A virtual reality walk in icon’s footsteps

AS THE world celebrates Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday today, a new virtual-reality experience will allow viewers across the globe to walk in Mandela’s footsteps.

Heritage site Liliesleaf Farm in Johannesburg, in collaboration with VictoryVR and South Africa’s largest independent management consulting firm IQ Business, has developed a virtual experience that takes users from Mandela’s childhood to his triumph as the country’s first democratically elected president.

Walking in Mandela’s Footsteps enables users to spend time in the VR replica of his prison cell on Robben Island, and stand among the hills of the icon’s childhood.

Liliesleaf was not only the secret quarters of the ANC in the 1960s but also the site where prominent ANC leaders were arrested on July 11, 1963. The subsequent Rivonia Treason Trial signified a crushing blow to the Struggle against apartheid.

Fifty-five years later, Liliesleaf is a museum and worldfamous heritage site, but with the interactive VR experience the viewer is transported to the Liliesleaf Farm of the 1960s.

Liliesleaf chief executive Nicholas Wolpe said: “It has been a pleasure and honour to work on such a dynamic and creative project. It is our hope that this experience gives users the chance to better understand the foundations of Nelson Mandela’s life and the Struggle for liberation he undertook.”

The experience will initially be released on the Oculus Go, a headset created by Oculus. To provide broader access, it will be released for the Vive Focus and Pico headsets shortly after the centenary celebrations.

The experience will initially be released for about R26. A portion of proceeds will go to support the efforts at Liliesleaf to continue preserving the history of Mandela and the ANC.