Clifton

Clifton is a residential suburb located near Cape Town that was once a section of the village of Cambridge. The area is known for having some of the best beaches in the world and some of the most expensive houses in all of South Africa. Clifton has five beaches in total, each named in numerical order of location; there is First Beach, Second Beach, Third Beach, and Fourth Beach. The fifth beach, Moses Beach, is occasionally washed away depending on the season. These beaches attract thousands of tourists a year.

Other than its beaches, Clifton in the past has been notable for its documented shark attacks. Despite the rarity of sharks in the waters of Clifton, two noteworthy attacks occurred in the 20th century. The first occurred in 1942 when a man by the name of Johan Bergh was murdered by a shark off the coast of Forth Beach. The few witnesses of the moment reported the shark as a great white and Bergh’s body was never found afterwards. Later, in 1976, another man, Jeff Spence, was also attacked by a great white on Fourth Beach. While few doctors were present on the beach that day, Spence was airlifted to a nearby hospital and was able to make a full recovery.