Agulhas National Park is in the Western Cape of South Africa. Cape Agulhas is the most southern tip of Africa. It is located in South Africa‘s Western Cape Province. It is not the most spectacular cape or the most popular with tourists, but as the Southern tip of Africa it still attracts a growing number of people each year.

The official location of the most southernly tip of the continent is 34°49’58” south and 20°00’12” east.

. . . Agulhas National Park . . .

Agulhas National Park is located on the southernmost tip of Africa where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. The park form part of the Cape Floral KingdomUNESCO World Heritage Site.

Agulhas National Park, ☎+27 28 435-6222, fax: +27 28 435-6225, e-mail: merciar@sanparks.org. Overnight visitors must check-in during office hours (M-F 7:30AM-6PM, Sa Su & public holidays 9AM to 5PM) at 214 Main Road, Agulhas (the last building on the right before the lighthouse). Guests arriving outside the normal business hours need to phone the park on Tel: 028 435-6078 at least one day prior to arrival. 

The park was proclaimed in March 1999, but it will take a number of years in order to acquire and consolidate all the land that is to form the complete park.

Damara Tern breeds at De Mond Nature Reserve and can be seen along the Struisbaai Boardwalk. Denham’s Bustard, Blue Crane and Secretarybird are some of the larger, more visible species present, while Southern Tchagra, Large-billed Lark, Agulhas Clapper and Agulhas Long-billed Lark, Cloud Cisticola and Grey-backed Cisticola are common amongst the smaller species.

This park hosts a variety of habitat types and great biodiversity of birds. Large expanses of coastal fynbos allow birders access to species such as Cape Sugarbird, Southern Doubled-Collared Sunbird and Orange-breasted Sunbird, and the patches of renosterveld hosts vulnerable species such as Hottentot Buttonquail and Black Harrier.

The historical Springfield Saltpans is a yearly haven for hundreds of Lesser and Greater Flamingo, the rare Chestnut-banded Plover, thousands of Little Stint, Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, and some scarce species such as Eurasian Curlew and Red Knot. Along the Zoetendalsvlei and Nuwerjaarsrivier, waterbirds such as African Rail, African Purple Swamphen, Black Crake and an array of other waders occur frequently. Other raptors found in the area includes Lanner Falcon, Yellow-billed Kite, African Harrier-Hawk, African Marsh-Harrier, Martial Eagle, Booted Eagle, African Fish-Eagle, Steppe Buzzard, Jackal Buzzard and Forest Buzzard.

. . . Agulhas National Park . . .

. . . Agulhas National Park . . .