• Sun International
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    Table Bay Hotel, South Africa: Oscar the Seal

    At the tip of the African continent, in Cape Town, South Africa, guests arriving at the Table Bay Hotel that overlooks famous Table Mountain are greeted upon arrival by a beautiful, life-sized, gold statue of Oscar the Seal.

    Before the advent of this grand hotel, an old fisherman named Oscar used to fish here from the rickety pier. His constant companion was a Cape fur seal that would show up daily, and the old man used to feed him fish from his catch.

    As the hotel was being built, the staff embraced the old man and the seal, and when the fisherman died, they decided to name the seal Oscar in his memory, and claimed the animal as the hotel’s official logo. Sadly, Oscar the seal was fatally injured in a boating accident. However, his link to the hotel lives on as many seals still come to jetty at the Table Bay to bask in the warm sun. They have become a popular photographic attraction for visitors from around the world.