Cape Point & Lighthouse, South Africa
‘Any Person caught rolling down the cliff will be prosecuted by order Lighthouse Engineer’. – So read the original sign nailed to the wooden boundary gate of the Cape Point lighthouse. A hardly hospitable hand-painted notice that never quite challenged the ‘Welcome’ doormat in warmth or popularity.
Of course had one actually rolled down the Cape Point cliff face in the early twentieth century one would imagine a cup of tea and the offering of some level of first-aid would be in order by the lighthouse management, even if this priority was shortly followed by justified legal action.
Even novice pharoligists would have had to ponder the effectiveness of the science of pharology at this Cape Point location taking into account that from a certain angle ships at sea could not see the warning light of this Old Cape Point Lighthouse. Of course this particular nautical angle invisible to warning was in range of much danger.
The Old Cape Point Lighthouse was put to rest in peace when the Portuguese liner, the Lusitania, crashed under its guidance to rest in many pieces on the ocean floor. Thus the Old Cape Point Lighthouse was replaced with the new, improved and ocean fresh beacon of light imaginatively named the New Cape Point Lighthouse. No longer fronting an unfriendly sign, but regretfully still no tea or basic nursing facilities volunteered in the event of an illegal tumble.
Epic South Africa Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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