Trip date – Beginning of November 2023
Hermanus marks the (unofficial) beginning of the Overberg region of South Africa. It’s the first big town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains which run sort of parallel to Table Mountain Range but on the eastern side. For a long time, the Overberg region was devoid of foreign settlement and was home to the Koi-na people. Sadly, in the 1800s the challenge of crossing the range was overcome and land grabbing began pushing the Koi-na people to almost extinction. Fast forward to today, Sir Lowry Pass is the only way to cross over from Cape to Overberg (unless you decide to take the coastal road -R44 around the southern edge of the mountain range) and we were about to experience its beauty firsthand while driving on N2 (Nation highway – 02)!
N2 runs from Cape Town all along the southern coast towards Durban and it goes through towns of different economic sections. Some were fancy resort towns; some were middle-class residential towns and a few were almost like slums we have in India. It was good to see the country beyond the touristy wrapping paper. The beauty of Elgin Valley (check Peregrine Farm Stall for a quick snack) wooed us but the most unusual bit was while driving along False Bay where the road goes through the dunes of the beach. It’s a bit dicey while driving as anything can jump onto the road suddenly (recently an elephant seal died on this road due to roadkill).
The coast that runs between Simon Town till just beyond L’Agulhas is known as Cape Whale Coast. It is the best place to spot whales from land as they come very close to the shore. Yes, we did see some whales even beyond the Whale Coast, but this section has more probability and better sightings. In this blog we have covered the first half of this road-trip when we traveled from Simon Town to Hermanus. This blog is a continuation as we head on to explore the rest of the Whale Coast.
The cliffs of Hermanus around Walker’s Bay make it very easy to spot huge whales chilling or breaching from land and that’s what makes Hermanus unbeatable whale-watching capital of the world. The main whale watching season starts in June and goes up to October during which time Humpback whales cross the bays to travel up north and Southern right whales give birth to calves in the bay. Outside of the season, it’s still possible to spot Southern Right and Bydes whales, but it’s not as frequent as it is during the season.
There is a plethora of lodges hotels and resorts in the town as it caters to tourists all year round. We were here at the tail end of the season so the crowd had already passed. Yet we decided to stay in a quieter and more residential suburb of Hermanus called Vermont – a 10-minute drive before Hermanus. Vermont is closer to the highway, away from the busyness of a tourist town and is great for birdwatching as at its center sits Vermont Salt Pan. All the free time that we could spare was spent walking around the pretty white houses and clicking pictures of the commonly found birds. The salt pan itself was overflowing thanks to the recent storms and didn’t have many birds around, but its drainage and marshes around it were superb spots to observe the local biodiversity.
Whale – Watching in Hermanus
After a lot of reading around, we found Southern Right Charters to be the best company to experience Whale Watching. The tours are based out of New Harbor of Hermanus. Parking at New Harbour is free of cost at the moment but entrance to it was 5 ZAR. Seats on the tour can easily be booked with them here (all offshore tours are weather-dependent, they have a provision to shift around the booking accordingly). We took the 9am tour.
We were welcomed with a buffet of light snacks and hot drinks under a shade where the tour captain took a 10–15-minute informative orientation about the area and Walker Bay where we would be touring. He spoke about different types of whales that visit the bay throughout the year and what would we probably spot now in the month of November which was essentially out of the season bracket. We would most likely spot some Southern Right Whales he said as Humpback whales were getting rarer in the bay, most pods have moved northwards. He even let us hold a piece of dried baleen while he explained the different features of whales. He informed us that Bydes whales are residents of this coast, however, they are extremely shy and rare to spot.
Once on board their superb boat the skipper took a safety session and we were off! There was a sitting section and deck, and a higher upper deck. Heck, who would sit inside and be safe when we could spend the whole two hours on the deck swinging around holding the railing with one hand and camera with the other staring at the big blue Walker Bay?!
The boat traveled from the pier of New Harbour towards the Walker Bay Nature Reserve. The pointed rocky cliffs of Hermanus’s coastline looked less intimidating from the boat. We started spotting waving Cape Fur seals lounging and playing almost immediately. They are so cool! They were slowly becoming my soul animals -lazy, loves spending the day in the water and relishing fine seafood, and yeah ..plump too (to put it politely!)
Just a bit ahead, we were overtaken by a HUGE pod of Short Beaked Common Dolphins. We could see them approaching our boat from the direction of Hermanus coast and before we knew it, our boat was surrounded by hundreds of Dolphins racing and jumping along the boat. We have seen river dolphins (which are usually in small pods and comparatively calmer) in India before, but such a huge pod of playful Dolphins was straight out of a movie for us, we were extremely excited. Needless to say, photos were all over the place. It was a great start to the tour.
Soon we were just a couple of meters off Walker Bay Nature Reserve’s coast, and as if on cue, we saw our first whale spout, more professionally called a Whale Blow. This was such a teary-eyed moment as I saw the drama unfolding in front of me. It was a Southern Right Whale cow and her calf playing. The calf, as all kids do – was worrying its mother by playfully going in circles around her and then doing a roll-over on top of her and she, poor mother was patiently nudging her brat to swim carefully, very much aware of our boat close by. Although aware, the cow was not panicking as if she knew she and her kid were safe in this bay and the humans were not here to harm. We too kept our distance and stopped the boat. The oohs and the aahs of all the guests were testimony to everyone’s pleasure and all of us were feeling lucky to witness these gentle moments with the gentle giants of the sea. Why ‘giants’ you say? The so-called ‘calf’ was almost as big as our boat! Imagine how big the mother was!! The mother and child were part of a larger pod of 7 more mothers and their children which we eventually witnessed all calm and gently swimming in the bay with occasional fluking, spy-hopping, and spraying blows. Calves were playfully going in circles around their mothers, with no intention of behaving. Cute!
The swell was quite high on the day of our visit and taking pictures was very challenging. However, the crew recorded the whole tour using a drone and we had the option of buying the footage at the end of the tour.
Throughout the duration of the tour, the captain kept filling us up with small facts and information about all the marine life we were seeing during the tour. He informed us that in season, male whales try to show their might and attract attention by breaching and splashing and once the female is pregnant, she will not eat for the entirety of her stay, devoting all her energy to feeding the newborn calves and ensuring it is strong enough for the long journey back to Antarctica.
For me, it was a dream come true. As the heavy rain lashed upon us on our return journey I felt a mixed bag of emotions. I was overwhelmed for sure by the whole experience yet felt a pang of despair and rage remembering what I had read in an article about the dwindling population of whales all over the world. They don’t deserve that. This trip was like a ray of hope, things were getting better and the population slowly but steadily will recover.
Here in Hermanus, the whole community comes together to celebrate the national treasures of Walker Bay and it’s very much visible and heartwarming. It was a good tour and we would love to come back in season next time 😊
Hiking the Cliff Path, Hermanus
Cliff Path in Hermanus is a cobbled stone pathway which runs on the cliffs overlooking Walker Bay. Wedged between rolling green hills and deep blue bay it is divided into numerous sections and passes through fynbos shrubs, rocky outcrops, woody Milkwood forest, residential areas and markets.
Officially, it starts from New Harbour and ends at Grotto Beach ie.. 12kms. Anyone can easily do the whole trail one way in 3-4 hours and just take an Uber back. Unfortunately, we started a bit late – the sun was already up so we skipped the initial 3km section of biodiversity park and started from Gearing’s point and walked to Grotto Beach, a blue flag beach and well deserving at that. We took close to 5 hours to do the walk because we kept stopping at every flower, butterfly, bee, bird, lizard, and tortoise we spotted to click a gazillion photos. We kept the whole day for this.
Gearing Point is the heart of Hermanus. The main road has superb art installations, main museums, people performing live music, and fancy restaurants. It’s where the cool vibe of the town is. The Cliff Path is free of cost, easy to walk, and can be started and ended at any of the points or in between as it regularly reconnects with the main road via thin gaps in the fynbos shrubs. We would suggest you go West to East to get the inclination in your favor. Each section is marked with these green boards (see photo below) showing directions.
The path has benches in regular intervals facing towards the bay to sit and enjoy the view, catch a breath or have a picnic and also spot the breaching/fluking/spy-hopping whales. Oh yeah, it’s true – we spotted one Southern Right whale spy-hopping! And to think of it, I remember chuckling in response when the owner of the B&B where we were staying swore that we would definitely see a whale from the Cliff Path. It is still unbelievable that we spotted a whale while hiking on land – even today after half a year has passed. During our whale-watching trip, our captain/guide taught us how to spot whale footprints in the bay, and we could trace them to the particular whale easily from the cliff where we were walking at the time. The Cliff Path ends right at the beginning of the Walker Bay Nature Reserve where we were a day before observing a large pod of whales and babies, so it was not a coincidence that we were keeping our eyes focused on the bay 😀
Pro tip – When in South Africa, always keep binoculars handy!
Currently, there is a section between the Roman Rock checkpoint and Mickey checkpoint where the Cliff Path goes off route and joins into the main road (R43). It’s a good 15-20 min walk on a concrete footpath crossing fancy residential villas and convenience stores. If it’s too hot, just take an UBER for this section, you are really not missing anything. Sadly, we didn’t think of the idea at the time and had to stop at a convenience store to rehydrate. Hopefully, in the coming years, the link will be constructed.
The view from the cliff path is spectacular, anywhere you look. Words don’t do justice and photos don’t show the scale. The vast blue ocean, the crashing waves and rocky outcrops and lagoons and marine pools in between them create an unusual beauty attracting a LOT of birds and other wildlife, we were spoilt!
The Cliff path is certainly a paradise for nature lovers who enjoy observing the biodiversity. We took our time and kept our eyes pealed to spot any cool birds and other beings in the Fynbos shrubs, Milkwood trees or some loitering around the Marine Pools and Lagoons. This hike is an excellent opportunity for clicking the best photos of local flora and fauna as certain sections of it are very quiet and birds were not getting disturbed.
After a quick cold coffee & beer break, we booked a UBER to get back to Gering’s point where we had lunch and enjoyed some live music. Parking at Gearing’s Point is free of cost at the moment but we tipped the caretaker/parking attendant, its customary.
Safety radar – We did not regret even a bit staying in Vermont, it was the safest locality. Hermanus is a typical tourist town. It is safe and very pedestrian-friendly. Lanes are lined with fancy restaurants and street markets selling handicrafts and souvenirs. Some risky characters are hanging around, but nothing scary. We were there during the daytime and didn’t feel scared at all. Exercising common sense and following general precautions are advised. Snakes can be under fynbos shrubs so watching your step while walking is recommended. There are no railings on the cliffs but there is some buffer of fynbos shrubs and rocks before the edge. Till the time you are not trying to do some stunts, it should be fine.
Special info – Hermanus Dassie is a Hermanus-based transport/taxi service. Run by a super friendly and cool couple living in the neighbouring town of Sandbai. Give them a ring if you need it, you will not regret it. We booked their service for a day trip to Simon’s Town for our Pelagic birding tour. They were on time and drove safely throughout. We had so many conversations about local living and funny anecdotes from their life – we really enjoyed our journey.
Hermanus is more than just whales and scenery – there is birdwatching, hiking, paragliding, art galleries, food/wine, shopping, farmer’s markets, museums, fancy cliff/cave restaurants and their tidal pools, beach bumming and Abalone farms and all of them are worth a visit. It’s a town where we can easily spend a week or more. Walker Bay and the hills along the coast unlock a big bag of activities. Unfortunately, we were here only for two days and had to pick the top things to do. Fret not, that means we have a long list of things to do when we are here next!
Enjoy our little vlog of the trip here –
To read more about Hermanus, South Africa – Check these informative website :
https://hermanus-tourism.co.za/
https://www.southafrica.net/gl/en/travel/article/the-9-best-spots-in-hermanus-to-watch-whales
https://www.hermanusonline.mobi/the-famous-hermanus-cliff-path-are-popular-under-hikers
https://hermanuscliffpath.com/
Hope this blog has inspired you to plan your trip to Hermanus, South Africa when (you are) on a break!.
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When on a Break! 
loved it ..very impressive n informative …little bit of history adds to it
Thank you for reading the blog and enjoying it 🙂 Hope you visit Hermanus soon!