Beaches in South Africa

Two oceans meeting at the southern tip of the continent, and the difference between them decides everything. The Atlantic side, fed by the cold Benguela Current, runs at twelve to fifteen degrees even in summer — spectacular to look at and brief to swim in. The Indian Ocean side, warmed by the Agulhas, is ten to fifteen degrees warmer and is where South Africans actually swim. Shark management on the KwaZulu-Natal coast has used nets and drumlines since 1952, a programme that works and that kills significant by-catch, and the debate about it is public and ongoing. Three practical points. Shark nets and drumlines protect the main KwaZulu-Natal beaches and the by-catch they cause is publicly debated; the Western Cape uses spotters instead. Water temperature differs by fifteen degrees across a peninsula forty kilometres wide, so check which ocean you are swimming in. And the south-easter wind can make an Atlantic beach unusable on an otherwise perfect summer day, which is why Capetonians keep a second option in mind.

Each is a different kind: five shores across five beach worlds. Together they account for 13 km of shore. · computed from the 5 records below