All you need to know about Hermanus

A short 90-minute drive from Cape Town, nestled between the magnificent Overberg Mountains and the Walker Bay, near the southernmost tip of Africa, sits Hermanus. Yearly, thousands of locals and visitors make their way to this coastal town to view Southern Right Whales frolicking in the ocean.

In fact, Hermanus has been rated one of the top 12 places in the world for whale watching by the World Wildlife Fund, and has some of the best land-based viewing spots in the world. Its Cliff Path, a famous trail that runs from the New Harbour to Grotto Beach, provides nearly 12kms of the finest whale watching points. The most popular time to catch these enormous marine mammals in action, is during July to November every year, when the Southern Right Whales come to play, mate and calve in the warm waters of the bay.

Interestingly, in 1992 Hermanus became the first and only town in the world that has its own Whale Crier. It all started with then employee of the Old Harbour, Pieter Claassen, who sounded a kelp horn to announce where whales have been spotted. Soon, Pieter’s hobby turned into a fulltime tradition, and today it’s still going with Zolile Baleni who is the current Whale Crier.