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Bartholomeus Dias het Kaappunt die bynaam gegee van "Kaap van Storms" in 1488 omdat dit so verraderlik kon wees.

Die gebied is geneig tot geweldige storms en die oorvloed van skeepswrakke besaai langs die kus is 'n testament van presies hoe gevaarlik Kaappunt is.

Matrose het saans staatgemaak op die ou Kaappunt ligtoring vir navigasie, maar wanneer ook al die mis ingerol het, het die ligtoring hul lewens in gevaar gestel, want hulle kon dit nie sien nie.

Oor die eeue heen is baie skepe verpletter op die rotse, óf omdat hulle nie goed genoeg in die mis kon sien nie, óf omdat die manier waarop die ligtoring geleë was dit maklik gemaak het om die ligging van die land te misgis.

Skepe wat om Kaappunt gekom het na die oostekant, het dikwels te naby verbygekom want hulle kon die ligtoring te vroeg sien.

As gevolg hiervan is die oorspronklike ligtoring buite diens gestel na die 1911 skipbreuk van die Lusitania, as gevolg van sy misleidende plasing.

n Nuwe ligtoring is gebou op 'n laer hoogte.

Bouwerk aan die oorspronklike Kaappunt ligtoring is afgehandel in 1859.

Dit rus op die heel hoogste punt sowat 249 meter bo seespieël en dien nou as 'n gewilde plek vir toeriste en is ook die sentrale moniteringstasie vir al Suid-Afrika se ligtorings.

Vandag is die ou Kaappunt ligtoring 'n ikoon van Suid-Afrika se Kaapse Skiereiland.

Toeriste kan dit bereik deur te ry op die Flying Dutchman kabelspoor, wat die laer ligtoringm geleë 127 meter bo seespieël, verbind met die boonste stasie.

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Bartolomeu Dias gave Cape Point the epithet "Cape of Storms" in 1488 because of how treacherous it can be.

The area is prone to violent storms, and the profusion of shipwrecks littered along the coast is a testament to exactly how dangerous Cape Point is.

Sailors depended on the old Cape Point lighthouse at night for navigation, but whenever the brume rolled in, the lighthouse put their lives in jeopardy because it could not be seen.

Over the centuries, many ships were dashed to pieces on the rocks, either because they couldn't see well enough in the fog or because the way the lighthouse was situated made it easy to misjudge the location of the land.

Ships that came around Cape Point toward the east often approached too closely because they could see the lighthouse too early.

As a result, the original lighthouse was decommissioned after the 1911 shipwreck of the Lusitania because of its deceptive placement.

A new lighthouse was built at a lower elevation.

Construction on the original Cape Point lighthouse was finished in 1859.

It's perched on the very highest zenith about 249 meters above sea level and now serves as a popular spot for tourists and also the central monitoring station for all of South Africa's lighthouses.

Today the old Cape Point lighthouse is an icon of South Africa's Cape Peninsula.

Tourists can reach it by riding on the Flying Dutchman funicular, which connects the lower lighthouse, which sits 127 meters above sea level, to the upper station.

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