Webcam project a big hit on Garden Route

By Bob Hopkin Garden Route Correspondent

A SWISS information technology entrepreneur living in Victoria Bay is working with a local partner to install a network of webcams at strategic locations along the Southern Cape to allow subscribers to monitor the weather and beach and sea conditions at their leisure.

The website, www.midafricam.co.za, is proving popular with local holiday-makers, fishermen, surfers and sailors, as well as expatriate South Africans wanting a reminder of the beauty of their country.

When John Durrer relocated his family from Switzerland to South Africa in 2003, it was to improve their quality of life while still allowing him to manage his global IT company from home.

An approach by George- based webcam enthusiast Justin Miles persuaded him that the installation of internet-linked cameras in the area could become an interesting hobby as well as providing a platform to increase his circle of friends and promote his international company.

Four years on and with seven cameras operational and four more in development, the project has grown rapidly to become a major stand-alone asset to the local company, Funkey-IT Pty Ltd.

Starting with its first installation, overlooking Victoria Bay, as an experiment, the initiative had a troubled honeymoon period.

Durrer explained: “As expected the Vic Bay camera was very popular with surfers, who would check out the wave conditions before heading down this way. However, we did get adverse reactions from some locals as they claimed that it was just attracting more tourists than the small village could handle.”

Eventually the Vic Bay camera was accepted and other installations since then include one on an Outeniqua mountaintop, in Kaaimans Gorge, at the Wilderness beach, Knysna lagoon, George station – for watching the steam trains – and one in Bloubergstrand facing Table Mountain.

Durrer said webcams have become a vital contribution to aviation safety in most developed countries.

Durrer and his business partner have also constructed a mobile webcam trailer that is used to check the attractiveness of potential future sites as well as providing temporary coverage of events such as music or social festivals.

The trailer, manufactured locally, costs less than a tenth of those on offer in the US and uses only power from a solar panel.