Lighthouse Family...

Like the vigirn bride, my first time was also filled with mixed feelings of excitement, expectation and to a small degree, fear. I approached Slangkoppunt Lighthouse not knowing what to expect and walked away wanting to tell the whole world about my experience.

I’d never visited a lighthouse before, and the mystery and intrigue of what or rather who I would find there, was reason enough for me to approach.

The fascination of lighthouses is often explained by the mystery and romantic ideas that were probably created from Childhood stories (such as Paul Gallico’s The Snow Goose”) or poster prints of the solitary lighthouse keeper surround by crashing waves and stormy, inclement weather – where his only safety is inside the narrow tower  which is completely surrounded by the gulf of waves he is trying to escape.

Lighthouse keepers have always been depicted as reclusive, solitary types – who prefer the company of noisy seagulls and mother nature. They stay in remote and sometimes unihabited places, and rarely mingle with the locals.

But this was definitely not the case when I met Peter Dennett of Slangkppunt lighthouse – near Kommetjie, in the Western Cape. He was friendly and accommodating and his enthusiasm so catching that I found myself asking more and more questions, and becoming quite excited about what lighthouses have to offer.

Lighthouse tourism is new to our country – and is proving to be a very lucrative way of keeping these national monuments funded. South Africa has 11 lighthouses along her coastline, five of which offer self catering accommodation.  This form of  tourism, (controlled by  SALATO - the South African Lighthouse Adventure Tour Operators) was started in 2001, when a profitable, alternative use for lighthouses was identified. Many of these “gentle giants”were being under utilized and left to deteriorate, as more and more keepers were leaving the service without being replaced. This meant that  more and more light keepers lodgings were left fallow.

Using these structures for tourism purposes would not only provide much needed funds, but also assist in enhancing the educational value of lighthouses - hich are often stationed near nature reserves. Jobs would also be created and local businesses would benefit – basically a light at the end of everyone’s tunnel.

AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT…

The first lighthouse was built in the times of Egypt’s  Pharoes of Alexandria – where the white marble construction was rated as one of the wonders of the ancient world. The first lighthouse on the South African coast only happened in 1485, at Cape Cross, when Diego Cam, a Portuguese explorer, sent a landing party ashore to construct the first padraos, or lighthouse. This was done at a time where the only materials available were stone, brick, wood and glass, and to build something that would withstand the fury of the sea, took a lot of patience, determination and coaxing – as horses had to be used to cart the heavy materials to the shore, from where they were transported to the site by sailboat – which ran the same risks as any ship which might benefit from its final construction. 

The Afrikaans, Dutch and Scandinavian word for lighthouse, is “vurtoring”  (or fire tower) which brings to mind the huge fires made from wood or coal, before the days of gas lamps or oil burners.  According to the accepted sense of the word , the first official “lighthouse” in South Africa was erected on Robbin Island in 1657 during the time of Jan van Riebeek. The lighthouse served not only as a warning, to ships out at sea, but also as an alarm to notify the Commander  of foreign vessels in the neighborhood.

The lighthouses found along the South African coast are constructed from three types of material – either cast iron, aluminium latticework, or concrete masonry. Each lighthouse has it’s own unique character or light code – the series of flashes and pauses between each signal. This would make any lighthouse easily identifiable – and provide the lost mariner with his location address.

Like the virgin bride who approached the subject with trepidation and awe, my trips to some of South Africa's lighthouses ended with a satisfied smile and an appreciation of terra firma.

To visit and stay on some of the lighthouses along South Africa's coast, visit:
the Travel and Tourism site.