Germany’s Natural Wonder Endangered in the North Sea

February 27, 2008 at 1:29 pm · Filed under germany, international travel, tourism, travel and tagged: helgoland, lange anna

By Linda Tancs

In the middle of the North Sea, about 70 km from the mouth of Germany’s Elbe River, lies the tiny municipality of Helgoland.  The smallness of the island is dramatized by the largeness of its landmark, a 47-meter high, red sedimentary rock birthed by Mother Nature affectionately called Lange Anna (Tall Anna).  If the experts are right, Tall Anna will be getting a lot shorter.  Claiming ongoing erosion of the 25,000 ton monolith by storm waters, experts fear that without the undertaking of protective measures likely to cost millions of euros, Nature will reclaim what it once built.  And that won’t be good for tourism, considering that only about 400,000 tourists visited this destination last year.  Without such a photogenic landmark to draw visitors, that number is likely to plummet further.  So Nature, heal thyself.

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