It is official. We can now proudly say that Table Mountain is one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. This well-deserved status was announced yesterday by Cape Town’s mayor, Patricia de Lille, in an official statement. Even though the provisional list was already announced in November of last year, an international audit had to be completed before the official rejoicing could commence.
New7Wonders is a Swiss foundation that launched this global poll and over the last three years, competitors campaigned endlessly and over 100 million votes were eventually cast from 220 countries around the globe. We can therefore truly be proud of this achievement and the benefits it has for our tourism industry.
Sabine Lehmann, chairperson of the Table Mountain official supporters committee (OSC), said that since the mountain was named on the provisional list last year, the amount of visitors already reached record numbers.
Patricia de Lille said in her statement that ‘the New Seven Wonders title has great long-term marketing value for Cape Town and South Africa. It becomes part of school curricula, it becomes a ‘must see’ and a ‘bucket list’ item for travellers and explorers.’
Although I’m sure that we all already know how magnificent and beautiful our mountain is, it’s nice to know that she is now recognised across the globe. She even receives a commemorative plaque to make it that much more official.
Four of the other six wonders are already official and they are Halong Bay in Vietnam, the Iguazu Falls in Brazil and Argentina, Jeju Island in South Korea and the Puerto Princesa underground river in the Philippines. Komodo Island in Indonesia and the Amazon forest in South America are still provisional at this stage.
What’s your favourite view of Table Mountain?
