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Published: September 20th 2009
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Photo 5
A scratching dassy All the blurb about Hermanus promises that you can stand on the shore and watch whales do their thing out in the bay... without even needing to leave dry land. We were a little skeptical about this promise when we arrived in town, but 20 minutes later, after we’d seen a Southern Right Whale repeatedly throw itself out of the water to the east of town, we stood corrected! Arriving in the late afternoon, when a soft orange light was settling over the town, we sat and watched the whales breach and show their tales until sunset. When we weren’t whale watching, a troupe of dassies kept us entertained, trying to steal food from unwitting tourists and posing dramatically on the rocky shoreline of the sea wall.
The following morning, we boarded a boat to head out and get a closer look at the whales. The Western Cape plays host to Southern Right Whales each year, when they can be seen all the way along this stretch of the Atlantic Ocean. Our boat trip found several whales playing and mating in a nearby bay, and even though we didn’t witness anything as dramatic as a breach, it was great to
Photo 7
A whale tail on the whale trail see these huge creatures in their natural environment and looking like they were having (excuse the pun) a whale of a time!
We drive east from Hermanus to a little-known place called the De Hoop Nature Reserve, stopping on the way to do an unashamedly touristy thing by visiting Cape Agulhas - the Cape of Needles, the southermost point of the continent of Africa, and the point at which the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. Having spent the last 10 weeks travelling down and across this great chunk of land, the Cape is an unspectacular way to terminate it... Table Mountain would have been far more appropriate, instead of the haphazard and bleak settlement at l’Agulhas. But the lighthouse is impressive, and we took the requisite photos nonetheless.
Once in De Hoop, we walked to the park office and hired bikes for the day, with the aim of riding down into the reserve’s impressive coastal sand dunes. Riding through the park’s herds of wild rhebok and troupes of baboons, and after meeting Clucky the Ostrich (!), we head down towards the coast, then split so that I can power-ride over to Koppie Alleen - a beach at the
Photo 10
The lighthouse at Cape Agulhas eastern end of the dunes. At Koppie Alleen, the dunes give way to the sea at a tranquil bay, where whales can be seen lounging not far off the coast. We return the bikes, Anna and Ali having completed a mountain-biking/hiking challenge while I enjoyed my relaxing lunch with the whales (they were supposed to be taking an easier route but it got out of hand...), then head back to our chalet for cheese and biscuits and a nice glass of desert wine... probably the last fine dining I’ll experience for a long time once they’ve gone!
Our tour of the whale trail has one more brief stop at Mossel Bay en route to George, where Anna and Ali catch a coach back to Cape Town. I wave them off at midnight, then head back to the hostel to start the first solitary stretch of my tour (I won’t see another familiar face until the 10th October - so don’t be surprised if a give you a big hug Mozza!). The first night on my own is a strange mix of emotions... excited about finally travelling independently, but sad to say goodbye to Anna and Ali, who I probably
Photo 15
Relaxation at J-Bay won't see for another 9 months. I feel in need of a few days of rest and relaxation, to organise my next steps and generally chill, so I spend a few days in Jeffrey’s Bay (J-Bay), one of the world’s foremost surf spots, with a long sandy beach and sod all to do except read and photograph seagulls, which is what I did.
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