After we were able to bring you a little closer to the Berlin and China Town theme worlds in the last two parts, today we are concentrating on the Deep in Africa theme area. Strictly speaking, this is still the park's newest area, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a few interesting anecdotes up its sleeve as well. We hope you enjoy the video. In this sense: Safari salama! The cornerstone for the Deep in Africa theme area was laid in 2005, when former storage areas and parking lots were developed in favor of a small park expansion. The theme world is around 15,000 m² in size and primarily houses the inverted coaster Black Mamba and the Hotel Matamba. The Baobab Snack, the Kilamba Shop, the Djembe Music School and, for the last few weeks, the Karimbu Bar can also be found there.
And of course Deep in Africa is also defined by an authentic theme. For the design of the area, the park built an artists' village in Cameroon, in which around 60 artists made many different objects and utensils. A total of over 5,000 individual parts were imported from Africa. These included clay pots, bowls, jugs, woven baskets, musical instruments, chairs, benches and tools.
The bridges in the Deep in Africa area are made of African bongossi wood, which is also called ironwood due to its hardness and high resistance. In Cameroon, only certain trees that have reached a certain age can be felled, processed and exported with an official permit. The processing of Bongossi wood usually requires tools equipped with hard metal, since normal steel wears out quickly due to its hardness. What would our fact files be if we didn't talk about acoustics at least once? And the topic Deep in Africa in particular offers great data and information in this regard. Can you imagine how much money the sound system that was installed in the theme world cost? The sound system from the Deep in Africa theme area cost around €200,000.
More than 100 loudspeakers were distributed throughout the area. Some of the animal sounds have been programmed to give the illusion that they are moving. In addition, African songs are played in the area, some of which can be bought on CD in the park. Surely you've already noticed that we like to explain the origin of certain names. Of course, you are not spared this when it comes to Deep in Africa. However, since we plan to cover the park's themed hotels in separate videos, we'll focus on the names that can be found in the actual themed area. The Baobab Snack owes its name to the African baobab tree of the same name, which is one of the most famous trees on its continent and is home to Mandrill Rafiki from the Disney classic "The Lion King". The Kilamba Shop was most likely named after the district of Luandas, the capital of Angola. And the Karimbu Bar, which opened a few months ago, was named after a plant from which a juice is extracted.
The Miji African Dancers have always performed in Deep in Africa. The term "Miji" comes from the Swahili language and means something like "cities". Note: Swahili is a Bantu language and the most widely spoken language in East Africa. The Miji African Dancers are active both in summer season and winter season and from time to time they even delight the guests at Hotel Matamba with their sense of rhythm. In the 2007/2008 winter season and in the 2008/2009 winter season, the dancers also performed in the show "African Winter", which used the soundtrack from the Lion King musical. Those were five facts about Deep in Africa. We hope you enjoyed the video and would be delighted if you explored the world of fantasy with us. Otherwise we wish you a fantastic week. Until next time, your Phantasialand information..