Agulhas, Southernmost tip of Africa
/style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Helvetica, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(11, 91, 155); ">This windswept, rugged coastal plain has been proclaimed the Agulhas National Park. Excursions include nature trails and a unique trail that traverses the southernmost tip of the African continent. There is an environmental educational centre and a splendid museum and interpretative centre.
Agulhas is also a great place for viewing the massive Southern right whales that migrate to the bay to calf and frolic in the bay between July and November each year.
A prime tourist destination, Agulhas also boasts one of the oldest workinglighthouses in South Africa. The massive lighthouse, built in 1848, is fully operational to this day and well worth a visit. The mighty lights have a range of almost 60 kilometres.
Portuguese seafarers named Africa's southernmost tip, "Cape of Needles" due to the fact that a compass shows no real deviation between true north and magnetic north at this spot, and because of the jagged, needle-sharp rocks along the coastline.
The waters near the coast are quite shallow and the best fishing grounds in South Africa. They are called the "Agulhas Bank" and are less than 100 metres in depth. Only after 250 kilometres out to sea does it drop steeply.
Associated with the region is the legendary Cape of Storms where many a ship en route to the east via Cape Agulhas was shipwrecked in the stormy seas. The Zoetendal, Birkenhead and Armiston are some of the many shipwrecks along the coastline. At low tide the wreck of the Meisho Maru rises up above the water.
Archaeological middens are reminders of a successful hunter-gathering culture which dates back thousands of years to when the Khoi-khoi people trapped fish using cleverly constructed tidal traps.
As yet there is no accommodation in the park.