Hermanus

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Hermanus's new harbour

Cliffs with whale watchers seen from the old harbour.

"Whale Crier" (recently retired Wilson Salukazana)

View from the cliffs with the Whale Crier

View of the ocean from Die Kelders

Hermanus (originally called Hermanuspietersfontein) is a town (population 48,346) on the southern coast of South Africa and is famous as a place from which to watch whales during the southern winter and spring. It forms part of the Western Cape and is a popular retirement town. The whales can be seen from the cliffs in the town centre from as early as June. They were once hunted locally, but are now protected. The Old Harbour Museum contains several exhibitions which explain the whaling history of Hermanus.

1 Location
2 Facilities
3 Beaches
4 Whales and Whale-spotting
5 Whale Festival
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Location

Hermanus lies about 115km southeast of Cape Town and is connected to the Mother City by the R43 highway (or coastal R44 scenic route) and N2 motorway. The R43 continues to Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of Africa. Hermanus is 40km from Gansbaai, a famous spot where one can dive amongst Great White Sharks. It is also notable that Hermanus stil boast a historic railway station building although eventually no tracks were laid to connect the town to the national network.

[edit] Facilities

The Hermanus Magnetic Observatory (HMO), a research facility of the National Research Foundation, is part of the worldwide network which monitors variations of the Earth's magnetic field.

Hermanus Yacht Club is a popular Yacht club in the Western Cape amongst the yachting community. It is hosting the Laser (dinghy) 4.7 worlds in 2007 Official Website

Hermanus is also famous to locals for its Windsor Hotel.

[edit] Beaches

Grotto Beach is the largest beach in Hermanus and has also been proclaimed a "Blue Flag" beach which ensures its preservation as a world heritage site. Other beaches include Voelklip, Nannies and Langbaai.

[edit] Whales and Whale-spotting

Hermanus has since August 1992 the world’s only Whale Crier (Pieter Classen 1992-1998, Wilson Salukazana 1998-2006 ^[1], Zolile Baleni since April 2006 ^[2]) who sounds his kelp horn to announce where whales have been sighted. Zakes Mda wrote 2005 the novel The Whale Caller (ISBN 0-312-42382-9) in which the Whale Crier of Hermanus is the main character, a man who gets enthralled by a Southern Right whale he names Sharisha.

[edit] Whale Festival

Hermanus hosts an annual whale festival at the end of September, when the Southern Right whales come into the local bay during the mating season. Prior to this main whale festival a "Kalfiefees" (or "Calf Festival") is held, to welcome the first whales (usually in August). Both festivals are characterized by food and craft stalls and also attract South African drama productions to the town. The hinterland beyond the town is largely wild and mountainous and there are many remote areas of hills and wild ravines. The rising thermals rising around the rugged heights of the Fernkloof Nature Reserve attract paragliders from all over the world.