PHOTO OF THE DAY August 16, 2005  

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Where Clifton, South Africa
When 1996
Photographer Steve McCurry

The seaside resort of Clifton, near Cape Town, hugs the western slope of Table Mountain. One of Cape Town's most famous sights is the "tablecloth," a flat, white mantle of cloud that forms over the top of the mountain when moisture-laden air from the southeast rises and condenses. Its edges billow down the mountainsides like steam cascading over the edge of a cauldron.

(Text adapted from and photograph published in, "The Fairest Cape," March/April 1997, National Geographic Traveler magazine)


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