Cape Agulhas

Cape Agulhas is the geographic southern tip of the African continent. It is located in a rural area 170 kilometres East, and a little bit South of Cape Town at (34° 50’S – 20° 00’E).

It is an unspectacular rocky beach. Were it not for a survey marker indicating the spot, one would not recognize which precise rock was the extreme south, as the coast has a very gradual curve.

The sea of Cape Agulhas is notorious for winter storms, and mammoth freak waves, which can range up to 30m high and can sink even large ships.

Cape Agulhas is technically where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. Two ocean currents meet here: the warmer Mozambique current from the Indian ocean, flowing south and east, and the colder Benguela current from the west, from the South Atlantic, flowing up from Antarctica. These two currents meet and mix in a region that stretches from Cape Agulhas to the Cape of Good Hope.

The waters near the coast are quite shallow and known as the best fishing grounds in South Africa. They are called the Agulhas Bank and it is less than 100 meters deep. Only after 250 kilometers seawards does it go steeply down.

Its name, Portuguese for “needles”, refers to the rocks and reefs that have wrecked many ships. A lighthouse was established there in 1849.

See also

Cape of Good Hope, near Cape Town, which is often incorrectly regarded as the southernmost point of Africa.