Tag Archives: Table Bay

‘Safe House’ shot in picture perfect Cape Town, favourite film city of Ryan Reynolds!

The movie ‘Safe House’, starring Denzil Washington and Ryan Reynolds, which was released internationally yesterday, does Cape Town proud, with most of the scenes in the two-hour film shot in the city over a five month period last year.  Reynolds has expressed his love for the city in interviews, an excellent ambassador for Cape Town.

The Weekend Argus reports that Rio de Janeiro was the preferred location for the movie, the script calling for a ‘safe house’ to be as far away as possible from the USA.  Cape Town was chosen above Rio de Janeiro because it ‘had more infrastructure than Rio’, said Reynolds in an interview.

During their time in the city, Reynolds and Washington climbed Lion’s Head, visited the Garden Route, lived in the One&Only Cape Town, and were spotted in numerous local restaurants. Reynolds was blown away by the beauty of Cape Town, and his favourite memory of the city was eating at Mzoli’s.  The trailer and the movie open with a beautiful shot of Lion’s Head in the foreground, across Table Bay, and onto the Paarl mountains covered in southeaster clouds, to audience applause!  Local actress Lynita Crofford stars very briefly in the movie.

The Cape Argus has reported that Reynolds said that Cape Town ‘is my favourite city I’ve shot in’, a fantastic accolade.  He shared that he did not have much time to see the tourist side of the city, but when his family came to visit, it ‘forced me to go see everything as quickly as I could.  I’ve obviously seen all the local sites’. He added that he prefers Cape Town to Johannesburg, where he filmed as well, ‘just because I’m big on the ocean and the hiking and the mountains’.

The movie is dominated by lots of action, a CIA espionage ‘skop-skiet-en-donder’ movie, with more indoor shots than outdoors, thereby limiting the opportunity to show off the beauty of Cape Town. But brand ‘Cape Town’ was pertinently mentioned five times.  An incredible unbelievable car chase was filmed on the Western Boulevard (to the consternation of Capetonians last year, when this road was regularly closed for filming) and at the bottom end of Adderley Street, near the station.  An unidentifiable restaurant (possibly at Lagoon Beach) briefly reflects the fantastic backdrop of Table Mountain to Table Bay; some action takes place at the beautiful-looking Cape Town Stadium, with a night-time soccer match replicated and lots of noisy vuvuzela blowing – at this point Reynolds speaks very acceptable Afrikaans when talking to the local police;  some action takes place on De Waal Drive, an opportunity to show more of the view over Table Bay; a lot of exterior action takes place near the provincial building on Wale Street, another road that was closed on many days for filming; Langa is the location for more action; The ‘Standard Hotel’ in Parow is featured; a ‘safe house’, being a farmhouse on a dusty farm road near Malmesbury, shows off the beauty of the Swartland; wine is drunk, and something about Pinotage is mumbled by Washington as the movie closes, but is not understandable. The building in which a lot of filming was done on Kloof Street, near the Mount Nelson Hotel, is not recognisable in the movie.

Capetonians would be disappointed to see the movie, as there is not much recognisable about Cape Town. As a movie, there is a lot of shooting and some vuvuzela blowing, very noisy due to the surround-sound. For the ladies, Reynolds only looks gorgeous in the close to the movie.  It’s not a movie one would necessarily recommend others to see, and I went to see it yesterday purely to see how the film reflects Cape Town. The movie filming will have been a welcome boost to the city’s financial coffers, benefiting the accommodation, restaurant, and film industries directly.

POSTSCRIPT 14/2: The Cape Times reported yesterday that the movie ‘Chronicle’, which was shot in Cape Town in its entirety and made to resemble Seattle, will be released this week.  The filming of ‘Chronicle’ and ‘Safe House’ jointly is estimated to have generated ‘R350 million in spend to local hotels, restaurants, shops, catering services and transport’, and added to this is the spend on production companies and the Cape Town Film Studios.  Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events and Marketing Grant Pascoe said ‘both films showcase the city not only as a premier film location, but as a destination of choice for potential visitors’, thereby indicating that he hasn’t seen either of these two movies!

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Whale creates a huge splash for Cape Town!

Tourists coming to South Africa for the World Cup may have been warned about all sorts of dangers in travelling in South Africa, but one danger they were not warned about was its biggest “wildlife” attraction, the whales. 

A 40-ton Southern Right whale, that breached twice near the 32 foot Intrepid training yacht, and crashed onto it the third time last Sunday, has focused world attention on Cape Town, just two weeks after the end of the World Cup.

Last weekend Cape Town Sailing Academy sailing instructors Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner were sailing in Table Bay, when they observed the whale breaching close by.  Normal whale behaviour is for whales to go under, and to pop up on the other side of a boat.   This 11 meter whale however landed on the boat, just a meter or two from where Mothes was standing.   The mast broke as a result, but being a steel boat, it has not suffered any structural damage, reports the Cape Argus. 

The whale breaching onto the Intrepid has caused worldwide interest, as it such an uncommon occurrence, yet it is something sailors do fear.   Two streams of reporting in the past week appeared negative for the sailing school couple, who would know about the international rule of keeping 300 meters or more away from whales.

First, other yacht owners who were out in the area allege that the whale was provoked, not only by the Intrepid, but by a rubber dinghy, getting closer and closer to the whale.   The Department of Environmental Affairs is investigating this allegation.   Second, it is said that the photograph of the whale breaching onto the Intrepid, a most dramatic visual, was photoshopped, and could not be for real.   A video that was taken by another boat proves beyond a doubt that the incident happened as reported.

The big whale splash has been the topic of news reporting on American, Australian and British TV stations, and the video of the incident, as well as interviews with the couple, were shown.  

While the incident may be a deterrent for tourists going out on whale watching tours in future, it may encourage them to rather see the Southern Right whales from the safety of the cliff paths of Hermanus, the town known to offer the best land-based whale watching in the world.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

World Cup visitors praise “fan-tastic” Cape Town

For the first time the hospitality industry of Cape Town has had a taste of the power of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with about 25 000 England supporters streaming into the city on Friday, to see their team play Algeria, in what many described as a most disappointing match, with a goal-less draw.  The visitors to Cape Town are loving the city and its fantastic “winter” weather, today in particular, and it will be sure to have a good tourism spin-off for future visits.

Accommodation establishments are booked out, restaurants and pubs are filled with patrons, and the V&A Waterfront was reported on Twitter to be “swarming with tourists”, with a warning issued to locals to “do not go”!  The most popular pub in the Waterfront for the English fans is Ferryman’s Tavern, its special ale suiting the British taste, reports The Times.   A pod of whales even came close to the Cape Town Stadium in Table Bay, in honour of the British visitors!

The accommodation bookings were extremely last minute, with the last available four of the 11 rooms at Whale Cottage Camps Bay, for example, being sold out in the last 24 hours prior to the start of the match.  The average length of stay is just three days, until the England fans head off elsewhere tomorrow.   Camps Bay’s beachfront was spilling over with fans packing pavement cafes and restaurants, as on a summer’s day, despite the overcast day yesterday.

The city is looking festive, with the red-and-white England flag adorning many an accommodation establishment, and restaurants and pubs.   The feared soccer hooligans did not travel to Cape Town, it would appear, the cost of the ticket prices being a deterrent.

A highlight for Cape Town is the VIP presence at the match on Friday of the Princes William and Harry, looking very uncomfortable in their suits; Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London; and David Beckham, sitting at the edge of the pitch.   Johnson said: “I’ve been to Cape Town for just two days and the atmosphere is mind-blowing.  The nation is united in enthusiasm and the tournament is progressing nicely”, according to the Cape Argus.

It appears that the number of visitors to South Africa has increased since the earlier depressing news that the number of international visitors had reduced, with so many last minute bookings.  It appears that many charter flights have entered Cape Town, with groups of 20 – 30 soccer fans on board each, all seemingly last minute bookings.  The England fans have been followed by the British media, and it is heartening to note how the reporting  by the British media, SkyNews in particular, has changed to reporting far more positively about our country.  Last night the TV station showed an interview with its correspondent in Cape Town, filmed on Signal Hill with a beautiful backdrop of the Stadium and Table Bay.   The reporter referred to England needing the Cape of Good Hope for its next match!

South African Customs have reported that 456 000 international visitors had entered South Africa between 1 – 13 June, compared to 345 000 visitors in the same period in 2009, reports The Times.   Obviously not all visitors are attending the World Cup, especially as many of them flew in as late as 11 June, so they may include the regular cross-border visitors from neighbouring African countries, coming to shop in South Africa.  

Next week looks more depressing, the Portugal versus North Korea, and Cameroon versus Netherlands matches not having as much appeal, if accommodation bookings are anything to go by.  All fingers are crossed for strong teams making the round of 16, the quarter final and semi-final in Cape Town, as this will fill up Cape Town again.  

Good performances by England, Germany, the USA, and the Netherlands in their next matches will have an important influence on last minute fans coming to South Africa, says FEDHASA, reports Fin24.  This effect will not be felt if Brazil and Portugal progress to the final stages of the tournament, it is speculated.   Only 10 000 German visitors came to South Africa for the World Cup, after national soccer hero and FIFA executive member Franz Beckenbauer expressed his concerns in earlier days about the World Cup having been awarded to South Africa.   He bravely changed his tune when he briefly spoke at the World Cup Kick-Off Concert.    

No matter who plays whom in the next 20 days of the World Cup, the accommodation bookings are far better in Host Cities than they would have been in any other June and July ever.  Whale Cottage Camps Bay now has an occupancy of 65  % for the World Cup, having improved its occupancy by 5 percentage points in the first ten days of the World Cup.   Given last minute bookings for the Quarter and Semi Finals, occupancy could end off at around 70 % for Whale Cottage Camps Bay.  The reality, however, is that May had the worst occupancy ever, thus balancing the gain with the loss.  The Whale Cottages in Hermanus, Plettenberg Bay and Franschhoek have barely gained from the World Cup.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com