The Agulhas National Park is a South African

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

located in the Agulhas Plain in the southern

Overberg __NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...

region of the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

, about south-east of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. The park stretches along the coastal plain between the towns of Gansbaai and

Struisbaai Struisbaai ( ) is a coastal town in the Overberg region of South Africa's Western Cape province. The town is in the Cape Agulhas Local Municipality in the Overberg District Municipality, Overberg District, about two hundred kilometres south east ...

, and includes the southern tip of Africa at

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; , "Cape of Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans according to the In ...

. it covered an area of . Although one of the smallest national parks in South Africa, it has 2,000 native plant species and a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

that provides refuge to birds and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

Points of interest

The primary tourist attraction in the park is

, the southernmost tip of Africa and the official meeting-point of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and Indian Oceans. Nearby is the Agulhas lighthouse, the second-oldest lighthouse in South Africa, which also includes a small museum and tearoom. * Whale watching in season – November to January. * Animals to see include the

southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20� ...

, African black oystercatcher, Damara tern and Cape platanna. * Shipwrecks: several ships, including ''De Zoetendal'', , and HMS '' Arniston''. Foundered on the rocks near Cape Agulhas. Relics from some of the wrecks can be seen in the

Bredasdorp Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agu ...

Shipwreck Museum. *

Fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

: hundreds of indigenous fynbos species are found here. * A rich fish bank known as the

Agulhas Bank The Agulhas Bank (, from Portuguese for Cape Agulhas, ''Cabo das Agulhas'', "Cape of Needles") is a broad, shallow part of the southern African continental shelf which extends up to south of Cape Agulhas before falling steeply to the abyssal pla ...

References

External links

Agulhas National Park
at South African National Parks {{authority control Protected areas of the Western Cape National parks of South Africa Cape Agulhas Local Municipality