Case Study · City Sightseeing South Africa

Seven tours. Fifteen languages.
A logistical nightmare.

How Africa's iconic hop-on hop-off operator brought the commentary for its buses, boats and tram into HOHO Studio - and went from months-long studio processes to same-day updates.

Sightseeing tours

Languages, incl. Afrikaans & Zulu

Tour-language combinations

Transport modes: bus, boat & tram

The Operator

Cape Town and Johannesburg, by land and by water

City Sightseeing South Africa runs one of the most varied sightseeing operations anywhere in the world. In Cape Town, its open-top buses climb from the V&A Waterfront past Table Mountain's cableway and along the Atlantic seaboard; in Johannesburg, the Red Route threads through the city's history. Add boat cruises in the V&A harbour and canals, a sunset tour, the Constantia wine-route and the Franschhoek tram, and you have seven distinct sightseeing routes - each needing accurate, engaging onboard commentary.

Serving a truly international mix of visitors, the fleet runs commentary in 15 languages - not just the European staples, but South African English, Afrikaans and Zulu, languages that most audio vendors simply can't produce well.

Bus

Cape Town Red Route

The city icons: V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain cableway, Camps Bay.

Bus

Cape Town Blue Route

The peninsula loop - including the Constantia wine-route extension.

Bus

Cape Town Sunset Tour

Golden hour along the Atlantic seaboard and up Signal Hill.

Bus

Johannesburg Red Route

Joburg's landmarks and history on the city's hop-on hop-off circuit.

Boat

V&A Harbour & Canal Cruises

Two water-borne tours - HOHO Studio's first deployment on boats.

Tram

Franschhoek Wine Tram

Vineyard-to-vineyard through the Franschhoek valley.

The Challenge

Great commentary that was hard to change

The scripts themselves weren't the problem. City Sightseeing South Africa's storytelling consistently earns glowing guest reviews - commentary written to be remembered, not recited.

"We believe that folks remember romance and stories, not facts."

Claus Tworeck, City Sightseeing South Africa

The problem was everything around the scripts. Updating a single track - a new stop, a changed attraction, a diversion - traditionally meant re-booking voice artists in up to 15 languages, or leaving the change unmade. With different voice artists in every language, even a small edit rippled into a major production exercise. The operation needed a way to add, update and change tracks as and when needed - without touching the beloved core commentary, and without a recording studio.

The Proof

Seven language samples, delivered the same day

Before signing anything, Claus set a test: take one real track from the Cape Town Red Route and produce it in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Mandarin - and Afrikaans. They were created, and all seven samples delivered, the same day.

His one-word verdict on the samples: "Impressive!"

The Craft

Voices built for South Africa, validated by South Africans

Off-the-shelf AI voices don't speak Zulu convincingly, and a generic "African accent" isn't Afrikaans. So the voices were built together: iWander generated candidates, City Sightseeing South Africa listened, and native speakers had the final say.

The Afrikaans female voice went through multiple rounds until it sounded properly Afrikaans rather than too Dutch - two languages that look alike on paper but sound nothing alike to a local ear. For Zulu, when native-speaker feedback flagged the first voices, iWander researched alternative AI models, integrated a new provider, and produced samples that passed the native-speaker test.

Today the fleet speaks with bespoke South African English narrators, a validated Afrikaans pair, and Zulu voices approved by the people who speak it.

English (South African) Afrikaans Zulu French German Spanish Italian Portuguese Dutch Swedish Turkish Mandarin Arabic Japanese Russian

Different voice artists in every language - male and female - to keep the ear fresh.

The Rollout

From introduction to independence in one season

The introduction

A referral, not a cold call

City Sightseeing London - already working with iWander - introduces the South African operation.

The test

Same-day proof, then a handshake

Seven language samples delivered within hours of the ask, new South African and Afrikaans voices included. The partnership is agreed within a few days, covering all seven tour products and 91 tour-language combinations.

The onboarding

Every script imported and audited

iWander loads all City Sightseeing South Africa's past and present scripts into the platform, builds a consolidated single source of truth, and runs an AI-assisted review - flagging inconsistencies, missing tracks and unresolved left/right cues, while leaving the operator's storytelling voice untouched.

Fine-tuning

Voices signed off, keys handed over

Afrikaans and Zulu voices validated by native speakers. Two live training sessions later, City Sightseeing South Africa has full access to its own HOHO Studio.

The roll-out →

Flying solo

Claus writes new tracks for the Johannesburg Red Route, amends the Cape Town Red Route, translates everything into all languages, generates the audio and exports it straight into the onboard system - no studio, no agency, no waiting.

HOHO Studio's Script Studio showing City Sightseeing South Africa's Red Route with 180 tracks, the welcome track open for editing, and AI script and pronunciation tools — The operator's view: City Sightseeing South Africa's Red Route in Script Studio - 180 tracks, editable in the browser.

I am genuinely impressed by how quickly you and the team have listened to the feedback and turned it into practical improvements. It is quite refreshing to work with a team that is prepared to make changes on the fly rather than simply defending the status quo. The enhancements you've made are exactly the sort of practical tools that make a real difference in day-to-day operations.

Claus Tworeck

City Sightseeing South Africa

The Partnership

Feedback in the morning, feature by the afternoon

HOHO Studio is built with operators, not just for them. Requests from the City Sightseeing South Africa team became product features - often the same day - and every operator on the platform benefits.

Shipped same day

Script search

"Is there a search function where I type the track number and it jumps to the track?" Asked in the morning, live that afternoon.

Shipped same day

Smarter audio export

Export a subset of tracks, choose the MP3 bitrate to match the onboard hardware, and adjust volume per language - designed around a real operational need.

Shipped in days

One-click voice updates

Change a narrator and update every affected track at once, with clear flags for outdated audio and voice mismatches.

Built together

All-languages generation

Write a track once, translate it, and generate the audio across every language from a single click - the workflow the whole rollout now runs on.

The Result

A commentary operation that moves at the speed of the city

1 person

Runs the whole thing

New tracks written, translated into 15 languages, voiced and exported - by one operator, in-house, without a recording studio.

Hours

Not months, to update

A changed stop or new attraction becomes live multilingual audio the same day, exported at the exact bitrate the onboard system needs.

3 modes

Bus, boat and tram

One platform holds the commentary for the entire fleet - including HOHO Studio's first deployments on water and rails.

Your fleet could sound this good

Whatever your routes, vehicles or languages - see how HOHO Studio puts your commentary back in your hands.

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