T H E    B A S E S    A T    S A N A E    IV,    M A R I O N    &    G O U G H

During the first South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) expedition in 1959/60, the South Africans took over the evacuated Norwegian base in the Dronning Maud Land region of Antarctica (some 4000km south of Cape Town). The bases on the edge of the ice shelf were replaced at various intervals, until the South African base moved inland and the current SANAE IV was built on Vesleskarvet - a nunatak or dark rocky outcrop peeping out of the white snow.

South Africa maintains a base on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean just over 2 000km south-east of Cape Town. Marion Island and Prince Edward Island, twin peaks of a volcano, form the Prince Edward Islands group. The islands were annexed by South Africa in 1947. South Africa has announced its intention to proclaim a major marine protected area around the Prince Edward Islands. This will be one of the largest areas of its kind in the world and will be patrolled by the 83-metre environmental protection vessel, the Sarah Baartman - due for delivery at the end of 2004.

Gough Island is a British protectorate and is largely uninhabited, except for the people at the South African meteorological station, which operates as part of an agreement between South Africa and the United Kingdom.