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The coming of the whales to the Cape Overberg coastline, every year between June and November, not only creates a stir, but brings to our shores a large, intelligent and remarkable giant of the sea and the only mammal to have adapted to life in the open oceans. Whales, including the Southern Right Whale and less commonly the Bryde's (pronounced ‘broodess') and the Humpback Whale, are frequently sited along the Cape Overberg Coast from Stony Point near Betty's Bay, along the cliff paths of Kleinmond, Onrus, Walker Bay, the De Hoop Nature Reserve and Witsand.

These gentle giants spend summer feeding around Antarctica and then migrate thousands of miles to our waters where the sheltered bays of the South African coast provide perfect refuge to mate and calve.

Two Great Oceans Meet

The Overberg coastline is the meeting place of two oceans - the Indian and Atlantic. Two major ocean currents - the cold Benguela wells up in the west and the warm Agulhas Current in the east - create a number of conditions, which, combined with South Africa's proximity to the southern ocean, result in a rich marine life including as many as 37 species of whales and dolphins to South Africa's coastline.

The Southern Right Whale

The Southern Right Whale can weigh up to 60 tonnes, average 14 metres in length, live to about 100 years and has the most highly-evolved mammalian brain on earth. They are huge - rounder and heavier than the Humpback or Bryde's whale - and only smaller than the blue whale. They are characterised by their gentle slowness, lack of dorsal fin and rough patches of skin called callosities on their heads. These are covered with whale lice and, as each whale has a unique callosity pattern, are often used to identify individual whales.

The Southern Right Whale population was virtually decimated during the whaling years - an estimated 20,000 are said to have been slaughtered. There has been active protection in South African waters since 1935 and the population is slowly restoring itself. There are now close to 4,000 - a large proportion of which grace South African shores every year.

They swim within 200 metres of the shore-line between June and November (as opposed to the Humpback which prefer deeper waters) and sightings of mother and calf are especially common. In Walker Bay, in places like De Kelders, they can come as close as 20-30 metres from the shore and never fail to fill hearts and minds with wonder at their magnificence.

Catching a glimpse of the whales

The entire Cape Overberg coastline offers generous sightings of the whales and the Walker Bay area, between Gansbaai and Hermanus, is a whale sanctuary. Hermanus arguably offers the best land-based whale watching in the world. Not only does Hermanus boast the world's only 'whale crier', but there is a 14 km cliff path that offers a bird's eye view of the 100 or so Southern Right Whales that visit Walker Bay every year and often come within five to ten metres of the coast. Hermanus celebrates the arrival of the whales with an event-filled annual Whale Festival in late September.

Gansbaai offers both Great White Shark and Southern Right Whale viewing, east and west of the Danger Point peninsula respectively and De Kelders, a suburb of Gansbaai, offers a hiking trail along its cliffs which allows fantastic views of the protected coves in which the whales wallow and approach very close to the shore. Cape Agulhas is equally rewarding as the bay attracts a number of pairs of mother and calf at a time and Pearly Beach has a protective, shallow bay offering the whales a sanctuary in which to mate and calve.

Witsand, in St Sebastian Bay, has earned the reputation of the most important whale nursery on the African Coast and one of the greatest concentrations of Southern Right Whales comes here to calve every year. Boat access in this area, and the breeding grounds of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, is obviously severely restricted. Watching the whales from a boat is another experience entirely. The Southern Right Whale tends towards natural curiosity and venturing close to the boats is not uncommon. Failing this, you're bound to evidence a playful display of raised heads, tails and flippers as the whales acknowledge your presence. Characteristic behaviour is resting head down in the water with tails in the air, called 'sailing' or 'headstanding'.

Whale Watching Boat Tours

South Africa doesn't allow boats any closer than 300 metres from a whale without a permit and 50 metres with a permit - although this doesn't stop the whales from coming close to the boats themselves, which they often do! Approaching whales is done quietly, without motors and at 'no wake speed'. South Africa is also the only country in the world, so far, with an established environmental court (in Hermanus) where poachers of protected marine species are tried for their offences.

The number of legal boat-based permits is limited. South Africa's coast is divided into sections, for whale watching, and each section has only one permit holder for boat cruises. Boats are also not allowed anywhere near cow-calf pairs. If this does happen accidentally, guides know to leave the area straight away at a constant slow 'no wake speed' so that as little intrusion as possible occurs.

Southern Right Whales tend to leave our waters by late October, although some stay through November, and sightings are still made even as late as December. Just as they leave our waters, the Humpback whales and their calves arrive and stay until the end of December or early January. But the Humpback does not mate in our waters and are thus less easy to see.