Israel - Donkey Wi-Fi
(22 Aug 2012)
0:00:00
855630
AP TELEVISION
Hoshaya, 22 Aug 2012
1. Mid of Menachem Goldberg, site manager at Kfar Kedem Historical Park, placing wireless internet router around neck of donkey
2. Close of donkey with wireless router hanging from neck
3. Various of tourist girl using tablet computer whilst riding donkey
4. Wide of family during donkey tour, tilt up to trees
5. Wide of T-shirt reading: (English) "Do it on a donkey"
STORYLINE:
It is past and present in total synchronicity: an Israeli attraction designed to immerse tourists in a biblical experience has outfitted its donkeys with wireless routers.
At the Kfar Kedem historical park in Hoshaya in southern Galilee, visitors dressed in biblical robes and headdresses ride donkeys through the rolling hills of the Old Testament landscape, learning how the ancients lived.
And now they can simultaneously surf the web.
Kfar Kedem, a tourist attraction a short drive from Nazareth, seeks to recreate scenes of everyday life in the Galilee at the time of Christ.
Visitors get to sample a variety of chores from the time of the Bible, like baking bread in an earth oven and pressing olives for oil.
The site attracts between 15 and 20-thousand visitors each year.
The notion of providing free internet access along with the donkey rides came to site manger at Kfar Kedem, Menachem Goldberg, when he realised that many coach companies were providing a similar service.
And now, during a 25 minute donkey tour through the Galilee hills, visitors can enjoy the web at surfing speeds approaching 21 megabytes per second.
The wireless access is provided by a router inside a small pouch on the neck of a donkey called Vashti.
It provides a signal for up to five users within an 50 metre (yards) radius.
Goldberg notes the modern obsession with being constantly connected, saying that teenagers who want to update their social network profiles can now do so "in real time".
But he also hopes the melding of old and new will connect the younger generation to ancient Galilee life as well allowing them to like, share, tweet and snap it instantly to their friends.
Peter Scherr, a tourist from Port Washington, New York, appreciated the technology as he enjoyed a donkey ride with his family on Wednesday.
As well as being able to keep up with the news, he said, he can "send pictures back to my family while I'm having fun on the donkeys."
His wife agreed, saying: "I think it's great to be able to be away yet to be connected."
The wireless internet donkey tour has been on offer for less than one week and has already received lots of positive feedback from visitors.
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