The lifelike dinosaurs of the DinosAlive exhibition spent their summer at the Capegate Mall in Cape Town from 18 November 2016 until 8 January 2016. The showcase offers visitors the chance to experience 25 animatronic dinosaurs (with moving limbs, eyes that blink and more) in a fun, interactive environment.

  Each model dinosaur is built to closely replicate its real-life counterpart. Visitors can look forward to seeing celebrity dinos such as the infamous carnivore T-Rex, movie star Velociraptor and gigantic herbivore Diplodocus. For the more discerning dino-lover, there are also obscure names like the South African Pachycephalosaurus, terrifying Spinosaurus and egg-poaching Oviraptor on display.

  DinosAlive offers a range of seriously fun, engaging activities for youngsters. For the kids, there's dino-rides (where your child will be able to ride the back of a life-size animatronic dinosaur!), PlayStation games, a dino-drawing table, a jumping castle and also the 'excavation site' - a sandpit full of 'fossils' where young archaeologists will be able to put their dino-digging skills to the test. Mature visitors can look forward to a dino-fossil exhibition.

  Imagine being able to not only see our dinosaurs move, blink and roar, but being able to interact with them too. DinosAlive will soon have an augmented reality (AR) screen at our exhibitions, where visitors can enjoy various experiences: T-Rex VR experience; Dino AR selfie wall; Overload AR experience; The guess-the-footprint-AR experience.

  “It’s top priority for us that everyone has loads of fun at the exhibition. We have an ‘excavation site’, - a sandpit full of ‘fossils’ for young archaeologists to put their skills to the test - dinosaur rides, face painting, a drawing table, jumping castle and PlayStation games to keep the kids busy,” Schlechter from DniosAlive continues. “For the adults, there’s a dino movie room, fossil display site and Dino Café.”

  It’s important that visitors feel that they have also learned something at the exhibition upon departure. For this purpose, there are information boards explaining all three dinosaur eras. Visitors can also obtain a souvenir from the DinosAlive merchandise shop to commemorate the fun experience.

  “We are very pleased to return to Cape Town after having a highly successful inception in 2014,” says Etienne Schlechter, Director of Expo Africa and organizer of the event. “The reception and feedback we receive from audiences - young and old alike - has been overwhelming!”