/ 31 October 2006

Drinks on ice at Cape Town’s sub-zero lounge

Visitors to South Africa’s trendy Cape Town waterfront this summer can get iced drinks, served in glasses made of ice, while they relax on ice amid ice sculptures.

The city is the latest worldwide to play host to an ”ice lounge”, which saw local organisers import 45 tons of structural ice from Canada and manufacture a further 10 tons locally for the construction.

The 200 square metre Ice Lounge was built by a local company at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, the city’s tourism hotspot.

Doors to the sub-zero venue open as the summer takes its grip in November and will reveal an ice bust of political icon Nelson Mandela, an ice slide for children and high-tech audiovisual equipment, organisers said.

Organisers said they hoped the venue will draw large numbers of guests for private and corporate functions in the four months before it is due to melt away. — Sapa-dpa