SA wonders in last minute rescue

2008-12-12 12:23

Birgit Ottermann

Cape Town - After a long and frustrating battle, SA Tourism has agreed to officially endorse South Africa's four nominees for the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign, a move that will ensure a great boost for South African tourism, ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

"Please be informed that I have spoken to my principals and can confirm that South African Tourism will support South Africa's New7Wonders of Nature nominees," SA Tourism media & communications officer, Monde Mateza told News24 on Thursday afternoon.

"Thanks and please accept our apologies that it took a while for us to confirm our endorsement for this great initiative," Mateza added.

Bureaucracy

The official endorsement of South Africa's four nominees - the Cape of Good Hope (currently ranked 40th on the Top 77 live site), Table Mountain (247th), Kruger National Park (117th) and Vredefort crater (394th) - nearly fell through the cracks because of South African bureaucracy.

SA Tourism agreed to come to the rescue late on Thursday afternoon, three weeks before the cut-off date of 31 December 2008, after several attempts by News24 and members of the public to convince big players in the SA tourism industry to form an Official Supporting Committee (OSC) for the nominees, a prerequisite for nominees to go through to the next round.

According to the rules of the New7Wonders campaign, organised by the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation, only the top 77 international nominees (with official support) will go through to the next round, of which only one national nominee per country will be allowed to proceed - the highest ranked in the voting on 31 December 2008.

Table Mountain

A concerned Tia Viering, New7Wonders' Head of Communications, contacted News24 from Brussels on Tuesday with the news that none of the SA nominees had received official endorsement yet.

"It's really sad," Viering said. "Table Mountain, for example would've certainly got a huge outpouring of support since it is really quite an iconic natural monument, while the Kruger National Park is obviously spectacular for different reasons. Both these nominees are well known worldwide."

On hearing the great news of SA Tourism's willingness to officially support the four SA nominees, a relieved Viering said on Friday morning: "This story might have a happy ending after all - thanks to News24's continued efforts and the willingness of SA Tourism to come to the party."

"We are delighted to have them on board. This is a very important global initiative to be a part of," she said.

Stiff competition

At this point, the only South African candidate that might have any real chance of going through to the next round, is the Cape of Good Hope - as it has already made it to the Top 77 with its current 40th position.

The Kruger National Park, currently in the 117th spot, also has a slim chance to make it, should enough people vote in the remaining time until 31 December to push it into the Top 77.

However, with only three weeks left to vote, it will be a real challenge for Table Mountain, arguably South Africa's most famous icon, to make it to the next round, as it is currently in 247th position. (It seems that Vredefort Crater, in the 394th spot, has sadly already lost the battle.)

But it's a challenge that could be overcome, believes Viering.

"In internet time, three weeks is still along time," she said. "The great beauty of the internet is that people can inform all their friends about this global campaign, simply by sending an email."

"Bearing in mind that only one nominee per country will be able to go through to the next round, SA will need something iconic and totally unique, in order to survive the stiff competition it will get from other top natural world wonders like The Grand Canyon in the US and The Great Barrier Reef in Australia," Viering warned News24.

The Mother City's Table Mountain seems like the ideal candidate - it really is one of a kind.

All votes needed

You can only vote once in each stage (nominee/Top 77 stage and finalist stage) via the New7Wonders website, identifying yourself using your e-mail address.

Therefore, if South Africa wants to come out tops in this exciting campaign, it will need every vote possible.

"My experience has been that people are invariably interested and happy to participate, glad to be a part of something positive and global - sharing as opposed to dividing," Viering told News24.

"We will suspend the first stage of voting on the website at midnight at the International Date Line (12:00 GMT on January 1), which will allow everyone in the world to vote until midnight local time," she said.

According to Viering fans of nominees elsewhere in the world have come up with some very innovative ways to win votes.

"Several nominees have told us that they will be hosting big parties where people can come and vote. This is an excellent idea that we recommend to all of you: Take advantage of the final hours of voting to get as many votes as possible for your nominee," she urged.

Other international fans have taken the initiative to organise computers and free coffee in shopping malls to encourage people to vote for their nominees.

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River

The world's no 1 nominee is currently the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in the Philippines. The only other African nominees currently ranked in the Top 77 are: The Red Sea Reef (17), The Victoria Falls (67), and The Aldabra Atoll (72) in the Seychelles. However, none of them have received any official support yet.

Voting for the world's Top 77 nominees will continue until 7 July 2009.

Thereafter, the New7Wonders of Nature Panel of Experts, under the leadership of Prof Federico Mayor, former Director-General of Unesco, will review the top 77 nominees and choose the 21 finalists, to be announced on 21 July 2009.

The 21 finalists will be put to popular vote and finally, the 7 candidates with the most votes, will earn the title of New7Wonder of the World.

To vote for or nominate your favourite South African natural wonder click here.

- News24