Sawubona to Zakumi - our 2010 Mascot
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2010
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2
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The World Cup would not be complete without a mascot, and to this end, South Africa has created a chap called Zakumi.
Zakumi is a leopard-inspired character, who has suffered from a problematic home hair-colouring fiasco! But, if you can see beyond that, he is quite a cute chap.
Of course, there is an official story attached to this wild cervid. So, here are a few Zakumi facts you may not know (and why would you!).
1. Zakumi means South Africa (ZA) 10 (kumi - derived from various African languages)
2. He was born in 1994, the year of South Africa's 1st democratic elections, meaning he is a troublesome teenage leopard!
3. He is green and gold, the same colours as the South African national football team 'Bafana Bafana’, and his green hair allows ‘better camouflage against the green football pitch’.
4. Zakumi is ‘a jolly. Self-confident, adventurous, spontansous, and actually quite shrewed little fellow’, according to the FIFA website.
5. He is fully clothed....hurrah.....unlike many of his predescessors!
Zakumi was created by Andries Odendall from Cape Town, while the mascot costumes was produced by Cora Simpson of Cora’s Costumes © in Boksburg, South Africa.
If you are coming to watch the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, expect to see Zakumi on mercandise everywhere, from shot glasses through to t-shirts and bags. Unfortunately, these items are priced for international fans, so none of us can really afford to invest in some official Zakumi products. Two-hundred and fifty rand for a 20cm teddy bear is nearly one week’s wages......but there you go.
Considering that the majority of official South African World Cup merchandise has been made in China ( why not South Africa?), you would expect it to be a little cheaper. (See wonkie.com)
Anyway, we can enjoy some of Zakumi’s adventures through some cool cartoons, done by Stephen Francis and Rico.
Nice to meet you Zakumi.....see you at the games.
Comments
Good this is gooold