Pretoria - The South African Agulhas will on Thursday depart for a 14-day voyage to Marion Island and back, for the official opening of the Marion Island Research Base.
Deputy Minister of Public Works, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu will officially hand over the new base to the Department of Environmental Affairs.
She will lead a delegation of government officials, construction personnel, scientists from various departments and universities and media to Marion Island.
The official opening will take place next week, depending on the weather conditions during the Cape Town to Marion Island voyage.
The Marion Island research base is used by South Africa to carry out essential weather observations and various national and international scientific research programmes, in the fields of oceanography, biology, geology, entomology, ornithology, botany and, from time to time, physics, in support of the country's activities in the sub-Antarctic region.
Today Marion Island is regarded as one of the most important weather observation stations globally and used as a natural laboratory for a number of national and international research projects.
