As with the others it is also part of the UNESCO declared Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. Kleinmond lies at the mouth of the Bot River Vlei, an important wetland, which has become home to a herd of feral horses that have adapted to life in the marshy conditions. They are occasionally spotted by visitors on walks or canoe trips in the estuary. All four villages are  famous for the annual visits of the Southern Right Whales and have a wide variety of bird life.

Just before you get to Kleinmond you cross over the Palmiet River. You can experience the river during both the low summer months and in winter when this friendly stream becomes a torrent of class 3+ white water. There are tour operators in the area and people with their own kayaks can explore the Palmiet and Bot Rivers lagoons,estuaries and vleis.

Harbour Road is the place to be.  There are wonderful small shops to explore, awesome galleries and craft stores and the seafood restaurants serve the freshest fish in town.

Fishing from the rocks while the family enjoy themselves at the beach about 50 meters away.

There are also 2 caravan parks in the area, one at Palmiet River and the other just as one leaves the town on the left hand side. To be honest I would love to have spent more time (and money) in the area but I found their prices and new high season dates to be totally ridiculous. I know for a fact that sites at both parks were charged out at R75 per day last year are now charged at R240 plus R30 for electricity. That is crazy and I really hope that the municipality come to it’s senses soon as they, and the surrounding towns, are loosing a lot of tourist money.

The Arabella Country Estate

A few km’s outside of Kleinmond is the Arabella Country Estate which overlooks the largest natural lagoon in South Africa. Situated just 20 minutes away from Hermanus it has a variety of dining and entertainment options and the award winning 18 hole championship golf course which is rated as one of the best courses in the Western Cape.

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Many owners of the upmarket villas have their own yachts and this has ensured modern and safe moorings, a harbour and a slipway with a hoist capable of lifting boats of up to 10 tons out of the water.

Charter boat for birding trips on the river.

Late afternoon there are boat trips along the river and many water birds can be seen in the reeds. The area is especially famous for its Pelicans.

Heading west out of Port Owen you soon arrive in Laaiplek. The town was bought by a Carl Stephan from Theunis Smit and was originally known as Rooibaai (Red Bay) apparently for the beautiful red hues reflected in the bay by the setting sun.

Laai is Afrikaans for load  and the town takes its name from the point on the river where boats were loaded and offloaded of their goods. It is situated where the Berg River  enters the Atlantic Ocean and it is from here that the larger fishing boats leave to trawl the ocean  and return with tonnes of fish for processing in the local fish factories.

Went and had a look at the caravan park and it was not too bad. Still I am glad I stayed at Dwarskersbos.

This stretch of coast offers spectacular boat and land based whale watching and each spring Southern Right Whales put on a great show of breaching, lob-tailing and blowing and sometimes come in as close as 10 meters from the shore.

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Velddrif has been a popular holiday destination for many years and, as with Dwarskersbos 12kms  up the R27,  also originally belonged to the Smit family who farmed cattle in the area. However it was not cattle farming that put Velddrif on the map but the harvest from the sea that has always drawn people to the area. The first large fish factory was opened in 1944 and to this day tons of pilchards, snoek and harders are harvested from the cold Atlantic Ocean.

You can’t spend time in the area without trying the local delicacy called bokkoms. It is here that large schools of harders are netted and hung out to dry in the sun and turned into fish biltong (jerky).

The birding at Velddrif is outstanding with over 180 bird species having been recorded there. I wanted to go on the birding boat trip which is normally R80.00 for an hour and a half  but, because I was the only customer, it was just too expensive as I would have had to pay R200.00.

Tours to the salt factory are available on Thursdays and are by appointment only.

A number of tourism related businesses operate from Pelican Harbour creating an interesting stop for those exploring the attractions of Velddrif.

Overall I enjoyed exploring Velddrif and found the people  friendly and helpful. I was originally going to include Laaiplek and Port Owen in this post but there was more than enough for Velddrif to stand on its own.

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Dwarskersbos – a kersbos is a candle bush and dwars means across (pushed over by the wind) – is situated in the centre of the  St Helena Basin and  about 12 km’s north of Laaiplek on the R27.

The town was founded in 1920 on a Sandveld farm  called Dwarskersbos owned by the Smit family and even today most of the original farm is still owned by them. On the 23rd August a huge tidal wave, thought to be caused by the Tulbach earthquakes,  submerged most of the town. In 1974 Dwarkersbos got electrical power and in 1983 a new development was started next to the caravan park on the northern side of the town.

As you can see all of the houses are on the seaside of the R27 road and it was only recently that a housing development was built on the other side of the road.

I am guessing that there are about 300 houses of which at least 2/3rds are holiday homes.

There is massive development taking place on the north side of the town.

I think one could negotiate pretty good deals right now.

Yes, No, Maybe?

For most of the year there are probably only 300 or 400 hundred residents in the town but I am told that come the holiday season the place is packed to the rafters. Whales can often be seen near the coast and attract many visitors and the town has become well known for its fishing and other water sports. There is also excellent bird watching at the famous Rocher Pan, with its over 150 bird species, which can be reached via a walking trail from Dwarskersbos.

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Interesting to note that only 2 of the photos were taken with a high-end camera – actually a not so high-end Canon 20D with an 80-200 2.8f lens – and all the rest with a point and shoot type Canon G7 camera. I was truly amazed at the quality of the G7 and it was only for the photos of  birds that I switched to the 20D.

This is one of my favourites and I am using it as the desk top of my computer.

The feeling of desolation in this photo sums up the story of Alexander Bay itself.

Every sunset at McDougalls Bay seemed to produce  different tonal qualities.

This happened fairly recently and they were  hoping to re-float her.

Not much chance of re-floating this wreck!

Photo of very well camouflaged chameleon taken near Kleinzee.

Namaqualand flowers just outside Nababeep.

Flowers near Springbok.

According to most of the locals I spoke to 2009 has not been a great year for flowers.

Seal on the edge at Hondeklipbaai.

About 10 seconds after I took this shot the seal took a headlong dive into that churning white water.

Still standing! (Dooringbaai)

Talk about the power of the sea – the noise when that wave hit that wall was like thunder.

Bird Island at Lamberts Bay.

The noise, and to be honest the smell, when you went down wind of these thousands of Gannets was quite something.

Bird on the wing.

Touch down at Verlorenvlei

Both bird shots above were taken at Vensterklip using a Canon 20D camera.

Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at the photographs as much as I did taking them. Hopefully there will be plenty more, at new locations, in the coming months.

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While I was in Elands Bay I was told about a place called Vensterklip.  It is  5 km’s from Elands Bay and has a small caravan park so thought I would go and check it out. I am so glad I did as, after having a scout round and chatting to some people who were camping there, I thought it would be a great place to spoil myself for the last 4 days of this part of my journey.

Vensterklip is situated on the banks of the Verlorenvlei, which is one of the largest natural wetlands along the west coast of South Africa. It is also a designated Ramsar site of national importance and is home to more than 200 species of birds.

Vensterklip offers a choice of immaculately restored cottages for hire and luxury camp-sites each with private ablutions and braai area. There is a large modern Lapa with stunning views over the vlei, an open braai area and swimming pool.

The have recently opened the Tin Kitchen restaurant which serves local organic meat and fish dishes in and around a 300 year old barn. Shaded seating areas add to the relaxed rustic atmosphere and there is a cosy yellow wood bar to enjoy a drink or cappuccino.

They have also built a bird hide right on the vlei and I had a great time trying to get some decent photographs of the birds. This was a first for me and I was quite pleased with some of the shots.

I have posted more bird photographs on Flickr so if you would like to have a look you can click here.

This is one site where I scored as they charge R100.00 per person per night which was fine for me but, I think, works out pretty expensive for 2 or 3 people. There was only one couple staying there for the first 2 nights and then I was on my own.

There was a building near the entrance to Vensterklip that I kept meaning to ask about as I could not figure out what it was used for. It was only on the day of my departure that I found out that it is used by a local artist as a studio.

Mel has worked in the area for a number of years and works on commissions from the locals. He is multi talented and paints, sculpts and and works in steel.

All in all I had a fabulous stay at Vensterklip. I even tried a bit of fishing at a farm called Nuwerus about 3 km’s down the road. They have 2 cottages for hire also right on the banks of the vlei and the one can sleep up to 10 people at R600.00 per night.

I did not catch any fish but was lucky enough to get this photo of a Springbok.

Well that is about it for this part of my journey round the coast of South Africa. I am now back in Cape Town to  work and earn some money in order to carry on, hopefully in October. I am going to do a post later this week on the highs and some of the lows of my journey from Alexander Bay to Elands Bay. After that I am going to keep my hand in by photographing and  writing about places around Cape Town such as Noordhoek, Kommetjie, Simonstown etc.

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