TABLE MOUNTAIN GAINS GROUND

Table Mountain, located in the international gay tourism capital of South Africa, is ranked number 5 in the New 7 Wonders of Nature global rankings as of Monday June 8.

The Cape Town landmark rocketed 24 places from its previous position of 29 last week and is now officially ahead of legendary mountains such as Mount Everest, K2 Mountain and Mount Kilimanjaro.

Table Mountain needs to be ranked in the top 11 of its group – mountains and volcanoes, which has 36 fellow nominees – to qualify for the next round. It is currently ranked five out of 36. Other categories include seascapes, lakes, islands, ice formations, waterfalls and forests.

“We are really excited that our campaign is capturing the imagination of the SA public. Now we need to sustain interest in order to keep our rankings high until July 7,” said Sabine Lehmann, CEO of Table Mountain Aerial Cableway who is championing Table Mountain’s cause.

She believes that South Africa is set to see a massive increase in tourism if its beloved Table Mountain is named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

The New7Wonders Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland announced in January 2009 that Table Mountain was one of 261 magnificent natural sites from 222 countries to have made it through to the second round in this global race to name the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Other iconic African natural sites to come through the first round include the Kalahari Desert, the Great Rift Valley, the Avenue of Baobabs, Lake Tanganyika, the Kafue National Park and Victoria Falls.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature will be determined by votes from the public and South Africans and fans from outside of our borders can show their support for the Mother City’s majestic mountain by visiting www.votefortablemountain.com and casting their vote. The official New 7 Wonders of Nature will be revealed in 2011.