Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

African Village in Belgium

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Friday, 12th January 2007

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On the day this image was captured there was something slightly unusual going on in this derelict factory in Brussels, Belgium. Inside the walls of the roofless building, there’s some tents and several lorries, a Helicopter, and… an African village?

belgianmovieset1.jpg

How do I know it’s an African village? Well, it transpires that on this very day the abandoned factory was actually being used as the set for a TV advert – an advert which features a man being chased through an African village by a helicopter! Here’s a direct link to the 6.8MB Quicktime movie of the ad.

belgianmovieset5.jpg belgianmovieset3.jpg

Spot the same car in both shots!

The tents and lorries to the west are presumably for the cast, crew and equipment and I suspect that the walled factory was chosen because it would hide Brussels from sight of the cameras perfectly. Suddenly it all makes sense!

Thanks to Romanov (via belgeoblog.be).

6 Responses to 'African Village in Belgium'

  1. Belgeoblog says:

    Thanks a lot for the translation of my article. I found out about the advert thanks to a lot of luck. When I saw the helicopter, I phoned a wellknown helicopterpilot in Belgium, Wim Robberechts. Luckily my first phonecall was immediately the right one. It was his helicopter on the scene. He explained me about the advert. And another coïncidence: the two directors who made the advert, are two friends from school. – http://www.belgeoblog.be

  2. cookie monster says:

    What are the chances eh? Brilliant!

    Incidentally – the whole african village/ helicopter is very cool but looking straight down inside a cooling tower is just as good in my book!

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  3. Vince says:

    A little bit down, there is a house with a big hole in the roof. What happened there? Maybe an Ufo crash? ;-)

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  4. tris says:

    it’s nice to know where this helicopter comes from, I had spotted it some time ago as well !

  5. Dan says:

    Any idea what this building might be?

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  6. Alex says:

    Uh, I’d have to guess a circus Dan! But in truth I don’t actually know…