Chapman's Peak Drive - Dramatic Film Location in South Africa

Chapman's Peak Drive, a gorgeous and scenic route along the Cape Peninsula outdoors Cape Town, is a road that defies the odds. Carved into virtually sheer cliffs at numerous points, it is a tourist attraction in itself, providing a single of the most dramatic ocean drives in the globe. It was constructed to hyperlink the fishing village of Hout Bay with Noordheok and full the ambitious dream of a road circumnavigating the entire peninsula, back in the early days of the 20th century when engineers attempted the not possible and won.

Chapman's Peak drive has been employed as a film place in so a number of commercials and films that South African ex-pats on the other side of the globe are no longer shocked to catch glimpses of their homeland in the most recent car advert. Scarcely a month goes by when an international film crew is not filming on place right here, possibly with remote manage helicopters to capture even a lot more dramatic shots of a car chase about hair-raising hair-pin bends with precipitous drops to the ocean under.

It appears an unlikely location to even assume of constructing a road, with at least a mile of perpendicular cliffs descending directly into rocky ocean floor to deal with, but the newly appointed Administrator of the Cape, Sir Frederick de Waal, loved practically nothing a lot more than a road creating challenge and building started in 1915. Mining surveyor Charl Marais was engaged to identify a attainable option and he found that the mountainside was composed of a base of strong granite with horizontal layers of softer sandstone and shale above. This softer rock could be excavated and the granite would make a strong base for the road to be built upon. The operate was risky, involving workers getting secured by ropes and dangling more than sheer drops as they placed fees for dynamiting the route. They have been in continual danger from rock falls and landslides, but in the end they triumphed. The new road was ultimately opened in 1922 and remains to this day a monument to man's tenacity in overcoming obstacles.

Chapman's Peak Drive had a set-back in 2000 when extreme rock falls closed it for numerous years and doubts have been raised around its future security and the charges of maintaining it open. It was created into a toll road when it re-opened in 2003 and comprehensive much more security measures have been taken to guard against added rock falls, which are most regularly triggered by heavy rain and serious climate situations. Short-term closures are enforced from time to time in terrible climate, but for the most aspect it is open to any locals applying it as a shortcut, or vacationers enjoying scenic drives and picnics with inspiring ocean views, and of course the regular film crews employing the gorgeous setting to boost a new Mercedes or BMW at this most memorable of film areas in South Africa.

Prinz Productions presents premier stills and film production solutions primarily based in Cape Town, South Africa. Browse their areas in South Africa or speak to them straight for far more solutions. Specialising in South Africa, Portugal and Mauritius, they also give production solutions worldwide.