SA scores for National Geographic

29 July 2006

National Geographic Channel won a gold award at the 2006 Promax Awards in New York in June for a one-minute film on the Cape Flats township outside Cape Town.

The annual Promax and Broadcast Designers Association awards recognise the best in Television marketing across the globe.

The winning film is one of five 60-second vignettes, produced for SA Tourism in 2005, in which some of National Geographic’s best photographers showcase some of South Africa’s most stunning attractions.

Based on the concept of geographical “co-ordinates”, the five clips celebrates the mix of experiences that are unique to South Africa – its cultures, people, lifestyles and non-traditional destinations – in an experiential way.

In “Townships”, Annie Griffiths-Belt visits the Cape Flats on the outskirts of Cape Town, where she meets “a community bursting with positive stories of pride, optimism and self-belief.”

In “Transfrontier Park”, Kim Walhouter visits the Kgalagadi region, original home of the San Bushmen, where she discovers “some of the most stunning landscapes on the face of the globe”.

In “Owl House”, Karen Kasmauski visits the rural Eastern Cape home of the late Helen Martins, creator of the Owl House that has put a remote Karoo village on the international tourist and art lover’s map.

In “Nbebele”, Peter Magubane pays a trip to the heart of Mpumalanga province, where authentic Ndebele communities still live a traditional way of life.

And in “Wetlands”, Mattias Klum highlights South Africa’s verdant wildlife, in particular the unique coastal setting of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal.

South African Tourism’s partnership with National Geographic ropes in a number of National Geographic’s global media partners and covers a range of media, including print, online, film production, photography and on-ground events.

SAinfo reporter