Southern Right Whales have come to visit Cape Town shores to give birth or to find a mate – this is done every year between June and December.
But while these are indeed magnificent creatures to see, and while they are here each and every year, some locals might not know where to look. It’s ok. EWN has got you covered, with a list of places that you can spot a whale “in Cape Town”. They’ve listed 22 different places that you can see whales.
From Doringbaai up the West Cooat (marked in red, top left) through to Nature’s Valley on the Garden Route (blue, bottom right).
Eagle-eyed readers (who will also be best at spotting whales) might notice that that’s basically the entire coastline of the Western Cape. And anyone clicking through on that link above will see that, yes, all of the 22 locations on the list are located on the coast.
So it seems to me that if you want to see whales… you probably just need to go anywhere in the Western Cape and look out to sea.
Who knew?
It’s actually rather unhelpful that they don’t also mention that you should probably do it during the day to increase your spotting success rate. Or to use binoculars to make the whales look closer.
We’ve been through the whole fracking, renewable power, and oil exploration arguments on here several times, as and when they have popped up in the local news.
But in case you don’t have time to read all of those, then just click through on that third link. And if you can’t even manage that, then here’s a very quick synopsis of my position:
I know we need to move away from fossil fuels, but I’m also very aware that that transition simply isn’t possible overnight: especially in a country where there is next to no money (because of reasons), and keeping the lights on using fossil fuels is difficult enough anyway. I’m also well aware that each and every one of us uses oil-based products every single day of our lives, and that’s not going away any time soon, either. And that oil has to come from somewhere. So it does feel all a bit much when people protest about oil exploration or whatever, simply because it’s happening near our shores.
Sure, let’s try to make things better, but let’s be realistic as well.
And then I saw a guy in our neighbourhood with one of these stickers in the back window of his car:
So clever. Can you guess what he’s annoyed about, and who he blames for it? Yes. Me too.
And I was puzzled.
Because the thing is, the back window in question is on a (very well looked after) older model Toyota Land Cruiser. And I’m not an expert, but I’m fairly sure that it’s one weighing about 2.5 tonnes, and with the 4.5 litre V8 diesel engine.
Now, I have no problem with anyone owning whatever vehicle they want; but being a rebellious, anti-Shell activist, while driving around in that particular monster, does seem… well… just a little bit hypocritical.
It’s very much like the lady near our old place who objected to a new cellphone mast in the area in an email with the footnote “sent from my iPhone”.
Of course, Mr Land Cruiser will choose not to fill up at our local Shell stations, but rather one of the much cleaner oil companies like CalTex, Engen (Mobil) or BP, who obviously don’t pump the stuff out of the ground, instead manufacturing it from fairy dust, daisy petals, biodegradable glitter, and the sound of childrens’ laughter.
The sun is out! A lazy-ish morning, with a nice 6.5km run through the mud in the posh bit of Cape Town, followed by a trip to the butcher and the bottle store has left me with very limited time before I test out my new wares on and around the braai this evening.
And the things I need to do (including this), are stacking up a bit.
With that in mind, please accept this shot of Hout Bay, and then I can get on with my jobs.
Despite the danger from wild animals around every corner (and on every golf green), South Africa is still a really popular tourist destination. Decent weather (T&Cs apply), loads of varied stuff to do, a single flight from and a very small time difference from a lot of Europe, and THAT EXCHANGE RATE.
It’s pretty rubbish for us living here, but the ever-weaking Rand makes SA deliciously attractive to tourists. Follow anyone who has come here (on social media, not like stalking them), and you’ll hear them wax lyrical about the service, the wine, the scenery, the wildlife, the people, the food and the prices.
I can’t believe that we got all of this – including drinks – for less than fifty quid
is a regular line at the end of every 4 course meal shared on the TikkityTok. And if you’ve ever been to the UK, you’ll understand exactly why that seems amazing.
And then I saw this:
I did some rudimentary calculations and worked out that at an average of about R40 (this is not Fireman’s, Forries or the Waterfront, obvs!), we’re sitting at about the €1.98 of Hungary for a 500ml Castle Lite or a Black Label. Sure, that may not be your tipple of choice, but this isn’t just about you, and if you’re going to want to drink something “Crapft”, then sure, things can get silly quite quickly.
But this is about the average price for 0.5 litre domestic draught beer in restaurants. Like it says on the map.
And that shows just how cheap this place is when you’re coming from somewhere that’s yellow, orange or red. It also demonstrates that needs to be more than just cheap beer prices to take into consideration when choosing a holiday destination. Because Ukraine looks very inviting on this map.
But… well… you know…
I remember going to Czechoslovakia (when it was just still Czechoslovakia) and buying a bottle of beer for the equivalent of 2 English pence. I thought they’d misrepresented the price or I’d mis-converted it, and it should have been two pounds (which would have been very expensive for someone from the North of the England in those days), or maybe 20 pence (ridiculously reasonable). It turned out that I just needed to move my decimal point along again. Amazing.
Looking back, I demonstrated some incredible – and some might say, foolish – self control on that trip.
Beer has gone up a lot more in the ex-Czechoslovakia in the last thirty years than it has in the UK.
And it’s definitely more expensive here since I arrived as well, but then isn’t everything? But like I say, if you’re coming out to Cape Town from London, then you’re probably going to think that they’ve undercharged you for your beer.
Still, the “cheap” beer is also a good thing for us locals. It’s just a shame that these days we can’t afford anything nice to eat with it.
Look, we live in South Africa, and while at least some of the rest of the world [waves to the USA] think that wild animals roam the streets, it’s not quite like that. Well, not every day, at least. Outside the cities, you certainly might come across ostriches on your drive, and if you’re near certain bodies of water at night, there’s always the chance of a notoriously unreflective hippo.
More likely is that you’ll hit one of the big buck though: and that Kudu a lot of damage to your car: a bull can weigh 300kg.
Sadly, it rarely ends well for the Kudu, either. But thankfully, these events are fairly uncommon in the greater scheme of things.
Even less common are encounters with lions.
Well, that is until recently. Because suddenly, there seems to be a lot of lion in the mainstream media.
Please note that if you’re reading this out loud for the benefit of someone else, you’ll need to clarify that I mean the big cat, not a lack of truthfulness. That wouldn’t be unusual at all.
Here are three very recent examples. Happily all up North, a long way from here.
The original image was posted on X, and as the Citizen says:
A reverse image search on Google revealed similar photos of lions spotted in the Kruger National Park.
Well, yes. Similar, because that’s what lions look like, but actually not the same. So was this claim genuine? No-one seems completely sure. The truth is out there. And maybe there’s a lion as well.
Guests at the Skukuza Golf Club, famously dubbed South Africa’s wildest golf course, recently witnessed an extraordinary scene when a group of predators converged on the final green to share an impala kill. In a rare sighting that perfectly illustrates the untamed nature of the course, two lions, a crocodile, and a pack of hyenas took turns feasting on the kill just metres from the clubhouse.
And the video, although portrait and a bit blurry, is incredible:
The “You must have signed the indemnity form to pass this point” sign in the foreground is particularly amusing, given the range of dangerous carnivores tearing apart the unfortunate impala.
These magnificent beasts are supposedly apex predators, but they are no match for a Toyota Land Cruiser. This incident occurred in Kruger National Park, which you can drive through in your own vehicle (I recently found out that this is bewildering to foreigners). And you can get really, really close to the really wild animals. But when there is a good sighting, word spreads fast and it can get a bit busy.
Patience is key. Don’t be like this guy. Don’t get this close.
No damage done here apart from to the driver’s bank balance once the Rangers got a look at this video.
KNP spokesperson, Ike Phaahla, confirmed that the driver was fined. “We dealt with him by tracing the number plate.”
Good plan. I would have started by looking for traces of lion fur on the front corner of every white Toyota in South Africa. But your way is probably better. I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks.
“All we know is that he was trying to make a way at the sighting when he bumped the animal,” Phaahla explained. He added that while he was unsure of the amount the driver was fined, the maximum fine is R1,500.
A slap on the wrist for a bump up the arse.
We naturally crow about our amazing wildlife in SA, but I have no clue why there has been a sudden plethora of lion stories in the local press. Still, it’s good that we take pride in sharing the stories about these big cats when we encounter them.
