Happy St Paddy’s Day.  If you’re out and about making merry in Cape Town tonight, take a pause between sips of Guinness to have a look at the mountain.  You may notice something different about it.  Yip, those green-as-a-leprechaun floodlights.  Table Mountain will be illuminated tonight from 8pm until midnight to mark Irish holiday St Patrick’s Day.

The one-night initiative, spearheaded by Tourism Ireland, has been approved by the City of Cape Town and will fittingly make use of green renewable energy.  Apparently the purpose of the stunt is to raise awareness of the charitable community work being done by Irish charities in South Africa.  It’s also, somehow, intended to highlight Ireland as a desirable destination.

Like us, you may wonder how the hell it’s going to achieve that objective, given that Table Mountain is South Africa’s – not Ireland’s – most recognisable tourist landmark.

“This initiative will not only benefit the charities involved but will also put Cape Town and Table Mountain in the world spotlight,” explains Helen Fraser of Tourism Ireland in South Africa.  (See what she did there?)

“St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in almost every country around the globe and the impact of the images of the greening of Table Mountain being beamed around the world will be enormous.”

That clears that up then.  Anyhoo, it’s sure to be a spectacular sight.

[Source: Tourism Update]