Hey Mike,

It feels like years since we started planning - in fact, with the few sideways steps that came our way. It has taken us a year and a half to get to the point where I have made the decision to take the bull by the horns and personally capture the unmapped roads, tracks and adventure trails of the Wild Coast myself. I will be walking about 2000km of adventure trails and driving about 10,000km. We've named it the Umzila Ka Bawo (The path of our Fathers) expedition. 

This is just a quick note to bring you up to speed. Also, please let me know if you have a special place you would like me to capture on my travels - anything from a place to stay or a place to explore and I'll include it. You're welcome to share this email with those that may be interested.

Mike \you're welcome to join me along any of the sections - email me for the calendar - it will be published to the expedition website as soon as figure out how to do it. 

For now our big news is 

We need to take and process a 360-Degree image every 10m to put down a Street View blue line. Please consider sponsoring our efforts. In return, you will receive online credits of equivalent value that can be used towards booking an homestay hut or local guide. A win win for everyone -  together we can keep the Wild Coast Wild



NO CASH - EVERY CENT WILL BE ACCOUNTED FOR - YOUR SPONSORSHIP AND AVAILABLE CREDITS WILL BE REFLECTED ON THE EXPEDITION WEBSITE AND AT THE TOP OF FUTURE NEWSLETTERS

Cape Union Mart have sponsored backpacks and hiking shoes for Unathi and me. The backpacks will carry our gear and to be used as camera mounts for our 360-Degree Street View camera.

The first tests using the newly modified backpacks have started going live on Google Maps Street View. This week I headed up into the Muizenberg mountains to capture and upload some of the Silvermine trails above St James and Kalk Bay.

I captured just over 15,000 images. 10,239 were processed and stitched into a Street View blue line so that you can now explore 5Km using Google Maps Street View - click on the links below the images. 

Explore the trail in Google Street View

Have look at the review

Explore the trail in Google Street View 

(No review available yet)

The resulting network of roads trails and tracks will be linked directly to all the Wild Coast accommodation providers, local guides  and tourism related businesses. Representation on Google maps will vary from a single 360-Degree panoramic image to a comprehensive virtual tour. For the first time you can now explore and book homestay huts directly with the families that own them. 

Sponsored the backpacks and hiking shoes for Unathi and me.

Sponsored the booking platform for the Wild Coast Homestay Huts.

Sponsored an Isuzu D-Max when we needed it.