September 12, 2007
Botswana to benefit from movie tourism?
Here's an article on Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, famous for The English Patient, filming in Botswana. The project is a film version of The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which is Alexander McCall Smith's best-selling novel.
The film should show us Gaborone, Botswana's laidback capital as well as Makgadikgadi Pans - huge salt flats in northern Botswana.
Botswana is known for spectacular wildlife, but certainly not for movie tourism.
Publicist Joey Sapieka said that visitors will be able to visit to the actual set after an agreement to keep it intact for the next decade.Here are a couple of videos. Honestly, neither Makgadikgadi Pans nor Gaborone looks all that great compared to the wildlife:"We have secured a 10-year license, which is also renewable, so people who watched the movie or read the book would still be able to tour the set for years to come," he said.
Botswana Makgadikgadi Pans (not English)
Botswana- Streets of Gaborone
Safari Zambia & Botswana
Posted by James Trotta at September 12, 2007 2:01 PM | TrackBack
Agree..not intrigued by the salt flats or the town...but the wildlife video is impressive! Other than wildlife and spectacular sunsets, Africa just doesn't hold much appeal for me. I do enjoy going "on safari" with the videos, however...from a distance! :-)
Posted by: Sharon at September 12, 2007 3:22 PMMakgadikgadi is beautiful and it's great that Boswana is getting more exposure. Check out our photos and videos in Makgadikgadi we took here:
http://www.ianandwendy.com/OtherTrips/BotswanaNamibia/Botswana/index.htm
Posted by: Ian at September 12, 2007 9:06 PMWe have been privileged to visit S. Africa 3 times and each time was different!
On our last trip,we flew into Gabarone and toured Botswaina for 9 days living in tents which WE had to put up and take down every two days! And, we loved it! Our native guides were very informative--and good cooks over a campfire--and the wildlife was fabulous! We remember the elephant matriarchs trumpeting when we would get too close to their offsprings. They were very protective of them! Thanks for reminding us of it again!