Tasmania has been mistaken for Tanzania in a story about the Irwin’s by a US celebrity news outlet that claims to be the number one source for the “most trustworthy celebrity news”.
The article published by People Magazine titled “Bindi Irwin Shares Photos of Her Family’s Adventures in Tanzania” has sat unchanged since it was published over two days ago.
“Bindi Irwin is spending quality time with her family in Tanzania,” the first line reads.
“On Saturday, June 22, the Australian TV personality, 25, shared a carousel of photos on Instagram from a family vacation in the East African country, tagging the resort where they stayed, Cradle Mountain Lodge, in the last photo.”
Instead of verifying the location, or the current 29 degree weather in Tanzania, the article went on to say the family “spent much of their time in the East African country outdoors”.
The 11,000km mistake was picked up by many of the magazine’s social media followers, who slammed the publication for their glaringly obvious error.
“Been to Cradle Mountain Lodge in Tasmania. It’s a long way from TANZANIA,” said one commenter.
“Ummmm Cradle Mountain is in TASMANIA, Australia, not Africa,” said another.
Tasmanian Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson said the mistake was unexpected.
“I’m sorry that People Magazine haven’t recently been to Tasmania like the Irwins have,” he told media.
“We’re so pleased for their time here in our state. I think that People Magazine might want to run a second column about how good it is here in Tassie. Best island on earth.”
Ferguson said the confused interest is welcomed in one sense.
“We get the same kind of questions around our friends in America who occasionally think that the Tasmanian Devil is from a little island off Africa,” he said.
“And actually, it only stimulates conversation [and] makes more people look into the truth of the matter and fall in love with our state.”
