Cape Town - Paternoster may be a quiet little fishing town, but there are lots of activities for the outdoor enthusiast like kayaking, birding, horse riding, quad biking, scuba diving, and long walks on the beach.
Just a few kilometres away is the 263ha Cape Columbine Nature Reserve at Tietiesbaai, which is where you’ll find the last manned lighthouse built on SA’s coast, in 1936.
It sits on the most westerly point of South Africa and is usually the first lighthouse sighted by shipping coming from South America and Europe.
There’s a R15 entrance fee to the reserve, and for another R16 (less for children and pensioners) you get to climb the stairs and then three very scary narrow ladders to the top of the lighthouse.
Sadly, on the day I was there it was foggy so I didn’t get to see much from the top, but I did have a long chat with lighthouse keeper Japie Greef, who told me stories of the lighthouses he has kept, and amusing anecdotes about his career – like shopping for three months’ supplies at a time when he was on Dassen Island.
The whole lot came to about R600 including a beef hind quarter, half a lamb, cigarettes, two cases of beer and a bottle of rum, he reminisced.
The difference between manned and unmanned lighthouses (those built after 1936) is quite simple.
The former have keepers on site who maintain them, while the latter have no one but are inspected every three months to ensure they are in good working order. All lighthouses are automated.
The 45 lighthouses along our coast are linked to a head office in Green Point where they are monitored.
Lighthouses and ships use the Automatic Identification System, or AIS, which is a tracking system for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data.
Almost all lighthouses are painted red and white because that makes them stand out as beacons during the day, as do their different shapes.
The one at Slangkop in Kommetjie has no red because its height against the backdrop of the mountain makes it visible to ships at sea.
Every lighthouse’s beam flashes at a different interval, as does the bleat of its foghorn, to further help ships know where they are.
You can go one step further and spend a night in the reserve at one of three self-catering cottages near the lighthouse, for two to six people. Off-season rates begin at R600 a person per night. This is the perfect getaway if you’re looking for peace and quiet.
l Cape Columbine Lighthouse is open Mondays to Friday (excluding public holidays), from 10am till 3pm. Call 021 449 2400 or go to [email protected] for more information.
Bianca Coleman, Weekend Argus