The main tourist attraction in Gansbaai since approximately 1995 has been cage diving with great white sharks. It is said [who?] that after Kruger National Park, the great white sharks attract some of the highest numbers of tourists to South Africa for any single activity.
History
Klipgat Cave is located in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, next to De Kelders, the residential shore area of Gansbaai. As one of only three places in South Africa where such old remains have been excavated, Klipgat Cave is one of the most important historical sites in the Western Cape. The reserve and the cave are open to anyone that has a wild card.
The earliest evidence of the presence of sheep-herding Khoi people (after the hunter-gatherer-"San", the original indigenous population of the Western Cape) in the Western Cape has been found in Klipgat Cave. Until the first white settlers arrived at the end of the 18th century, the Khoi people thrived in this region. An expedition sent by Jan van Riebeeck to the area, described meeting people of the so-called Chainouqua-tribe near Baardskeerdersbos, a rural hamlet, 15 kilometres (9.3mi) from Gansbaai. The river flowing through the Baardskeerdersbos Valley is still called "Boesmansrivier" (Afrikaans for Bushman's river). "Bushman" is a name commonly used for the San-people, but will in this case have reflected Khoi-people.
It was the people of Khoi-descent that erected the first permanent settlement in the Gansbaai vicinity. In 1811 fishing cottages were built under the dense Milkwood Forests[2] in Stanfords Bay near De Kelders.
The first white settlers in the area were "trekboers" (nomadic farmers). They copied the Khoi herding techniques of using a grazing area until it was exhausted, then moving on to greener pastures. The area was big and fertile enough for such purposes. On many of the large farms around Gansbaai, the old and original homesteads and mudstone houses tell of the days when the white farmers settled down.
Plaque commemorating the sinking of the Birkenhead, affixed to the Danger Point lighthouse.
The troopship HMS Birkenhead was wrecked off Danger Point in 1852. A barely visible rock 2 kilometres (1.2mi) from Danger Point (now aptly called "Birkenhead Rock") was fatal for the troopship carrying young Welsh, Scottish and English soldiers and their officers and family on their way to Eastern Cape to fight the Xhosa. The Birkenhead became famous because it was the first shipwreck where the "women and children first" protocol was applied. All women and children were saved but 445[2] of the men, mostly soldiers, perished. Most of the horses swam ashore and were the ancestors of a feral herd that roamed the plains east of Gansbaai until late in the 20th century.[citation needed]
More than 140 ships have been wrecked and thousands of lives lost between Danger Point and Cape Infanta, to the east of Gansbaai. In 1895, the Danger Point Lighthouse was built, providing more security for the ships in these dangerous waters.
Gansbaai was founded, according to local storytellers, in 1881 after 18-year-old fisherman Johannes Cornelis Wessels walked there across the dunes from Stanford and discovered excellent fishing in the area. He settled there, and soon after other families followed suit. The settlers called it "Gansbaai" after the colony of Egyptian geese that gathered at the freshwater fountain in the present-day Gansbaai Harbor.[2] Up until the 20th century, however, it was little more than a simple fishing village due to its isolation and lack of communication with the outside world.
Gansbaai's economy received an economic boost in 1939 when a small factory was built to process sharks' livers for vitamin A and lubricant, which was in great demand during World War II. After the war, however, demand fell and the few years of prosperity were over.
It was not until local school principal Johannes Barnard persuaded village fishermen to set up the first fishery cooperative in South Africa that the economy began to recover. Barnard helped the fishermen obtain capital from the Fisheries Development Corporation, deepen the harbour and establish a modern fish meal factory. It is still believed to be the primary employment generator in Gansbaai and the canning division is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.[2] The town became a municipality in 1963.
Today, Gansbaai's economy still revolves around its fishing industry, but an increasingly large part of it now comes from tourism. It is considered[who?] the great white shark capital of the world, drawing National Geographic Society film crews and researchers from around the globe to study the wildlife. It has also become a popular whale-watching spot for the right whale.
The southern right whale can be seen in large numbers, especially from the rocky shores of De Kelders on Walker Bay. This is also the site of an old whaling station. The lookout platform and the steps leading to it are still standing. Today whales are protected in South Africa.
The hinterland is known for its vast mountainous landscapes covered with unspoilt vegetation of the Cape Floristic Region (Fynbos). Despite being the smallest of the world's six floral kingdoms, the Cape Floral Kingdom, with 9000 species, is the richest. [citation needed]
Gansbaai is home to the annual Reforest Fest in Platbos Forest, the southernmost indigenous forest South Africa. The event is focused on therapeutic measures to rehabilitate the ecosystems that were once there. The event, hosted by environmental group Greenpop and Platbos Reserve is focused on environmental action. The Reforest Fest in the Platbos Forest Reserve serves annually as a prime example of the sound wilderness engineering, driven by the social connection of exciting weekend recreation and conservation.
The original name of Dyer Island was Ilha da Fera (Island of wild creatures), so named by Portuguese seafarers in the 15th century.
Dyer Island is the largest group of islands about 8 kilometres (5.0mi) offshore from Gansbaai and less than that from Danger Point peninsula. It is named after Samson Dyer, an emigrant from the US to the Cape Colony in 1806, who lived on the island collecting guano, which he sold to mainlanders as fertiliser. The island is home to a declining colony of African penguins (≈5000 individuals in 2015).
Geyser Rock is a smaller island nearby and is home to around 60,000 brown fur seals.
The shallow channel between the two islands is popularly known as Shark Alley.
In the 2011 census, the population of Gansbaai was recorded as 11,598 people, living in an area of 12.4 square kilometres (4.8sqmi), giving the town a population density of 932.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,414/sqmi).[1] 45% of the inhabitants described themselves as "Black African", 30% as "Coloured", and 24% as "White". 53% spoke Afrikaans as their first language, 40% spoke Xhosa, 3% spoke English, and 4% spoke some other language.
Education
There are three public primary schools in Gansbaai:
Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plet or Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of the census of 2001, there were 29,149 population. It was originally named Bahia Formosa by early Portuguese explorers and lies on South Africa's Garden Route 210 km from Port Elizabeth and about 600 km from Cape Town.
Overstrand Municipality is a local municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located along the Atlantic coast between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas, within the Overberg District Municipality. The principal towns in the municipality are Hermanus, Gansbaai and Kleinmond. As of 2011 it had a population of 80,432.
Cape Agulhas Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of 2011 it had a population of 33,038. Its municipality code is WC033. It is named after Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. The largest town is Bredasdorp, which is the seat of the municipal headquarters. It also includes the villages of Napier, Struisbaai, Elim, Arniston and L'Agulhas, and the De Hoop Nature Reserve.
Jeffreys Bay is a town of 27,107 inhabitants as of the 2011 census in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It Is the seat of the Kouga municipality and is famous amongst surfers as a surf capital due to the right-hand point break at Supertubes Beach. The town is situated just off the N2 Highway, about 75 kilometres southwest of Port Elizabeth.
Hermanus, is a town on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is known for Southern Right whale watching during the southern winter to spring seasons, and is a popular retirement location.
The General Jan Smuts Regiment is a reserve mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army.
Pearly Beach is a village in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
Walker Bay is a large bay located in the south-western Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the next major bay between False Bay near Cape Town and Cape Agulhas to the south-east. The bay is famous for having some of the best land based whale-watching in the world, which a town on its shores, Hermanus, has become famous for. Southern right whales visit the bay in the winter and spring months.
Baardskeerdersbos is a village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. According to the 2011 census it has a population of 103 residents.
The Agulhas National Park is a South African national park located in the Agulhas Plain in the southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-east of Cape Town. The park stretches along the coastal plain between the towns of Gansbaai and Struisbaai, and includes the southern tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. As of January 2009 it covered an area of 20,959 hectares. Although one of the smallest national parks in South Africa, it boasts 2,000 native plant species and a wetland that provides refuge to birds and amphibians.
Salmonsdam Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in the Overberg region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It contains the mountain catchment area of the Paardensberg River in the Akkedisberg mountains. The reserve is administered by CapeNature and covers an area of 834 hectares.
Samson Gabriel Dyer aka Sampson Dyers was an African-American man noted for his association with Dyer Island off the Cape Agulhas coast of South Africa.
De Kelders is a coastal village in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa.
Birkenhead is a settlement in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located on the Danger Point Peninsula on the southern side of Walker Bay. It is in Ward 2 of Overstrand Local Municipality.
Franskraalstrand, also known as Franskraal, is a coastal village near to Gansbaai in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011 it had a population of 1,165 people in 592 households.
Kleinbaai is a settlement in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Danger Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the southern point of Walker Bay, near Gansbaai, in South Africa. It is a white octagonal masonry tower that has been in use since 1895.
The Old Harbour Museum is a South African museum situated on the coast, in the heart of Hermanus. The town originally developed around this harbour from around the middle of the nineteenth century when plentiful fish and fresh water was found in the area. The Fishermen's Village section of the museum is situated above the old harbour across from Market Square.
Uilenkraalsmond or Uilenkraal is a populated place located in the village of Franskraalstrand, Overstrand Local Municipality of the Overberg District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
The Dyer Island Nature Reserve Complex is a protected area off the coast of Gansbaai in the Western Cape, South Africa. It consists of 3 islets, namely Dyer Island and Geyser Island, and Quoin Rock that lies 25 kilometres away off the coast of Quoin Point Nature Reserve and Agulhas National Park.
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