Whale Photographs

Our photo of the day is in fact two pho­to­graphs, both of which are of  south­ern right whales taken near Hermanus, South Africa. The pop­u­lar resort town of Hermanus has gained world-wide recog­ni­tion as the world's fore­most land based whale watch­ing des­tin­a­tion so if you are plan­ning to visit South Africa and want to see the whales, head to Hermanus for a front row seat! Continued

Design for sustainable living expo in Hermanus

Contributed by Wanda of www.urbansprout.co.za

There is some­thing so excit­ing about this time of year. Yes, it rains a great deal in the Western Cape (who’s com­plain­ing, it’s not like we get a lot!) but it’s also the time of the com­ing of the whales to our shores.

Whale

I love the whales. These beau­ti­ful, gentle, giants show utter trust in human­ity when they enter our bays to pro­duce their young. I wouldn’t trust human beings with quite the same level of humil­ity and grace (hey, I know what they’re cap­able of!) par­tic­u­larly when you take a step back and reflect on the cur­rent state of the envir­on­ment. Yet people flock in their thou­sands to recip­roc­ate the con­fid­ent peace of these great beasts, and to catch a glimpse that leaves each of us feel­ing touched by some­thing infin­itely exceptional.

But back to humans and our com­mit­ment to afflu­ence and eco­nomic growth at all costs, that is lit­er­ally cost­ing us the earth. We live in won­der­ful, yet alarm­ing times where rad­ical changes are called for. Where a pro­found shift in our value sys­tem and our take on the world needs to take place, or there will be little left to enjoy or call our own, and whales will be a dis­tant memory, some­thing about which we tell our grand­chil­dren, but which they will never have the joy of see­ing. Continued

Hermanus Whale-Crier

Whale Crier

Until fairly recently it was unknown to all but loc­als, but men­tion the small South Africa coastal town of Hermanus any­where in the world today and someone will have heard about the vil­lage, and no doubt, the whales. Whales are one of the most pop­u­lar and well known attrac­tions on offer in this small town, loc­ated nearby Cape Town on the east­ern coast of the Cape and have been instru­mental in trans­form­ing a now boom­ing tour­ist industry.

One of the most unique aspects of the Hermanus whale exper­i­ence is the whale crier, the town’s own “GPS” for the Southern Right whales that fre­quent its coast in droves dur­ing the months of June to September. The only one in the world, the ori­ginal whale crier, Pieter Claasen, an employee of the Old Harbour com­plex, took up his horn and began alert­ing tour­ists and loc­als alike to the whear­a­bouts of whales in 1992 as a means to attract tour­ism to the then little known town. Continued

Hermanus — The Riviera of the South

Hermanus

My first memor­ies of Hermanus are from high school hol­i­days, my school friends and I tak­ing the bus up the East coast for a week of get­ting ejec­ted unce­re­mo­ni­ously from bars for being under­age, scorned by the local girls for not being cool enough and raid­ing the liquor cab­in­ets of par­ents that were gull­ible and unfor­tu­nate to allow us to stay in their Hermanus hol­i­day homes. At around 115kms South East of Cape Town, or around an hours drive from the city centre, Hermanus, also known as the Riviera of the South, can be found. Once a sleepy little fish­ing vil­lage, this bust­ling town is now a pop­u­lar hol­i­day des­tin­a­tion, with high school stu­dents still mak­ing that self-same pil­grim­age every year.

Originally named Hermanuspietersfontein, after Hermanus Pieters, who made this idyllic seafront spot his sum­mer camp­ing area in the early 1800’s, the town only sprung up in the late 1800’s. The devel­op­ment boom, how­ever, is a much more recent devel­op­ment. With sev­eral well-known lux­ury hotels, gues­t­houses, self cater­ing houses and cot­tages, and camp­ing grounds, Hermanus has become one of the primary hol­i­day des­tin­a­tions for Capetonians, and an attract­ive option for for tour­ists want­ing to see a little more of the Western Cape. Continued

Whale Watching in Hermanus

Whale Watching

The Cape Overberg coast­line (or "Cape Whale Coast") 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 ...

In South Africa boats are not allowed closer than 300 metres from a whale without a per­mit and 50 metres with a per­mit. This of course does not stop the whales from com­ing closer to the boats, which they very often do. Approaching whales is done quietly, without motors and at ‘no wake speed’.

South Africa is the only coun­try in the world, to date, with an estab­lished envir­on­mental court where poach­ers of pro­tec­ted mar­ine spe­cies are tried for their offences. Continued