Google invites virtual tourists to view Nelson Mandela’s former jail cell
Virtual tourists are being invited to take a nosey around the former jail cell of former South African leader Nelson Mandela, an island cell in which the civil rights campaigner was incarcerated for two decades.
Digitising the Robben Island prison for posterity tourists can now view the facility, since transformed into a museum, from the comfort of their own home, or even on the bus.
To capture the site for its StreetView service Google had to recruit walkers armed with tripods to criss-cross the island, a laborious process as cars cannot access the island.
Google spokesperson Mich Atagana said: “It's at the bottom of the world. A lot of people can't afford to make the very long trip, so we wanted to replicate the tour for them so they could learn about this very important part of our history."
It is the latest snapshot of cultural life to be uploaded to the web by Google, following similar efforts to document the famous Abbey Road Studio’s in London and even a bid to find the Loch Ness Monster.