The Whale Crier of Hermanus

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The whale crier of Hermanus

You’ll know him by the whale-tail feather in his cap and the mournful echo of his distinctive kelp horn. He’s the Whale Crier of Hermanus.

He blows his horn to alert the throngs of tourists who arrive annually to view the whales, which come very close to shore. His sandwich board tells whale watchers how to interpret the morse code of the horn to find where the whales have been sighted and how many may be seen.

Out of uniform he goes by the name of Wilson Salakusana and follows in the footsteps of the original crier, Pieter Claasen, who first blew his horn in 1992 to alert townsfolk to the arrival of the whales.

Claasen was an employee at the old harbour and his love of the whales led to his self-appointed task of alerting the public to the arrival of the magnificent creatures. Claasen retired as whale crier in 1998, when Salakusana took on the mantle.

The blowing of the whale crier's horn has become a much-loved and welcome sound in Hermanus over the past decade. As Claasen’s fame grew, many media interviews ensued and he became not only one of the town’s top tourist attractions, but an international icon.

The highlight of his career was an appearance as guest of honour at the annual town criers’ convention in Topsham in the UK in 1996, during which he was made honorary town crier of Britain.

Sadly, Claasen died in 2000 due to illness, but his spirit lives on in Wilson Salakusana, who maintains the profile of international icon for Hermanus. He is certainly the most photographed man in Walker Bay.