Cape Point

This article is about the promontory in South Africa. For the headland in Gambia, see Bakau.
Not to be confused with Cape of Good Hope.

Cape Point in the left foreground, with the Cape of Good Hope almost right behind and some 2.3 km away
Looking from behind the old lighthouse (at top left) to the new lighthouse (a sunlit speck of white very near the point). The lighthouses are 700 metres apart, and the new lighthouse 162 metres lower in altitude so as to remain visible during low cloud.

Cape Point (Afrikaans: Kaappunt) is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in South Africa. Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town are close to the northern extremity of the same peninsula. The cape is located at 34°21′26″S 18°29′51″E / 34.35722°S 18.49750°E / -34.35722; 18.49750, about 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) east and a little north of the Cape of Good Hope on the southwest corner.[1] Although these two rocky capes are very well known, neither cape is actually the southernmost point of the mainland of Africa; that is Cape Agulhas, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) to the east-southeast.

  1. ^ Topo map of Cape Point[permanent dead link‍], from the South African Geographical Names System