Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Travel and Tourism: SAAO visitor centre and Sutherland help to boost Astro Tourism

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Travel and Tourism: SAAO visitor centre and Sutherland help to boost Astro Tourism · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Lunch with Jacob Mushoka on Cape Talk. It is thirteen
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: forty two and we're probably going into my most favorite
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: part of the show. This is our travel and tourism feature.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And I saw the word Sutherland and my mind just
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: went crazy. Back in twenty seventeen or twenty eighteen, we
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  Speaker 1: had this amazing experience where we teamed up with one
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  Speaker 1: of the big motoring manufacturers and Cape Town Studios. I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: e KFM and Cape Talk presenters got into these cars
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and they did a trek around the country to go
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: up to joe Burg and we were in joe Burg
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  Speaker 1: nine four seven and seven oh two. Guys got into
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  Speaker 1: these cars and we did a drive, obviously drive the
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  Speaker 1: long way to Cape Town and our journey took us
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  Speaker 1: to Sutherland. My very first time going to Sutherland, I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't understand why. Our producer Gary Albert Holzell was like,
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  Speaker 1: we got to go to Southerland. This is why Southerland
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  Speaker 1: is on the map. And then I got there and
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  Speaker 1: I saw the South African line telescope. I was blown away.
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  Speaker 1: We had to go there at sunset, the most beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: gorgeous sunset. We went in November, so it was nice
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  Speaker 1: and warm, and seeing the stars around that area totally
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  Speaker 1: boggled my mind. And ever since then, I've been so
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  Speaker 1: obsessed with Sutherland. I remember going back home to tell
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  Speaker 1: my mom, who was a geography teacher. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: she was like, Sutherland is one of the top places
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  Speaker 1: she'd like to visit. And that's one place I'd love
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  Speaker 1: to take my mom, specifically for the stars and to
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  Speaker 1: experience the snow in winter. It is the type of
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  Speaker 1: place that you have to go and experience in two
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: or three different seasons, because apparently every season has a
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  Speaker 1: story to tell when it comes to Sutherland. And now
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  Speaker 1: Sutherland is known as the number one hot spot for
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  Speaker 1: star gazing and this beautiful new term I just learned
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  Speaker 1: called astro tourism. What a great way to talk about
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  Speaker 1: what happens in the galaxy. Sperience in Sutherland was that
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  Speaker 1: learning about the galaxy from the light telescope. It is
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  Speaker 1: the perfect and most serene place to do a proposal, truff.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to propose, you can propose there if
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  Speaker 1: you want, or you want to have a picnic under
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  Speaker 1: the stars, it is the ultimate place to do it.
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  Speaker 1: And the really cool thing was we ran out of
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  Speaker 1: petrol when we were leaving there and we needed to
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  Speaker 1: stop at one of the filling stations in Sutherland. I
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  Speaker 1: think there's only one filling station there. What we did
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  Speaker 1: was we had to call the owner of the filling
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  Speaker 1: station to come and open up for us so we
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  Speaker 1: can fill up our cars there. And then he was
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  Speaker 1: even like, nia Jelo canre you guys can go. I'll
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  Speaker 1: just send you a WhatsApp with my banking details and
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  Speaker 1: you can just send me an EFT. That's how it
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  Speaker 1: is in Sutherland. You go to a B and B.
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  Speaker 1: There's an honesty bar there. You don't have to take
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  Speaker 1: out money or swipe your card. It's the level of trust,
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  Speaker 1: the level of Ubuntu, the level of South africanness. That's
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  Speaker 1: the thing about Sutherland. You want to go there to
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  Speaker 1: experience all this and of course to do some proper
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  Speaker 1: star gazing, and that takes us into a full on
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  Speaker 1: conversation about astrotourism. I'll get to Southerland in a bit. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to just start by chatting to our guest,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Kanema. He'll be telling us a little more about
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  Speaker 1: what's been happening in Observatory.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: If you didn't know today we're going to focus on
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  Speaker 1: astrotourism specifically because the launch last week of the Visitors
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  Speaker 1: Center at the historic South African Astronomical Observatory is now open.
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  Speaker 1: It was the official opening of the Remote Operations Center,
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  Speaker 1: which both form part of government's broader astro tourism strategy.
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  Speaker 1: To tell us more about the center and what visitors
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  Speaker 1: can expect to see, were joined on the line by
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  Speaker 1: Science Engagement astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory, doctor
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Kanema. Doctor Daniel Kanema, thank you so much for
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: joining us on Cape Talk.
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  Speaker 2: How are you good man?
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me fantastic. Now, tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: more about this visitors center. What can visitors expect and
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  Speaker 1: experience when they visit this newly opened Remote Operations Center.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's a few things on office. So the
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  Speaker 2: observatory itself, as you mentioned, is in observatory in Cape Town.
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  Speaker 2: We were here first and then they named the suburb
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  Speaker 2: after us. So the observatory was established in eighteen twenty,
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  Speaker 2: so we've been around for two hundred and five years now.
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  Speaker 2: We held our bar centenary back in twenty twenty and
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  Speaker 2: on the site over those years, many many things have
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  Speaker 2: come and gone. As you mentioned. Now the operating telescopes
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  Speaker 2: are all up in Sutherland and have been there since
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  Speaker 2: the seventies, including the Southern African large telescope Salt. But
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  Speaker 2: we still have a large head office here in Cape
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  Speaker 2: Town and many historical instruments which are still here and
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  Speaker 2: available to the public, as well as a museum, and
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  Speaker 2: for many years we've been hosting tours, so open nights
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  Speaker 2: and other tours where members of the public income and
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  Speaker 2: they get a talk by an astronomer and then a
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  Speaker 2: tour of the historical observatory, see one of our old
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  Speaker 2: telescopes at the McLain which is very very large refracting telescope,
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  Speaker 2: and visit the museum and just get an idea of
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  Speaker 2: what astronomy was like here in Cape Town. For many years,
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  Speaker 2: and then recently since twenty twenty, we've been working on
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  Speaker 2: a couple of projects which you mentioned. The first was
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  Speaker 2: the Remote Operations Center. So the telescopes being up in
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  Speaker 2: Sutherland initially meant that the astronomers had to go up
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  Speaker 2: to Sutherland and spend a night there in the dark
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  Speaker 2: and the cold, observing and operating the telescopes from there,
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  Speaker 2: but over the last few years, we've managed to link
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  Speaker 2: up most of our telescopes to be remotely operable, so
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  Speaker 2: they can be controlled from anywhere as long as you
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  Speaker 2: have a laptop and an Internet connection. And then as
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  Speaker 2: part of that, we built a remote operations center here
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  Speaker 2: in Cape Town, which is a very high tech room
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  Speaker 2: which connects live to Sutherland. You can see the all
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  Speaker 2: Scar camera in Sutherland and the weather, and you can
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  Speaker 2: even hear what's going on in the telescopes in Sutherland,
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  Speaker 2: so that the astronomers can sit here comfortably and control
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  Speaker 2: the telescopes remotely. So we added that as an offering
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  Speaker 2: that people could visit here in Cape Town. And then,
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  Speaker 2: as you mentioned, the visitor center, so we refurbished an
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  Speaker 2: old pump house at the observatory into a cutting edge
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  Speaker 2: visitor center, and in that we wanted to not just
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  Speaker 2: showcase the incredible technical expertise and science that we do,
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  Speaker 2: but also more of a sort of deeper cultural connection
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  Speaker 2: to astronomy. So we did some original research on indigenous
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  Speaker 2: constellations from the Koi and San people and those are
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  Speaker 2: reflected on our roof. We have a beautiful installation and
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  Speaker 2: the ceiling and quite a few sort of information boards
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  Speaker 2: around that and some animations highlighting the indigenous style or so.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a wonderful project over the last five or
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  Speaker 2: so years and very exciting to have finally launched it
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  Speaker 2: last year last week.
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  Speaker 1: That's fantastic news. Now, doctor Daniel, tell me something. This
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  Speaker 1: is something that you would open up to school groups,
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  Speaker 1: you would open up to adults, you'd open up to
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  Speaker 1: anyone and everyone can visit. When are the visiting hours?
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  Speaker 1: How does it actually work? Do we need to book ahead?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, So we have school groups and we have had
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  Speaker 2: for many years school groups coming through and those happened
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  Speaker 2: during the week, So we have Tuesdays and Wednesdays are
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  Speaker 2: available for schools and they are acquired to book and
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  Speaker 2: we give the schools a tour of our observatory. They
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  Speaker 2: also get a talk and often a hands on activity
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  Speaker 2: depending on what they're after and the age of the students.
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  Speaker 2: So we do run school tours during the week and
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  Speaker 2: then we're slowly ramping up our tours and open arts.
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  Speaker 2: So we used to just run Open Nuts twice a
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  Speaker 2: month through summer. Now we did. We did a soft
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  Speaker 2: launch in this past summer at the tours the end
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  Speaker 2: of last year, just to try and get the visitors
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  Speaker 2: center you know, debugged, so to speak. And yeah, so
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  Speaker 2: then we were running three or four tours a week
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  Speaker 2: and it's a little bit quiet now during winter, but
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  Speaker 2: we'll be ramping up again shortly. So all of those
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  Speaker 2: tours are listed on our website s AO dot ac dota,
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  Speaker 2: so you can go there and you can book. It's
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  Speaker 2: their their cricket links for each of the events and
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  Speaker 2: they do sell out quite quickly. So yeah, I would
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  Speaker 2: just encourage you to to visit the website. Otherwise, you
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  Speaker 2: can find us on social media on Instagram and Facebook,
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  Speaker 2: and yeah, wherever you get your media.
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  Speaker 1: Can you just give us that website again, s A
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  Speaker 1: A O dot ac dot s a A O dot
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  Speaker 1: AC dot z A. That's where we'll find all the
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  Speaker 1: details about the new visitor center and of course the
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  Speaker 1: remote operations center. Doctor Daniel Kanama, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for your time, really appreciate it. Such a pleasure, absolute pleasure.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. That was doctor Daniel Kanema chatting
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  Speaker 1: to us a little more about the new features in
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  Speaker 1: observatory and he mentioned it when we opened up. They've
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  Speaker 1: been here forever, they were there before the place was
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  Speaker 1: called observatory. I really appreciate that and appearance. If you're
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  Speaker 1: looking for something to do, make sure you get your
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  Speaker 1: children out there. All your details at SAAO, dot AC,
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  Speaker 1: dot z A. But we're still on astro tourism and
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  Speaker 1: we're now talking about my favorite spot in the country.
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  Speaker 1: It is Sutherland. I gave the most heartfelt intro for
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  Speaker 1: this place for a reason. It's because I visited this
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  Speaker 1: place and I thought it is a really amazing place
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  Speaker 1: and it's something you got to experience at least once.
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  Speaker 1: The only issue was I didn't sleep over there. I
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  Speaker 1: stayed over in Mikey's Fonteane, which is about a forty
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  Speaker 1: or forty five minute drive away from Sutherland. But I
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  Speaker 1: mean that is the plan, right The plan is to
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  Speaker 1: go to Sutherland in the near future, maybe when it's
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  Speaker 1: a little warmer, because I don't think I'll be able
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  Speaker 1: to deal with the snow in Sutherland, although that is
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  Speaker 1: of course one of the attractions. But to tell us
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  Speaker 1: more on what else you can get up to. We
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  Speaker 1: are now joined on the line by Jacques dupless He's
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  Speaker 1: from Discover Sutherland and the Kreu Astro Route. Jacques, thank
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. On Cape Talk.
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  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, right, good often Jacob, how I'm good.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. So it's that time of the year that
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  Speaker 1: Sutherland must be living up to its reputation of being
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  Speaker 1: the coldest town in South Africa. What's the weather like
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  Speaker 1: there today?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, this morning we started at minus four.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, and.
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  Speaker 3: But that's without the chol feeling. So I think at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day it feels like minus eight.
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  Speaker 2: In the morning.
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  Speaker 1: Oh goodness.
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  Speaker 3: But I mean, if you visited in November, you have
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  Speaker 3: to come during the during the winter season.
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  Speaker 1: You're not making it sound amazing. You said minus eight. Ark,
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  Speaker 1: Come on, what what else can I do if I
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  Speaker 1: come to Sutherland in winter?
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  Speaker 3: Obviously the star guysing, so we get a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the quests for when can I you know, the people
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  Speaker 3: do the star guysing. So then it'll say he had
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  Speaker 3: that about observatory. In observatory, but I saw there's two
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  Speaker 3: tours in the morning, one one in the morning and
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  Speaker 3: one two in the afternoon. And then they also do
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  Speaker 3: my two s where you can physically then I give
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  Speaker 3: you a guarded to it. We can see the the
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  Speaker 3: diamonds and and and the sculpts, and then there is
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  Speaker 3: there are two. One private star guising place intown, the
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  Speaker 3: southern kind of which I do a pretty full down
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  Speaker 3: tours during the guy. And then they've got a latch
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  Speaker 3: star guizing as well. And then we've got Yerks and
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  Speaker 3: star Guizing which is a kilometer out of town were
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  Speaker 3: he's got a fossil displaying and he also does the
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  Speaker 3: star guising tours at night.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if anyone is thinking about coming to visit Sutherland,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: where do they go about getting all the information they
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  Speaker 1: need when it comes to accommodation, the bookings for stargazing,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. How we go about doing that?
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Jacob? Obviously the assault you have to do the tourism,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: do the bookings online and we we've got to discover
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Sutherland dot dot and we do have Caro Astro and
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: all the information that people will need, you know, other
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: contact details to do booking online. Everything is on their.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Website and in general the surrounding areas around Sutherland are
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  Speaker 1: there also areas that promote this astro tourism.
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  Speaker 3: You will rock Cluff just outside of sort of they
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  Speaker 3: they do amizing, But I've got all kinds of tourists,
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  Speaker 3: hiking tours, the game drawers they you can you can
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  Speaker 3: at the night Star Rising as well, and then the
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  Speaker 3: farm blast Fontaine is about twenty six kilometers out of
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  Speaker 3: town and Nicole and they also give to these case
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I'm starguizing at night, should at least to do.
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  Speaker 1: So, Jacques, I thank you so much for your time,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Jaques Dupless of Discover Sutherland. That website again carew astro
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  Speaker 1: Root dot co dot zere and.
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  Speaker 3: The other one is Discover Sutherland.
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  Speaker 1: Discover Sutherland dot co dot z Now if you didn't know,
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  Speaker 1: now you know this is the place to do your stargazing.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: This is the place to take some time out and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: go see some real snow. Jacques Dupless. He's from Discover
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Sutherland and the Kreu Astro Roots giving us a little
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: more insight on what actually happens in Sutherland. And it's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: not only a winter thing. You can also go in
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the summer. There's always something to experience there. And these
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: websites he just meant, websites he just mentioned are a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: perfect place to start doing your research. I hope to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: see you guys in Sutherland next year.