As spring approaches, hundreds of kilometres of South Africa’s coastline come alive with southern right and humpback whales cruising our waters on their annual migration.
From Cape Town and False Bay, past Hermanus, Gansbaai, Cape Agulhas and De Hoop through to Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and Mossel Bay, our oceans become the stage for nature’s aquatic Cirque du Soleil, complete with breaching whales, crashing tails and soaring fins.
Helpfully, you also get to decide what ticket you can afford for this show: whale-watching can be free and shore-based, it can be done from a boat, and for the gold ticket, you can get a room and watch them from your bed.
Experts say September and early October offer the best whale-watching opportunities and, in the first week of October, you can always head to the Hermanus Whale Festival.
Southern right whales are the stars of this show because they gather in sheltered bays along our southern coastline to mate and give birth. The mothers remain close to shore to nurse their calves.
Humpback whales migrate north along South Africa’s east coast from June to August, heading for the warmer breeding grounds off Mozambique. They return south mainly between September and November, heading for their feeding grounds in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. Though humpbacks can pass close to shore, particularly during the northern migration, they generally keep moving, unlike southern right whales, which linger in sheltered bays.
Despite being similar in length, southern right and humpback whales are easy to tell apart. Southern rights are stockier, measuring 13m–17m and weighing up to 80t. They have broad black bodies; enormous heads covered in distinctive pale callosities and no dorsal fin.
Humpbacks are more streamlined and measure 12m–16m, though exceptional individuals may approach 18m, and can weigh up to about 36t. They have a small dorsal fin, a distinctive hump on the back, and long pectoral fins, often marked with white, which can measure about a third of the whale’s body length.
Bryde’s whales live in our waters all year round, but think of them as ghosts because they hardly ever show themselves. If you spot them, they are fast swimmers and reluctant performers.
Know the lingo
Whale-watching has a whole lexicon of its own.
A whale’s blow is the cloud of warm air and condensed water vapour produced when it exhales through its blowhole. Though it resembles a fountain, it is the whale’s breath becoming visible.
A blow is often the first telltale sign that there is a whale around, and each whale has its own distinctive blow.
The humpback has a single, bushy, heart-shaped blow rising up to 4m. The southern right whale has a highly distinct, V-shaped spout caused by two widely separated blowholes. And a Bryde’s whale has a narrow, columnar spout rising up to 4m.
Pectoral fin slaps are when the whale rolls onto its side or back, raising a giant pectoral fin high into the air and forcefully striking the water with the fin, creating a loud cracking sound.
Tail slaps, also called lobtailing, is when these mighty animals lift their tail flukes clear out of the water and repeatedly slap them against the surface. Usually, this behaviour is used to communicate, stun fish or dislodge parasites.
Spy hopping, a favourite with the audience, is when a whale pushes its head out of the water higher than its eye, to survey the surface.
Breaching describes the whole creature launching its massive body almost out of the water with an acrobatic twist in mid-air, before crashing with a colossal splash.
Whale tourism is a well-established part of South African tourism — and you don’t have to go out to sea to see the whales. Along parts of the Garden Route, huge whales come close enough to be watched from cliffs, beaches, walking trails, hotel rooms and restaurants.
Boat-based whale- and dolphin-watching started in the early 1980s and the government began officially regulating it in 1999. There are now 28 commercial licensed boat operators.
It is tightly regulated so as to protect the whales. Ordinary vessels must remain 300m away from whales, while authorised close-encounter operators can approach to 50m.
Bring the festivities
The iconic Hermanus Whale Festival takes place for the 35th time from October 2–4 this year, cementing the town’s reputation as Africa’s premier eco-marine tourist destination. Every year Hermanus celebrates the return of the majestic southern right whales — and makes a ton of money.
Jeanette du Toit, who directs the festival, describes it as more than an event, but rather “a movement celebrating the harmony between people, nature and the ocean”.
Geography is Hermanus’s advantage. The cliffs overlooking Walker Bay make for the perfect grandstand from which to watch the whales in the sheltered bay. Then there’s the famous Cliff Path that meanders along the coast for 12km.
Last year, 90,000 people enjoyed three days of whale sightings, music and other activities such as the Street Parade and the Whale Festival Fun Run. More than 100 temporary workers were hired, while 120 vendors thronged the town.
In all, R92m was spent during the festival last year, boosting the local restaurants, B&Bs, tour operators, artists and local entrepreneurs.
While most of the whale-watching is from the shore, there are also three permitted whale-watching boats which operate from the New Harbour, taking visitors into Walker Bay.
It doesn’t get much better than at The Marine five-star hotel, which offers front-row seats to Walker Bay, with southern right whales often visible from its sea-facing bedrooms, lounges and terraces. A siting can turn lunch into a whale-watching expedition at the famous Bientang’s Cave restaurant, which is literally on the rocks.
Hermanus is the only town in the world with a whale-crier, who walks the cliffs and streets blowing a kelp horn to let people know that whales are in the bay. The key to the code he is blowing is written on the sandwich board he carries. This tradition has been in place since 1992 when Pieter Claasen, then an employee of the Old Harbour, was the whale-crier.
Or head out …
About 150km away from Hermanus is the De Hoop Nature Reserve, which is also extraordinary for land-based whale-watching. CapeNature says about 120 whales return to these waters every year to mate and calve, and the dunes around Koppie Alleen provide exceptional viewing.
Then there’s the Garden Route, and the coast from Stilbaai through Mossel Bay, George, Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma is known as whale country.
In Knysna, whales can be watched from The Heads, Brenton-On-Sea or Buffalo Bay, but not close up. Ocean Odyssey is the only close-encounter whale-watching permit holder for the greater Knysna area, from the western side of Robberg Peninsula to Gericke’s Point at Sedgefield.
In Plett, the permitted whale-watching boat operations, Ocean Safaris and Ocean Blue Adventures, take people out daily. The crew from Ocean Blue have been doing this for more than 30 years. At more than R1,000 a person, the boat trip is pricey. And, though it’s quite scary going into the ocean off the beach through the breakers, it’s an experience.
Plettenberg Bay offers excellent land-based whale-watching from the elevated car park and coastal trails of Robberg Nature Reserve, the Whale Tail Lookout Point above Lookout Beach, Signal Hill, No 1 Beachy Head Drive and other public viewing points. Whales may also be spotted over a meal or a drink from The Lookout Deck and Plett Ski Boat Club.
Stay at the award-winning The Plettenberg, which has sweeping ocean views from its rooms as well as from Amelia’s restaurant and terrace area.
Further on, Mossel Bay offers excellent whale-watching opportunities. For land-based viewing, some of the best points are The Point, Cape St Blaize Lighthouse and the elevated St Blaize Trail. Farther along the coast, Dana Bay, Reebok, Hartenbos, Little Brak and Great Brak are also good.
Gansbaai is also exceptional, with the dramatic cliffs of De Kelders providing a front-row view across Walker Bay. Largely from June to November, southern right whales gather in the bay’s sheltered waters to mate, calve and nurse their young, at times passing within metres of the rocks. The De Kelders cliff path and viewpoints near Walker Bay Nature Reserve and Klipgat Cave are among the finest shore-based viewing spots.
Further north, there is the KwaZulu-Natal coast, where you can see humpback whales migrating north from June to August on their way to Mozambique, before passing south again between September and November. Many travel close enough to shore to be seen, but southern right whales are far more closely associated with the sheltered bays of the Western Cape.
In short, there’s no reason not to be spotting whales along South Africa’s coast. Take nature up on the gifts she offers.
