If three pyramids are the symbol of Africa's far north, then a flat-topped mountain is the symbol of its far south. Cape Town nestles in the curve of Table Mountain at the start of the hook-shaped Cape Peninsula, which ends in the jagged cliffs of Cape Point. The Western Cape lies on southern tip of South Africa. The most-southern point is not, as some maps suggest, at Cape Point; it is in fact at Cape Agulhas, some 200km east of Cape Town.
The province is one of the country's most beautiful, attracting the lion's share of foreign tourists. It is a region of majestic mountains, colourful patchworks of farmland set in lovely valleys, long beaches and, further inland, the wide-open landscape of the semi-desert Karoo.
Two oceans meet on the coast of the Western Cape: the cold Atlantic Ocean is in the west, while the warmer Indian Ocean lies on the southern coast. The plankton-rich cold Benguela current flows along the west coast and is considered to be one of the world