Bitten by the whale watching bug

We don't real­ise how lucky we are in South Africa, and in par­tic­u­lar the Western Cape, to have the migh­ti­est of the mar­ine mam­mals visit our coast­line between August and October every year. Countless vis­it­ors to South Africa come to our shores to catch sight of these gentle, but huge beasts, and many of them man­age to do so vir­tu­ally face-to-face.

You can ima­gine the exper­i­ence of get­ting close to a whale — longer and def­in­itely wider than the boat on which you find your­self, with a tail that spans roughly 5 metres, and a body weight of a mere 40 tonnes! Have that mass fling itself into the air along­side you and life is quickly placed into perspective!

Watching whales respons­ibly rests on your decision to make sure that whichever whale watch­ing tour com­pany you decide to use be one that fol­lows local guidelines provided for oper­at­ors. In our case in South Africa, des­pite their being no global guidelines for respons­ible whale watch­ing, one is not allowed closer than 300 metres unless one holds a per­mit, when one can approach to a dis­tance of 50 metres, and then with cer­tain restrictions.

Inquisitive whales are known to come even closer, given the chance, or if they feel unthreatened. And whilst see­ing whales from a boat is incred­ibly excit­ing, it's not for every­one, and there is some fant­astic land-based whale watch­ing as well, par­tic­u­larly in Hermanus.

Hermanus, known as 'the whale cap­ital of South Africa' draws count­less vis­it­ors every year to its fam­ous Whale Festival, the largest envir­on­mental sus­tain­able expo held late in September of every year and, as a con­squence, rather busy. But if you're pre­pared to brave the crowds, like we were last year, then you can spend hours lit­er­ally on the cliff tops of Hermanus watch­ing these beasts right in the bay. And they come fairly close to the shore. Certainly a lot closer than try­ing to sight them from Boyes Drive above Muizenberg, where they are little more than a speck out of the corner of your eye, if the waters are par­tic­u­larly choppy.

But some­how that doesn't seem to mat­ter much. The point is to see them some­where, so we've come up with a list of the best places along the Cape to sight whales whilst they're still vis­it­ing us:

In Cape Town
Muizenberg from Boyes Drive: Whales are def­in­itely more pre­val­ent in the warmer False Bay waters and, armed with bin­ocu­lars, you won't be disp­poin­ted if you set off along Boyes Drive, mak­ing a stop up above the sea between Muizenberg and Kalk Bay. On a calm day, one can spot the whales in the waters below.

Kalk Bay: After this, head down into Kalk Bay (stop off for a much needed Danish from the Olympia Café bakery). In Kalk Bay you can hire a boat to take you out to see the whales in the bay, although you're not allowed closer than 300 metres.

Fish Hoek: Fish Hoek is a great spot to see whales, if they choose this as their des­tin­a­tion. Jager's Walk is a path that hugs the beach and extends slightly along the coast­line towards Glencairn and can offer a bird's eye view.

Walk between Clovelly and Kalk Bay: This is some­times a reward­ing exper­i­ence. Park at Clovelly and head up along the road towards Kalk Bay.

From Fish Hoek to Simon's Town: there are a few really good spots along the route between Fish Hoek and Simon's Town.

Boulders to Smitswinkelbaai: Here you're blessed with some incred­ible moun­tain scenery to accom­pany your quest for the whales.

Along the Cape Whale Coast
The area between Rooiels / Pringle Bay and Pearly Beach has become known amongst some as the Cape Whale Coast. Not strictly true, as the Cape Whale Route stretches for over 900 kilo­metres, from Doringbaai on the West Coast, all the way to Storms River Mouth on the Garden Route. But this por­tion of the coast­line, which includes the towns of Kleinmond, Hermanus, Stanford and Gansbaai, is def­in­itely con­sidered the best por­tion of the coast on which to spot whales.

This part of the coast, known as the Overstrand, is a whale sanc­tu­ary of note. Gansbaai in par­tic­u­lar has mar­keted the Danger Point Peninsula as the space of the 'Big 2' where you can see both whales and great white sharks, and it is the thrill of this pos­sib­il­ity, des­pite my reser­va­tions about cage diving with sharks, that draws people here.

Pearly Beach in par­tic­u­lar has shal­low, pro­tect­ive waters in which whales choose to mate and calve.

Witsand and Cape Agulhas
Further along the Cape coast­line, Witsand is regarded as the whale nurs­ery of the African coast because it boasts one of the greatest con­cen­tra­tions of Southern Right whales who come each year to calve here. And Cape Agulhas can be equally rewarding.

Unexpected spots
De Hoop Nature Reserve: Close to Bredasdorp, De Hoop Nature Reserve has some fant­astic trails and hikes that take one along the coast­line and gives one the chance to spot whales.

Grootbos Nature Reserve: Grootbos Private Nature Reserve prob­ably offers you the only 'private' view of whales on the cliffs of Walkers Bay, without the crowds.

Whale beha­viour to look out for
Blowing – expelling air through the blowhole, includ­ing a spout of water vapour
Breaching – leap­ing out of the water and fall­ing back on their sides
Lobtailing – slap­ping their flukes and tail on the water
Spy hop­ping – lift­ing the head and body as far as the flip­pers above the surface

Interesting to note
South Africa is the world's fifth fast­est grow­ing whale watch­ing des­tin­a­tion. I was more than a little thank­ful to hear that only 16 per­mits have been issued allow­ing oper­at­ors close to the whales, which means we intrude on these beau­ti­ful beasts as little as pos­sible. May it remain so.

Operators like Dyer Island Cruises (Tel: +27 (0)28 384‑0406), who have won a First Choice Responsible Tourism award, are act­ively involved in coastal con­ser­va­tion such as cre­at­ing arti­fi­cial pen­guin homes for nest­ing on Dyer island. They are also involved in the uplift­ment of local com­munity and are involved in train­ing local guides etc. This is the kind of oper­ator to look out for, when set­ting out to see the whales.

Useful Links:
The Cape Whale Coast
Cape Whale Coast Hotels
Cape Whale Coast Accommodation
Whale Watching in South Africa