West Coast Wonders

West Coast

When you wander up the R27 coastal road that winds up the West Coast of South Africa, you pass through towns and vil­lages that make you think you have some­how stepped back in time. Towns and vil­lages that are untouched by the fren­etic energy of the city main­tain the same steady pulse of liv­ing that has sus­tained them for dec­ades. Here the clock ticks to the rhythm of nature with sea being main source of income for the fish­ing vil­lages that dot the coast and the can­ning factor­ies in Saldanha and Port Owen. For many the West Coast is a for­got­ten region as it is off the nor­mal tour­ist track, but it rewards intrepid trav­el­lers with a unique per­spect­ive on South African life.

The sea too is the the main attrac­tion for most of the vis­it­ors ven­tur­ing up the coast. Yzerfontein is a hugely pop­u­lar resort town and within easy reach from Cape Town that attract loc­als and tour­ists through­out the year. It is a favoured fish­ing spot and when the snoek runs, fish­er­man come from all over. Few exper­i­ences can beat the rus­tic bliss of sit­ting around a fire on the beach with fish­sizz­ling on the coals and a black cast iron pot ready for the cray­fish as the divers take it out of the water. Round off the meal with freshly baked bread and apricot jam and you have regional food at its best.

West Coast

In September the land is trans­formed into a rain­bow pan­or­ama of flowers. It’s dif­fi­cult to walk for fear of crush­ing the del­ic­ate indi­gen­ous flowers with every step. The yearly flower spec­tacle is worth a spe­cial trip to see the usu­ally dry plains meta­morphis into a nat­ural won­der. A spe­cial place to visit is Velddrift, a tran­quil get-away from city life with beau­ti­ful wide open spaces. The people of this vil­lage will make you feel like you’re long-lost fam­ily and go out of their way to make you feel at home.

Dwarskersbos is another favor­ite place. This is a very pop­u­lar hol­i­day resort for loc­als and tour­ists alike. During sea­son they have great enter­tain­ment pro­grams, the accom­mod­a­tion caters to all and the res­taur­ant will pack day-food pack­ages for hikers to the Rocher pan, a favour­ite amongst bird watch­ers and pho­to­graph­ers wait­ing for that per­fect sun­set shot. In sea­son the West Coast National Park Reserve is another essen­tial place to visit. With tur­quoise water and plenty of wild­life, this is one of the lesser-known jew­els on the South African tour­ism treas­ure map. Take an umbrella and a pic­nic you'll find it dif­fi­cult to believe that you're not on a trop­ical island for the day.

phpThe impres­sions of the West Coast that remain after return­ing to the bustle of the city are those of free­dom and wide open spaces where you can breathe. The West Coast offers many revital­iz­ing get­away oppor­tun­it­ies and is def­in­itely worth con­sid­er­ing when vis­it­ing Cape Town.

Links to Related Pages:
Cape West Coast
West Coast National Park
West Coast Accommodation

Popular Towns on the Cape West Coast include:
• Britannia Bay
• Lamberts Bay
• Langebaan
• Darling
• Jacobsbaai
• Saldanha
• Shelley Point
• St Helena Bay
• Strandfontein
• Paternoster
• Vredendal
• Yzerfontein