Two female Indian Navy officers, currently on their fourth and final stopover as part of their Navika Sagar Parikrama II (NSP II) global circumnavigation expedition, have been actively involved in various inter-Navy and community outreach programmes since arriving in Cape Town.
The NSP II expedition, undertaken by Lieutenant Commanders K Dilna and A Roopa aboard the 56-foot Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, set sail from the western Indian state of Goa on 2 October 2024. Having arrived in Cape Town on the afternoon of 31 March 2025, the expedition aims to cover more than 23 400 nautical miles (43 300 kilometres) over eight months, with a scheduled return to Goa in May 2025. Prior to reaching Cape Town, the expedition made stopovers at Fremantle (Australia), Lyttelton (New Zealand), and Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (UK).
Berthing at the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC), the two crew members are staying for two weeks. During this time, they are scheduled to undertake maintenance of the vessel and engage with naval cadets, the Indian diaspora, and participate in community outreach events.
On 7 April, the crew paid a courtesy call to Flag Officer Fleet, Rear Admiral Handsome Matsane, at Simon’s Town Naval Base.
“What you have done will pave the way for future female sailors, not only in the Indian Navy but in navies around the world. Your achievement will go down in history, and no one can take away what you have achieved,” Matsane said.
Furthermore, the crew interacted with the officers and students of the South African Navy at the Naval College in Gordon’s Bay.
The Navika Sagar Parikrama-II expedition serves to promote women empowerment within the Indian Armed Forces and is expected to motivate many young women to join the Services, and the Indian Navy in particular.
This is not the first visit to Cape Town for these two women sailors. They were part of the six-member crew that sailed from Goa to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Town and back from November 2022 to May 2023 as part of their extensive sail training.
The two sailors recounted the challenging conditions they encountered at sea during their historic circumnavigation voyage. During their voyage, the vessel and crew faced rough seas with waves reaching up to eight metres high, extremely cold temperatures, stormy weather, and winds exceeding 50 knots (93 km/h). They even had to contend with the loss of all communications and positioning systems, at night in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which they were able to fix within a few hours.
Describing the journey thus far as “incredible,” Roopa noted that “we had a lot of challenges, and at the same time, I would say we have experienced a lot of beautiful moments at sea.”
Besides the rough seas, including those experienced while rounding Cape Horn, the sailors were unaccustomed to the extreme cold of the Southern Ocean.
“I would end up wearing six to seven layers of clothing. Starting from the tropics, at about 35 degrees Celsius, and then you come down to two degrees Celsius. So it was really difficult for us because we are not used to the cold,” Roopa explained.
Other challenges included lack of sleep over the past seven months, “because we have to do everything, we have to be the engineer, electrician, carpenter, sailor, cook, cleaner, whatever.”
However, despite these challenges, the ladies had the opportunity to see whales, dolphins, flying fish, different coloured seas, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and even sighted Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, the first time this comet has been visible to Earth in more than 80 000 years.
The latest stopover of INSV Tarini in Cape Town demonstrates the growing relations between India and South Africa and highlights India’s commitment to strengthening its maritime cooperation with friendly countries in the Indian Ocean Region.
Recently, the Indian Naval Ship Talwar participated in the eighth edition of Exercise IBSAMAR in South Africa in October 2024. Furthermore, in January of this year, the Indian Navy’s latest stealth frigate, INS Tushil, made a port call in Durban, engaging with the South African Navy and the Indian community in KwaZulu-Natal. These visits and engagements bring the Navies of the two countries together to address common challenges in the maritime domain and facilitate the sharing of best practices for ensuring safe and secure seas.
