Will Angel Falls become one of the New 7 Natural Wonders?

Newsflash! The results are in and Angel Falls is one of the 28 finalists vying to become one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Read about it here:

Will Angel Falls become one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature? It seems like the voting has been going on for ever but there's not long now before we find out if the world's highest waterfall and Venezuela's greatest tourist attraction has made it into the Top 28 finalists.

All voting is currently on hold, as the New7Wonders panel of experts considers the TOP 77 nominees from the second phase of the online voting that ended on 7 July.

The panel's decision on which of the 77 nominees make the list for the 28 Official Finalist Candidates will be announced on 21 July at seven minutes past midday gmt.

Angel Falls is the only Venezuelan natural wonder to make it into the Top 77 in the category for Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls.

Other succesful South American candidates include the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Iguazu Falls shared by Brazil and Argentina, Kaietur Falls in Guyana, the Atacama Desert in Chile and Lake Titicaca shared by Bolivia and Peru.

After the 28 finalists have been revealed on 21 July, voting will then resume again to decide the final seven Wonders of Nature.

The organizers estimate that by the time the finalists are revealed in 2011 over 1 billion votes will have been cast.

Back in 2007 more than 100 million people from all over the world cast votes for hundreds of architechural gems in a search for the 7 New Wonders of the World.

The final seven were Machu Picchu in Peru, the Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil, the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, the Great Wall of China, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and the Taj Mahal in India.

Fingers crossed for Angel Falls on 21 July and thanks to all who voted.

Report on Jimmie Angel and the "Discovery" of Angel Falls

Video clip of Angel Falls from David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth"

Spectacular video clip of oldest base Jumper to leap from the top of Angel Falls

Auyan-tepui, Angel Falls and Pemon myths

Travel article: Cueva del Guacharo - Oilbirds and Elephant Ears

Make Angel Falls one of the 7 Wonders of Nature

Newsflash! The results are in and Angel Falls is one of the 28 finalists vying to become one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Read about it here:

After the success of the 7 New Wonders of the World campaign in 2007, the organizers have now launched a similar internet search for the Seven Wonders of Nature and Venezuela's Angel Falls could be one of them - if enough people vote for it.

Back in 2007 more than 100 million people from all over the world cast votes for hundreds of architechural gems.

The final seven Wonders of the World were Machu Picchu in Peru, the Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil, the Colosseum, in Rome, Italy, the Great Wall of China, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, and the Taj Mahal in India.

This time it's all about natural treasures and, apart from Angel Falls, Venezuela has seven other candidates, including the Los Roques Archipelago, Auyantepui Mountain, Mount Roraima, Pico Bolivar, Sarisarinama Mountain, the Guacharo Cave, the Gran Sabana and Canaima National Park.

The voting system is simple, you just have to visit this page and introduce your email and a few details that they promise will not be used for any purposes apart from the voting.

Basically, every vote counts, so please get in there and give the Venezuelan candidates some votes.

Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, has a good chance of making it into the final 21 if we all mobilize our friends and families to make their votes count.

On 29 September, Angel Falls was 29th on the the live ranking list of the 77 top candidates, with Asia dominating all the spots in the top 10. That's a pretty cool result, considering that Mount Everest is at number 12.

And there's a long way still to go.

Voting for the nominees will continue through to 31 December 2008, when the candidates will be whittled down to one per country, with only the top candidate from each country being allowed to proceed.

Then on 7 July, 2009 the New7Wonders of Nature panel led by Professor Federico Mayor, former Director-General of UNESCO, will review the top 77 nominees and choose 28 finalists, to be announced on 21 July 2009.

Those 28 finalists will then be put to the popular vote.

But before that it's important that the Venezuelan entries get official support. Angel Falls has support from a sponsoring body in Venezuela but it has not been officially recognized yet.

Meanwhile, Iguazu Falls has the full backing of Brazil and Argentina.

Rather ominously, a note on the new7Wonders website for Angel Falls says that unless the issue of sponsorship is resolved Angel Falls "will be eliminated from the finalist section".

But don't despair. Get voting. And lets get all the Venezuelan entries high on that top 77 list, where they deserve to be.

By Russell Maddicks

Report on Jimmie Angel and the "Discovery" of Angel Falls

Video clip of Angel Falls from David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth"

Spectacular video clip of oldest base Jumper to leap from the top of Angel Falls

Travel article: Cueva del Guacharo - Oilbirds and Elephant Ears