Table Mountain and the New 7 Wonders of Nature

By now you may have heard that Table Mountain was voted to be one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Even I (as a citizen of Cape Town) was surprised at the credentials that earned the mountain this title. Three of the many reasons that make Table Mountain deserving are that:

• it is one of the oldest mountains on the planet - around 260 million years old!
• it is the only terrestrial feature on our planet to have a constellation named after it. The Mensa constellation was given the name Mons Mensae (the Latin name for Table Mountain) by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1754.
• as part of the Cape Floral Region it was named a World Heritage Site in 2004 for being one of the smallest and richest of the six floral kingdoms of the world supporting about 8,200 rare and endangered plant species.

The Official New7Wonders of Nature was established to raise awareness of the diversity and beauty of nature in a hope to increase tourism and hence funding to preserve the natural beauty of landmarks like Table Mountain.