Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior docks in Cape Town to challenge fossil fuel projects
The visit comes at a critical moment for the continent’s coastlines. Offshore oil and gas exploration is increasing along African shores, often taking place far from public scrutiny and media attention.
During its five-day stay, Greenpeace Africa aims to engage more than 2,500 Capetonians in climate justice conversations and is open to the public from 24-25 January 2026.
The Rainbow Warrior is designed to counter that invisibility — enabling Greenpeace to maintain a sustained presence at sea, document activities in remote waters, and bring offshore environmental issues into the public eye.
More than protest: a campaigning infrastructure
Unlike conventional protest platforms, the Rainbow Warrior is a purpose-built operational vessel. It is equipped with small-boat and drone deployment capabilities, real-time documentation systems, and the endurance to operate for extended periods in isolated marine zones.
This infrastructure allows Greenpeace to monitor and expose activities that typically remain hidden from view, particularly offshore drilling operations that rely on distance and opacity to avoid accountability.
People-powered resistance at scale
Funded entirely by individual supporters, the Rainbow Warrior represents citizen-backed environmental oversight with global reach. With no government or corporate funding, the ship stands as a counterweight to multinational energy companies operating in African waters.
At a time when companies such as TotalEnergies and Shell continue offshore activity across the continent, the vessel provides independent witness, physical presence, and public documentation where regulatory oversight is often limited.
African ocean sovereignty in focus
Environmental groups argue that African waters are frequently treated as “sacrifice zones,” where extractive activities would face far stricter resistance in the Global North. The campaign links offshore drilling directly to climate risk, plastic pollution, and the erosion of coastal livelihoods — framing fossil fuel expansion as both an environmental and social justice issue for African nations.
A rare opportunity
With a 40-year legacy, the Rainbow Warrior is one of the most recognisable symbols of modern environmental activism. Bombed in 1985 but never silenced, the ship has confronted whaling fleets, nuclear testing, illegal fishing, and now fossil fuel extraction.
During its Cape Town stop over, the public will have access from 24-25 January 2026.
The Rainbow Warrior’s presence in Cape Town underscores growing scrutiny of offshore activities in African waters — and signals a renewed push to ensure that what happens beyond the shoreline is no longer out of sight or out of mind.