Using sea level data collected by TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter, we studied the low-frequency variability in the region of the Agulhas Retroflection and Return Current. We found that characteristics of the low-frequency variability are fundamentally different from those associated with the high-frequency mesoscale variability. As in the Kuroshio Extension region, strong low-frequency variability is found to cluster around strong current. Although bottom topography is found to have strong influence on the low-frequency variability, correspondence between the spatial structure of low-frequency variability and major bottom topographic features is significantly different from that in the Kuroshio Extension region. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996