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CAPE WHALE COAST
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  Cape
Whale Coast, South Africa: The coming of the whales to the
Cape Overberg coastline, also known as the Cape Whale Coast, every
year between June and November, not only creates a stir, but brings to
our shores a large, intelligent and remarkable giant of the sea and the
only mammal to have adapted to life in the open oceans. Whales,
including the Southern Right Whale and less commonly the Bryde’s
(pronounced ‘broodess’) and the Humpback Whale, are frequently sited
along the
Cape Overberg Coast from Stony Point near
Betty’s Bay, along the cliff paths of
Kleinmond, Onrus, Walker Bay, the
De Hoop Nature Reserve and
Witsand.
These gentle giants spend summer feeding around Antarctica and then
migrate thousands of miles to our waters where the sheltered bays of the
South African
coast provide perfect refuge to mate and calve. |
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Did
you know?
The Southern Right Whale is called such because it was the ‘right’
whale to hunt as it floats when dead; is rich in oil and baleen, and
is relatively slow moving. |
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The Overberg
coastline is the meeting place of two oceans - the Indian and Atlantic.
Two major ocean currents - the cold Benguela wells up in the west and
the warm Agulhas Current in the east - create a number of conditions,
which, combined with South Africa’s proximity to the southern ocean,
result in a rich marine life including as many as 37 species of whales
and dolphins to South Africa’s coastline. By comparison, the whole north
Atlantic attracts only 28 species.
The Southern Right Whale can weigh up to 60 tonnes, averages 14 metres
in length, lives to about 100 years and has the most highly-evolved
mammalian brain on earth. They are huge - rounder and heavier than the
Humpback or Bryde’s whale - and only smaller than the blue whale. They
are characterised by their gentle slowness, lack of dorsal fin and rough
patches of skin called callosities on their heads. These are covered
with whale lice and, as each whale has a unique callosity pattern, are
often used to identify individual whales.
The Southern Right Whale population was virtually decimated during the
whaling years - an estimated 20 000 of these beautiful mammals are said
to have been slaughtered. There has been active protection in South
African waters since 1935 and the population is slowly restoring itself.
There are now close to 4 000 of these languid beasts - a large
proportion of which grace our shores every year.
They swim within 200 metres of the shore-line between June and November
(as opposed to the Humpback which prefer deeper waters) and sightings of
mother and calf are especially common. In Walker Bay, in places like De
Kelders, they come as close as 20-30 metres from the shore and never
fail to fill hearts and minds with wonder at their magnificence. |
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Did
you know?
Female Southern Right Whales calve every three years - one year of
gestation, one year to raise the calf and one year of rest! |
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 Catching
a glimpse of the whales: The entire Cape Overberg coastline
offers generous sightings of the whales and the Walker Bay area, between
Gansbaai and
Hermanus, is a whale sanctuary. Hermanus arguably offers the best
land-based
whale watching in the world. For this position it competes only with
Plettenberg Bay, further along the coast. Not only does Hermanus
boast the world’s only ‘whale crier’, but there is a 14 km cliff path
that offers a bird’s eye view of the 100 or so Southern Right Whales
that visit Walker Bay every year and often come within five to ten
metres of the coast. Hermanus celebrates the arrival of the whales with
an event-filled annual
Whale Festival in late September.
The ‘big two’ town of Gansbaai offers both Great White Shark and
Southern Right Whale viewing, east and west of the Danger Point
peninsula respectively and
De Kelders, a suburb of Gansbaai, offers a hiking trail along its
cliffs which allows fantastic views of the protected coves in which the
whales wallow and approach very close to the shore.
Cape Agulhas is equally rewarding as the bay attracts a number of
pairs of mother and calf at a time and
Pearly Beach has a protective, shallow bay offering the whales a
sanctuary in which to mate and calve.
Witsand, in St Sebastian Bay, has earned the reputation of the most
important whale nursery on the African Coast and one of the greatest
concentrations of Southern Right Whales comes here to calve every year.
Boat access in this area, and the breeding grounds of the De Hoop Nature
Reserve, is obviously severely restricted. Watching the whales from a
boat is another experience entirely. The Southern Right Whale tends
towards natural curiosity and venturing close to the boats is not
uncommon. Failing this, you’re bound to evidence a playful display of
raised heads, tails and flippers as the whales acknowledge your
presence. Characteristic behaviour is resting head down in the water
with tails in the air, called ‘sailing’ or ‘headstanding’. |
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Did
you know?
South Africa doesn’t allow boats any closer than 300 metres from a
whale without a permit and 50 metres with a permit - although this
doesn’t stop the whales from coming close to the boats themselves,
which they often do! Approaching whales is done quietly, without
motors and at ‘no wake speed’. We are also the only country in the
world, so far, with an established environmental court (in Hermanus)
where poachers of protected marine species are tried for their
offences. |
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The number of
legal boat-based permits is limited. South Africa’s coast is divided
into sections, for whale watching, and each section has only one permit
holder for boat cruises. Boats are also not allowed anywhere near
cow-calf pairs. If this does happen accidentally, guides know to leave
the area straight away at a constant slow ‘no wake speed’ so that as
little intrusion as possible occurs.
Southern Right Whales tend to leave our waters by late October, although
some stay through November, and sightings are still made even as late as
December. Just as they leave our waters, the Humpback whales and their
calves arrive and stay until the end of December or early January. But
the Humpback does not mate in our waters and are thus less easy to see.
The Overberg coastline is without doubt one of the most exciting
parts of the country to view whales and few visitors leave disappointed
or untouched by the experience. |
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“Whales are different. They live in families, they
play in the moonlight, they talk to one another and they care for
one another in distress. They are awesome and mysterious. In their
cold, wet, and forbidding world they are complete and successful.
They deserve to be saved, not as potential meatballs but as a source
of encouragement to mankind.” Victor B.
Scheffer - former chairman of US Marine Mammal
Commission |
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