understand and you get it translated.”
 
The most adventurous task of the tour was when the team was divided into groups of seven and drove 18 minutes on the beautiful road network of the Rainbow Nation to Montague Drive, Montague Gardens, Cape Town and Atlantic Studio for a cooking competition supervised by one of the best interactive cooking show in South Africa, Forkit.

The team was split into seven groups for the competition where they were mandated to prepare different cuisine. It was a wine day for the team as they visited Middelvlei Wine Estate for wine blending experience. Thereafter, they proceeded to Spier Wine Estate for a wine tasting before lunch at the Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery.
 
South Africa exploits in wine manufacturing may not be at the current level without Nederburg, the last wine spot the team visited. Founded in 1937, Nederburg is a multiple-award-winning winery and vineyard and has claimed numerous 5-star reviews. The team learned about the history of the firm and how it establishes itself as one of the best wine company in the world, producing 14 million litres yearly and exporting 60 per cent of its product.

I met some really amazing people from Nigeria and I like the good sense of humour. It’s a pleasure getting to meet the founder of Zeelicious foods, Winifred Emmanuel; I have been following her on the social media and getting to meet her in real life was fantastic,” she enthused.