Hermanus

Hermanus
Hermanus
Coordinates: 34°25′S 19°15′E / 34.417°S 19.25°E / -34.417; 19.25Coordinates: 34°25′S 19°15′E / 34.417°S 19.25°E / -34.417; 19.25
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Overberg
Local municipalities	Overstrand
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Postal code

Hermanus's new harbour

"Whale Crier" (recently retired Wilson Salukazana)

Hermanus (originally called Hermanuspietersfontein) is a town with 49,000 inhabitants on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is famous as a place from which to watch Southern Right whales, during the southern winter and spring and is a popular retirement town. It has in recent years grown younger as there are 10+ schools and loads of new comers in the area. 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. There is also a Whale museum and whale watching services that will tell you more about the whales and area.

Location

Hermanus lies along the Walker Bay on the south coast of the Western Cape. It is located about 115 km 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 40 km from Gansbaai, a famous spot where one can dive amongst the Great White Sharks. It is also notable that Hermanus still boasts an historic railway station building although eventually no tracks were laid to connect the town to the national network. The founders of the town decided not to lay any tracks as this would have made Hermanus more commercial and they felt Hermanus needed to stay a small Fisherman Village and is still to this day know by the locals as "the Village".

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 hosted the Laser (dinghy) 4.7 worlds in 2007 [1]

Hermanus is also famous to locals for its Windsor Hotel.

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 Voëlklip, Onrus, Kammabaai and Langbaai.

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.

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.

Around 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.

See also

• Ports and harbours in South Africa

References

1. ^ Hermanus News
2. ^ New crier gets 'best job in town'

External links

• Hermanus whale festival