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TThe West Coast offers many historical places for travellers to visit and is the quintessential ‘road less travelled’, just perfect for a good old-fashioned road trip. Only 25 minutes north of the Mother City, Cape Town, you will find a whole new world just waiting to be explored; one of unspoiled beauty, pristine beaches, quaint fishing villages and rich cultural historical experiences for the whole family.
Visit this area and enjoy the warm embrace of some of the most hospitable people in the country.
!Khwa ttu
Located 70km from Cape Town, !Khwa ttu is a place where the San people share their culture with guests. The newly launched San Heritage Centre features interactive, audio-visual and displays that depict the lives of the San. In keeping with the San way of life, the centre uses sustainable lighting, heating and cooling.
Other activities include biking, hiking and running trails. For those who want to spend the night, there are guest cottages or rustic-luxury tented camp available. Make sure you visit the many exhibitions and evocative art and learn how to stalk the eland, zebra and springbok with San trackers. Call 022 492 2998.
Did You Know?
TThe plankton-rich cold Benguela current flows along the west coast and is considered to be one of the world's richest fishing grounds.
WWest Coast National Park
Established in 1985, the West Coast National Park conserves the Langebaan Lagoon and surrounding landscapes, including the islands in Saldanha Bay. The area is rich in fossils and reported remains of human occupation in the park date back to the Holocene Age.
Avid bird watchers can spot over 200 species of birds just around the lagoon. Keep an eye out for eland, springbok, kudu, gemsbok and the rare mountain zebra. In summer hundreds of tortoises visit the flowering landscape. Enjoy a relaxing day at the beach in Kraalbaai which offers ample picnic and braai facilities. Visit Postberg during the spring flowering season (only open to the public from August to September). Call 022 772 2144.
Back in time on the West coast
EEve’s Footprint
Eve’s footprint is the popular name for a set of fossilised footprints discovered on the shore of Langebaan Lagoon in 1995. Geologist Dr Dave Roberts discovered the footprint, which it is believed to be over 120,000 years old, at Kraalbaai in 1995.
They are thought to be those of a female human and have been dated to approximately 117 000 years ago, making them the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. See the replica at the Geelbek section of West Coast National Park. Call 022 707 9902.
Cape West Coast Fossil Park
The Fossil Park lies in an area that is thought to have been the estuary of the ancient Berg River five million years ago. At that time the remains of over 280 species of animals that lived around the estuary were buried and preserved in the channel and floodplain sediments.
Over time they became fossilised. Eventually, the sea level dropped to present levels, and the coastline migrated seaward leaving the site of the ancient estuary about 10km inland, in the area now known as Langebaanweg.
Visitors to the West Coast Fossil Park can enjoy a self-guided tour through the amphitheatre with its recreated subtropical environment, the museum, the interpretive centre, the environmental discovery centre and the diverse exhibitions, including a life-sized family of short-necked giraffes.
There is also a guided tour to the working dig site, which in addition to allowing a first-hand experience of the fossils themselves, allows a glimpse into the lives of the palaeontologists who have toiled to unearth the secret of the distant past. Call 022 766 1606
This really is one for the entire family. Salt of the earth locals make the area their home, and enjoy where snoek, mussels and crayfish are a way of life and ‘bokkoms’ (salted mullet strung up in bunches and left to dry) is the local delicacy. Route 27 on the Cape West Coast is a seafood, fresh air and open space delight and a number of open-air beach restaurants offer unsurpassed seafood fresh from the sea, cooked on open fires whilst you watch the sun sink slowly over the sea, with a drink in hand, of course.
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