Cape Recife:

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South African Lighthouse No. 5


This is one seriously photogenic zebra-striped lighthouse.


It has been sitting at the south entrance of Algoa Bay, as the third oldest lighthouse in South Africa, since 1 April 1851, warning sailors of the Thunderbolt Reef*.

Photo by Randall Langenhoven on SouthAfrica.net
Despite its good looks set against the backdrop of the beautiful Eastern Cape landscape, there is an eerie history surrounding this lighthouse, which obviously attracts me to it even more, and I hope to visit it in person one day soon.

Feast your eyes:

Photo by Bevan Langley
The Lighthouse photographed on a cloudy Day.
Beach view photo of the lighthouse from Cape Recife's website.
Leigh Langman's moonrise photo of the lighthouse, taken at sunset - Flickr
Humpback whales are also known to breach there - as you can see in this photo by Lloyd Edwards via Raggy Charters.

 *According to SouthAfrica.net, "The deadly spine of rocks is named after the HMS Thunderbolt, a steam-driven man o' war that ran onto the reef on a fine day in 1847... The Thunderbolt was refloated and beached in Algoa Bay. She was, however, beyond repair. Her timbers were sold to a Mr JO Smith for just more than 100 pounds sterling. The locals thought he'd been had, and immediately dubbed the puchase 'Smith's Folly'... Smith, it seems, had the las laugh. He sold the timbers on to house builders in Port Elizabeth and made a good profit."

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