South Africa's coastline stretches almost 3000 kilometres and has the rare natural phenomenon of two oceans meeting on its shores. The Indian Ocean, with its warm Agulhas Current, and the Atlantic Ocean, carrying the cold Benguela current, meet at Cape Agulhas. A common misconception is that this confluence occurs at Cape Point, which is an hour outside of Cape Town.

The influence of the two oceans creates a unique biodiversity and greatly affects the climate of the country. The Benguela current has rich plankton waters, which make perfect fishing grounds and the Agulhas current brings rain. The mixture of the two currents also creates turbulent storms, with waves reaching up to 30 metres, many of which have wrecked ships.

Cape Agulhas, was originally named Cabo das Agulhas (Cape of Needles) by Portuguese sailors because of its rugged coastline. It is also the southern-most tip of Africa. The South African coast is also home to a variety of whale species that migrate to its shores, especially at Hermanus and Plettenberg Bay, to calf during the winter months.

Gaansbaai in the Western Cape is also one of two places in the world where the great white shark breaches.