Hermanus

If you are in Hermanus during the whale season there is one person that you must meet: The Whale Crier (Wal-caller). He has a horn made from kelp (seaweed) and his job is to look for whales and announce where and when whales were sighted. He always knows first where the whales are, and where the whales were last seen.

The town has had a curiously romantic history. Back in the 1830s a certain Hermanus Pieters wandered through the Caledon district.

Hermanus Pieters heard that there was a path known as the Olifantspad (elephant's) path) which climbed over the mountains to the coast.

It was used by an occasional individual who wanted to fish. He reached the summit of the range and looked down in admiration at the beautiful landscape beneath him.

It was intensely green, streaked with rivulets tumbling down to the sea. There was no sign of human habitation. Following a path down to the shore, Hermanus Pieters found a spring almost in reach of the spray of the great rollers which pounded on the rocky coast.

Each summer it became Hermanus's habit to camp at the place which later became known as Hermanus Pietersfontein (the spring of Hermanus Pieters). In September 1904, by which time its name hat abbreviated (the postal authorities hat quietly dropped the “Pietersfontein” in 1902) Hermanus was made a municipality.

Today Hermanus is a flourishing holiday resort. Yachting and aquaplaning take place in the great lagoon. A spectacular 6 km long scenic road (Rotary Drive) curves up the mountain slopes to a view site on the summit.

Fernkloof Nature Reserve, opened I January 1960, is a 1 446 ha sanctuary for flowers, birds and game. The track provides excellent vantage points for people watching whales, such as the southern right whales, which frequent this coast from July to November to calve and mate.