The Cape of Good Hope

The Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Park is a national treasure. For us Van der Lindens it has always been a special place.  When we had overseas visitors, this was one of the spots we just had to show off. Then we were tourists like the thousands others who visited the park in tour buses and cars - taking pictures of the lighthouses and of the strip of water where we believed the warm Agulhas- and the cold Benguela Current meet.  We couldn't get enough of the beautiful view across False Bay, or we stared across the ocean as if, with a bit of effort and luck, we could see Antarctica in the distance.

When misty, these visits were even more special to us...  You could imagine that captain van der Decken's Flying Dutchman would just magically appear in front of you - torn sails and everything.  Among nautical myths and legends, few are as famous as the flying Dutchman.  Many have claimed to see the ghostly vessel since it sank in 1641.

Cape Point has a long and colourful history, largely due to the search for a sea route to the East, instigated by Prince Henry the Navigator.

Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was the first to round the Cape Peninsula in 1488. He named it the “Cape of Storms”, for the notoriously bad weather, which can blow up quickly. A decade later, Vasco da Gama navigated the same route and sailed down the coast of Africa, successfully opening a new trading route for Europe with India and the Far East. King John II of Portugal later renamed it the “Cape of Good Hope” because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of this new sea route to India and the East.

Cape Point is often mistakenly claimed to be the place where the cold Benguela Current of the Atlantic Ocean and the warm Agulhas Current of the Indian ocean meet. In fact, the meeting point fluctuates along the southern and southwestern Cape coast, usually occurring between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point. The two intermingling currents help to create the micro-climate of Cape Town and its environs. Contrary to popular mythology, the meeting point of the currents produces no obvious visual effect; there is no "line in the ocean" where the sea changes colour or looks different in some way. There are, however, strong and dangerous swells, tides and localized currents around the point and in adjacent waters. These troubled seas have witnessed countless maritime disasters in the centuries since ships first sailed here.  According to the Slingsby Map of Cape Point there are at least 29 major shipwrecks along the coast of Cape Point.  Five of the wrecks have left wreckage that is still visible: The Thomas T. Tucker, Nolloth, Phyllisia, Tania and the Shir Yib.  Many of these shipwrecks tell woeful tales, some of mutineers who scuttled their own ships and were hanged for it, others that suggest that wreckers—bandits who deliberately wrecked ships for salvage—were at work without regard for the loss of lives. Some of the tales might be more humorous, like the story of the Thomas T. Tucker at Olifant's Point.  She was an American liberty ship carrying war materials.  On the night of November 28, 1942 the Captain reported that his ship has struck Robben Island.  He`d been heading for Cape Town; he was a mere 23 nautical miles off course!  Fortunately no lives were lost.

Picture credit: capetownmagazine.com

‘The Point’ has been treated with respect by sailors since it was first sighted by Dias in 1488. By day, it was a landmark of great navigational value until the introduction of radar. By night, and in fog, it was a menace. Ships had to approach closely to obtain bearings and thereby were exposed to the dangers of Bellows Rock and Albatross Rock. And so the lighthouse was built. The original lighthouse was built in 1859 on Da Gama Peak, the summit of Cape Point, 238m above sea level.

Picture credit: capepoint.co.za

This made it very ineffective in mist which mandated the establishment of the second lighthouse at 87 meters. The newer lighthouse, built in 1914, is the most powerful on the South African coast. It emits three flashes in a group every 30 seconds and revolves. The old lighthouse still stands here and is now used as a centralized monitoring point for all the lighthouses in South Africa.

Picture credit: capetownmagazine.com

The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve was established in 1938 to conserve the flora and fauna of this wild and lonely tip of the Cape Peninsula. Sixty years later, when the Reserve had grown to 7750 hectares, it was incorporated into the Table Mountain National Park.

The Flora of the Cape of Good Hope area is principally mountain fynbos. The coastal fringe may consist of dune fynbos or thicket, while the area has many marshes as well as sporadic outcrops of limestone fynbos.

Mammals in the Reserve include caracal, mongooses, otters, genets, porcupines and a variety of smaller creatures. This is the only reserve in the Western Cape where baboons are specifically protected. It is illegal to feed the baboons;  because unthinking people have done so in the past, many have lost their fear of humans and will snatch food from your hands, your rucksack or even from inside your car. Exercise caution and keep well away from them: they are still wild animals, with unpredictable responses. If you see officials with catapults, these are men authorised to drive the baboons away from popular spots. Feeding baboons inside and outside the Reserve is an offence.