One of the most fascinating geophysical studies in southern Africa is to track the evolutionary behaviour of the geomagnetic field. As part of a cooperative project between Germany and South Africa, called Inkaba ye Africa, the COMPASS (Comprehensive Magnetic Processes under the African Southern Sub-continent) program aims to study the geomagnetic field in this key region. Observations are supported by global monitoring of the magnetic field from satellites like Ørsted, CHAMP and SAC-C in order to better explain and predict the secular variation on a global scale. Comparisons between MAGSAT (1980) and CHAMP (2000 till present) satellite data indicate that the relative decrease of the geomagnetic field is particularly strong in the Southern Atlantic region. This coincides partly with the South Atlantic Anomaly, where the geomagnetic field is significantly weaker (up to 30%) than over the rest of the Earth at equivalent latitudes. It is in this region that the shielding effect of the magnetic field is severely reduced, thus allowing high energy particles of extraterrestrial origin to penetrate deep into the upper atmosphere, reaching altitudes below 100 km. In addition, the orientation of the geomagnetic field in southern Africa is also changing rapidly. In the northwestern part of southern Africa the declination of the magnetic field is propagating eastwards (Tsumeb) and in the southeastern part westwards (Hermanus and Hartebeesthoek). This results in the spatial gradient over the sub-continent to increase with time. This intriguing and complex behaviour of the geomagnetic field over the southern African sub-continent is discussed in the present investigation.