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Wat maak die suidste punt van Afrika uniek? What makes the southernmost tip of Africa unique?
Of course: it's the southernmost point of Africa! Natuurlik: dit is die Suidelikste punt van Afrika!
History / Geskiedenis
Home to the second oldest lighthouse in South Africa built in 1848, light lit on March 1, 1849 and declared a national monument in 1973.
Home to the second oldest lighthouse in South Africa built in 1848, light lit on March 1, 1849 and declared a national monument in 1973.
Cape Agulhas Lighthouse design based on the design of the Pharos of the ancient world in Egypt
The lighthouse is home to Africa’s only Lighthouse Museum.
The Cape Agulhas Lighthouse is the third lighthouse to have been erected on the African continent.
The Phoenicians are reputed to have sailed around this point 611 years BC and the Chinese during the 1420s.
Bartolomeu Dias saw the southernmost tip of Africa for the first time on May 16, 1488,
Cape Agulhas Coast is known as the Graveyard of Ships because of all the shipwrecks along the coast.
Home to Zoetendals Vallei farm where the original merino sheep wool farming tradition was established.
The navigators of the 1400’s to the 1700’s who discovered the sea route around the southern most tip, observed the sun at noon when it passed the meridian, and found, that the magnetic compass pointed to true north. Today it points some 27.54 degrees west of true north.
Officially, the youngest language in the world is Afrikaans. By the early-20th century Afrikaans had developed from Dutch, French and other influences into a fully fledged language with its own dictionary. After a mere 90 years, it is the second most spoken language in South Africa (Zulu is the most spoken, the Zulu people being the largest ethnic group).
Soetendalsvlei is named after the first recorded shipwreck on the Cape Agulhas coast. During the night of August 23, 1673 the VOC ship, Zoetendaal, wrecked on rocks in a bay (today Struisbaai).
The traveller and explorer, Peter Kolbe, reported during his stay at the Cape between 1705 and 1713, the discovery of saline pans near Elim and Bredasdorp, today the Saltpans.
The village, L’Agulhas, developed around the Lighthouse.
The name “Cabo de Agulhas” (Cape of Needles) appeared for the first time on a map in 1502.
The southernmost point is recognized by the International Hydro-graphic Organisation as the geographic dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic oceans, following the meridian of 20˚east.
South Africa is one of only 12 countries where tap water is safe to drink. Its tap water is rated the third best worldwide.
Nature / Natuur
Home to South Africa’s southernmost national Park.
The limestone Fynbos and beautiful lichens on the rocks are barometers of environmental well-being. So are the creatures living in the rocky pools.
Is part of one of the world's 6 floral kingdoms; South Africa has one-tenth (23 200) of the world's flowering plants, of which nearly 19 000 are endemic, making it the richest region in the world in terms of species to area - 1.7 times richer even than Brazil. It is the only country in the world to contain an entire floral kingdom, the Cape Floral Kingdom which is a World Heritage Site of which the Southernmost Tip became officially part in 2015.
Agulhas National Park has approximately 2000 species of indigenous plants including 100 which are endemic to the area, and over 110 which are Red Data Book species.
Home to 4 of South Africa’s national symbols (protea, springbok, blue crane, galjoen).
South Africa has the third highest level of biodiversity in the world.
Agulhas National Park is the only place in the world where one will find the Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris and the Orange-breasted Sunbird Nectarinia violacia.
Soetendalsvlei is the southernmost lake in Africa, the second largest fresh water lake in South Africa with an outlet directly into the sea in South Africa.
Soetanysberg is one of the Park’s hotspots where the visible change over between the Limestone fynbos and Table Mountain sandstone fynbos occurs.
Marine / Seelewe
It is believed that the waves at the Southernmost point are, after those at Cape Horn, the highest in the world
The world's best land-based whale-watching spot is located in Hermanus, Western Cape.
Agulhas eddies - also called 'current rings' - tend to be among the largest in the world, transporting warm, salty water from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic.
The meeting of the cold Benguela and warm Agulhas currents at the edge of the Agulhas Bank fuels the nutrient cycle for much marine life in the area, making this region one of the most productive areas in South Africa.
Situated at the Southernmost Tip of the African continent where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet with the confluence measured at E20˚
The biodiversity of the coralline algae in the Agulhas region appears to be particularly rich and range-restricted endemic
The marine flora includes at least nine seaweed species of the Cool Temperate South-West Coast province that are common between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas, but rare or absent just east, from the De Hoop Nature Reserve
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