Slangkopvuurtoring is ’n vuurtoring by slangkoppunt in Kommetjie, op die Kaapse Skiereiland (Suid-Afrika)

Canon PowerShot S51S
PHOTOGRAPHY: Buildings and statues

Operational since 4 March 1919.
This is the tallest cast iron tower on the South African Coast, 100 feet from base to its balcony.
The lighthouse is equipped with a revolving electric light that emits four flashes every 30 seconds. It is one of 4 strongest lighthouses in Southern Africa with a range of 33 sea miles.

A laminated print
The lighthouse is a 33 meter circular cast iron tower, painted white. The focal plane of the light is 41 meters above high water which means it often remains visible below dense mist.
The lighthouse was established as the result of a commission appointed in 1906 by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, His Excellency, the Honorable Sir Francis Hely-Hutchinson, to enquire into proposals for the improvement of and additions to the safeguards against shipwrecks along the Southern Coast of the Colony.

A mounted print

History of The Slangkop Lighthouse:
The original light, lit on the 4 March 1919 was three mantle 55 mm petroleum vapour burner that produced 500 000 C.D. The original light was replaced by a 4 kW electric incandescent lamp in 1936 which increased its power to 16 000 000 C.D. In 1974 the 4 kW light was replaced by a 1.5 kW lamp which reduced the light to approximately 5 000 000 C.D.

The Lighthouse became fully automated in 1979. From an original three-man station it has been manned by a Senior Light keeper only since this date.

The Slangkop lighthouse draws its power from the Cape Municipality and has a standby diesel alternator that takes over in the event of a break in the mains supply.
The Kom, together with Kommetjie’s lighthouse is also a beacon for one of the best land based sites for seabird watching.
New coastal conservancy in Cape Town

Soetwater Resort, between Kommetjie and Scarborough on Cape Town’s south peninsula, is an important historical camping site that represents the environmental challenge of finding a balance between conservation goals and community needs.
The City’s Environmental Resource Management Department (ERM) has begun a process to protect the land, not as a traditional nature reserve but as a coastal conservancy, in which camping and social activity – not only conservation-focused activities such as hiking or bird-watching – are encouraged.
Since 2008, Soetwater Resort has had a full-time nature conservator whose task has been to oversee the ecological management of the area as well as the interface between nature and people. And at the end of 2009, the area below the tarred roadway from Slangkop (Kommetjie) Lighthouse to Misty Cliffs became funded as the new Soetwater-Witsand Coastal Conservancy.

A framed print