Komodo National Park drops to 26th place in global poll

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 01/23/2011

Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, home to the rare Komodo dragon, has seen its recent rank in the New Seven Wonders of Nature list drop drastically from sixth to 26th out of 28 finalists.

The list is an ongoing global poll to determine the new seven natural wonders of the world.

“For the past four weeks, only 60.62 percent of international voters have voted for Komodo, placing it at the 26th rank out of 28 finalists,” East Nusa Tenggara Tourism, Arts and Culture Agency promotion division head Ubaldus Gogi said in Kupang on Sunday.

Ubaldus, as quoted by Antara, said he hoped Indonesians would help promote Komodo dragons before the international community to boost the national park’s popularity.

As of noon on Sunday, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania topped the New Seven Wonders list with 99.98 percent of international voters having voted in support, followed closely by the Mud Volcanoes in Azerbaijan (99.81 percent of votes), the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador (99.76 percent), Cliffs of Mother in Ireland (99.64 percent), and Milford Sound in New Zealand (99.61 percent).

Germany’s Black Forest presently stands at 6th place with 99.58 percent voter support, followed by Italy’s Mount Vesuvius at 7th place with 99.49 percent.

The rest of the list can be seen at www.new7wonders.com.