WESTERN CAPE INFORMATION

The Western Cape is one of South Africa’s premier tourist attractions, and for good reason. From the famous icon of Table Mountain to vast winelands and exquisite beaches to world-class restaurants and cosmopolitan entertainment haunts. For its exquisite scenic beauty - the province is renowned for being the favourite playground of fashion and film crews the world over. The Cape also boasts a myriad of cultures and tourist treasures that are just waiting to be discovered. So what are you waiting for……

The People
The population of the Western Cape numbers 4 924 316 million according to the 2002 Census. The province has South Africa’s fifth largest population. Taking a look at the population groups, 1 207 422 are classified as African, 2 438 963 are Coloured, 45 029 are Indian/Asian and 832 902 are white. 

Language
The majority of the population of the Western Cape speak Afrikaans (59.2%) followed by English (20%) and IsiXhosa (19.1%).

Location
Situated on the south-western tip of Africa, the Western Cape is the meeting point of the cold Atlantic and the warm Indian Oceans. Its capital city Cape Town, dominated by the flat-topped bulk of Table Mountain. Area size of the province is 129 370km².

Climate
There are three climatic regions in the Western Cape. The Peninsula and the Boland enjoy Mediterranean-type conditions with dry summers and a winter rainfall. Moving up the west coast towards George and the Garden Route, rainfall is year-round. Towards the interior, the semi-desert of the Karoo experiences dry winters and low summer rainfall. 

The ‘Cape Doctor’ is the name given to the south-easterly wind that visits the Peninsula with little warning, blowing with a force that clears the air of all pollution and leaves Table Mountain draped in a ‘tablecloth’ of snow-white cloud. 

A brief history
The story of the Republic of South Africa began in the Western Cape, some 350 years ago, when it was inhabited by the Khoi, San and other Bantu-speaking groups. In the late 15th century European seafarers arrived in search of a halfway stop on trade routes to the East and thereby changed the face of South African history forever. 

Major towns:
Cape Town: gateway with international airport (Cape Town International Airport) and major port city. Also home to a vibrant, bustling cosmpolitan city that is hugely popular with visitors from around the globe.

Worcester/Stellenbosch/Paarl/Franschoek: exquisite winelands

George - timber and vegetable produce

Oudtshoorn - ostrich products

Beaufort West - sheep farming plains of the Karoo

Bio-Diversity
The Western Cape is the location of one of the six floral kingdoms of the world – the Western Cape Floral Kingdom, commonly referred to as fynbos. Fynbos are hardy shrubs that have adapted to dry summer conditions and strong coastal winds. The grouping numbers some 8 600 species – more than the total number of plant species found in Europe. Of these 5 800 are endemic to the province. 

MAJOR TOURISM HIGHLIGHTS
Thanks to its scenic beauty and many attractions, tourism is a major and growing force in the Western Cape, which hosts over 50% of the country’s international visitors. The sector is expanding with the incorporation of emerging business, much of it from the previously disadvantaged community.

Cape Town Metropolitan area
The area between Table Mountain and Hottentots Holland comprises the Cape Town Metropole and encompasses pulsating cosmopolitan city life, beach playgrounds, forests and exquisite nature parks.

Table Mountain
Cape Town’s most famous landmark - a quick spin by revolving cable car to the 1 086m summit will give the visitor a grand view of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and of course the equally famous South African `Alcatraz’ – Robben Island.

The Famous V & A Waterfront
The most visited attraction in Cape Town is the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront with its assortment of shopping, eating, entertainment and sightseeing facilities, all set within a working harbour. 

Robben Island
The V & A Waterfront is also the gateway to Robben Island, a former prison (now national monument) where a visit is an emotional journey echoing with the sorrows of stalwarts of ‘the struggle’ against apartheid. The island was `home’ to many of South Africa’s freedom fighters including Nelson Mandela.

Cape Fortress
The oldest surviving building in South Africa, and well preserved too, is the Castle of Good Hope, the pentagonal fortress built by personnel of the Dutch East India Company back in the 1660s-70s. Today it houses the regional headquarters of the South African Defence Force in the Western Cape and a military museum.

Africa’s Most Southerly Point
A stop at Cape Point gives the visitor the opportunity to boast of having been at the most south-westerly point of Africa, where the cold Benguela and the warm Agulhus currents (west and east respectively) meet. Some 26 shipwrecks have been recorded at Cape Point, some of them presenting good diving spots. A funicular takes visitors on scenic trips to an old lighthouse and the spot is a bird watcher’s paradise.

Township Vibes
Township tours will remind the tourist how the will to survive can overcome any adversity. In Guguletu and Langa expect to be overwhelmed by hospitality, informal roadside traders, rowdy taverns serving local beer and toe-tapping jazz. Guided tours are recommended to get to most out of the experience.

Most Fabulous Beaches in the World
There’s a beach to suit every mood in Cape Town:

Clifton for those who want to see and be seen
Sandy Bay for the nudists
Muizenberg with its colourful bathing boxes for a good swim in warm water
Kommetjie for watersports. 
Fishhoek is a quaint seaside village
Hout Bay has a colourful fishing harbour and craft market
Kalk Bay attracts antique hunters
Boulder’s Beach at Simon’s Town is home to a colony of Jackass penguins.

Shopping Frenzy
Cape Town has many markets and impressive shopping centres and malls. However one of the most talked about shopping venues is the impressive than the 400-outlet Canal Walk Century City. It also boasts a 20-theatre cinema complex. For adrenaline-pumping entertainment, there’s Ratanga Junction, a 30-attraction theme park with roller coasters, activities, or the glitzy Grand West Casino & Entertainment World.

Great Gardens of the World
A day in Cape Town might end with a classical concert at sundown in one of the world’s great botanical gardens – Kirstenbosch, a repository for many rare fynbos species and a wealth of indigenous plants, trees and flowers. 

Nightlife
Cape Town city centre is known to many as the party capital of Africa, down just a few streets in the Mother City there are hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs just waiting to be explored through to the wee hours of the morning. Cape Town is also known as a pink city, offering a warm welcome to the gay and lesbian community.

The West Coast
The West Coast offers some of the greatest of small town South Africa. This is a region that needs to be savoured, slowly, and therefore road trips along the West Coast are a firm favourite with locals and international visitors. Not only does the area offer some of the most beautiful scenery in the world – mountains, oceans and views that go on forever, this coast is also a haven for the finest South African hospitality. Welcome…..

The West Coast National Park (close to Langebaan) is where 50 000 migratory birds can be seen in the summer, and at Bird Island at Lamberts Bay, an unobtrusive viewing platform affords close-ups of a jam-packed breeding site.

The national park also contains 40% of the earth’s remaining strandveld fynbos, while the West Coast at large really blooms in the spring months of August – October, even the roadsides bursting forth with lilies, vygies and daisies. 

Endemic Clanwilliam ceder and snowball protea can be sighted in the Cederberg Wilderness Area, which also claims unusual rock formations and well-known hiking trails.

The West Coast has two official wine routes, the Swartland Wine Route and the Olifants River Wine Region. West Coast seas also produce a bounty of quality seafood and line fish to accompany the fruit of the vine and some of the country’s finest restaurants can be found along this coastline.

The Winelands
Just a 45-minute drive from Cape Town and you’re in the mountains and valleys of the Winelands – all gracious gabled Cape Dutch homesteads, cask-lined cellars, oak-treed towns and ultra fine restaurants.

The towns of Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarl are delightful and beg to be explored and savoured….like a good wine, very slowly.

There’s quite of choice of routes to amble leisurely along, calling in at historical homes, partaking in the ceremony of wine-tasting and sampling traditional fare such as bobotie and waterblommetjie stew.

The Garden Route
This land of lakes, bays, mountains and forests languishes on the southern coast from Heidelberg to the Tsitsikamma Forest and Storms River. It’s a nook of the country that offers inspiration to writers and artists whose presence gives the Garden Route a trendy flavour. It is also a top priority of many a foreign visitor. 

This coastal drive links a series of charming towns interspersed with natural wonder. Along the way, every kind of adventure activity is possible – scuba diving, abseiling, fishing and more.

The Tsitsikamma National Park perched on a tumultuous Indian Ocean shore is one of South Africa’s most dramatic protected areas, combining marine and land attractions. Its indigenous forests are a haven for birdlife. For hikers, a particularly challenging test is the five-day Otter Trail, a coastal walk that crosses a number of rivers.

Other major attractions:
The Bartolomeu Dias Museum complex at Mossel Bay.
Ride the Oteniqua Choo-Tjoe (a steam-hauled train) between George and Knysna.
Knysna for oysters and an authentic hippy community of artists and musicians.
Fancourt one of the best golfing spots on the coast.
Witsand in the winter - a ‘whale nursery’ where hundreds of these mammals mate and calve.
Plettenberg Bay - for sun, sea and sand. 

The Klein Karoo
One of the most geologically interesting parts of South Africa is the Klein Karoo with its towering mountains and sheer gorges. A geological feature of note is the Cango Caves, a series of caverns and chambers naturally hewn out of limestone, outside of the city of Oudtshoorn. The caves fall in the top ten most visited South African attractions.

Oudtshoorn itself, the heart of the ostrich feather industry when it was at its zenith in the late 1800s/early 1900s, is worth a visit. The grandiose, old feather palaces are still to be seen, while ostrich farms, now involved in the commercial production of meat, leather, eggs and feathers, can be toured, with the possibility of riding an ostrich. The town also hosts an annual music and theatre fest – the Klein Karoo Kunstefees.

The Central Karoo
The semi-arid Karoo derives its name from an indigenous word meaning ‘thirstland,” but the starkness this implies is deceptive. Dig a little below the surface and you find fossil-rich terrain, fascinating rock art, ancient stone-age sites, one of the largest varieties of succulents on the planet and star-filled skies to thrill the astronomer, no matter how amateur.

Peaceful Prince Albert at the foot of the spectacular Swartberg Pass makes a convenient base from which to venture out and explore. It’s close to Gamkaskloof or Die Hel (The Hell), once home to an isolated farming community that for a century was accessible only by foot or horseback.

The Karoo National Park, as the largest ecosystem in South Africa, reveals how fauna and flora have adapted to their harsh environment.

The Breede River Valley
Some 15 attractive small towns have the good fortune to nestle in the fertile Breede River Valley, wall-to-wall in orchards and vineyards.

There’s Ceres, aptly named for the Roman goddess of fertility; Tulbagh with 32 historical buildings making for the largest concentration of national monuments in the country; Montagu, home of hot mineral springs famed for curative powers; Worcester and Robertson known for their noble vintages.

Attractions in the valley include one of the largest brandy distilleries in the world (KWV Brandy Cellar), game reserves, tribal art and museums (try Kleinplasie Living Open Air Museum which revives early settler days with demonstrations of candle making, sheep shearing and harvesting). Activities to sample include hiking, and mountain biking.

The Overberg
An hour east of Cape town `over the mountains’ is the Overberg with a coastline of holiday-friendly beaches, picturesque seaside towns, an ancient lighthouse that has witnessed many a shipwreck (at Cape Agulhus) and a whale route that draws more whales and more watchers each year. Between June and November crowds flock to Hermanus and its surrounds to watch the great mammals court and cavort.

In the interior, wheatfields are broken by Morovian mission towns such as Elim and Genadendal, agricultural museums (Grabouw and Swellendam) and a new casino, hotel and spa resort at Caledon. Ecotourists can plan an itinerary around the fynbos route that includes nature reserves and wild flower gardens.

Special Tourism Routes
With many attractions of interest to niche markets, the Western Cape has devised many tourist ‘routes’ to highlight these specialities. These include:

- The Winelands: There are no less than fourteen official routes in the area, including - Constantia Wine Route/Durbanville Wine Route/Helderberg Wine Route/Klein Karoo Wine Trust/Olifants River Wine Route/Overberg Wine Route/Red route (Paarl Vintners)/Robertson Wine Valley/Stellenbosh Wine Route/ Swartland Wine Route/Tulbagh Wine Trust/ Vignerons de Franschhoek/Wellington Wine Route/Worcester Winelands. 
Most of the wine estates welcome visitors, so pop in and test your tastebuds on the local tipple.

- The Brandy Route: featuring 10 cellars.

- Cape Care Route: showcasing environmentally- and socially-conscious projects.

- The Hot Springs Route: taking in springs and spas and mineral baths.

- Mission Stations Route: featuring towns where the church remains the centre of the community and life appears to be frozen in time.

- Route 62: the road between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth with multi-faceted attractions including wine, brandy, museums, caves and more.

- Scenic Routes and Passes: offering some of the most beautiful views in the world (and highlighting the feats of engineering that broke through mountain passes).

- The Whale Route: the best spots for whale sightings in the world.

- The Wine Routes: there are over fourteen official wine routes to choose from.

WESTERN CAPE AT A GLANCE

Government and Education
The Western Cape is the legislative seat of government, housing parliament in Cape Town in the first six months of the year as the country’s laws are formulated and approved. 

The Western Cape also holds its place in terms of higher education, with three universities and two technikons located within its boundaries. The province claims South Africa’s highest level of adult education.

Agriculture and Farming
Sheltered mountain valleys and fertile soil are conducive to the growing of top grade fruit and vegetables, making the Western Cape one of the country’s food baskets. 

Excellent conditions for grape cultivation have made the province a world leader in viticulture. On the flatter plains of the Karoo ostrich and sheep farmers thrive producing feathers, leather, wool and mutton. The Swartland area around Malmesbury and the Overberg are famed for their wheatfields.

The oceans yield their bounty too. The West Coast, washed by the cold Benguela Current, is plankton-rich and thus an excellent fishing ground.

Industry
The Western Cape is the heart of South Africa’s clothing and textile industry with some 170 000 people employed in this sector. Cape Town is the location of head offices of insurance giants, retail chains, petroleum companies, print and publishing houses.

If you have any questions please e-mail me. [email protected].

GRH Tours PO BOX 186 Knysna 6570 
South Africa
Tel: +27-044-8744213 Cell: +27-0829573561