Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay ( lime bay ) takes its name from former years when kilns were burned there in order to produce lime from shells for painting buildings. Quite a number of the white-walled homes of the Cape owed their smart appearance to the lime from Kalk Bay.

The Village had its beginning as a simple place along the rough coastal track. In 1806 Abraham Kloppers, who had started to catch and dry fish as rations for slaves. A number of Filipino sailors who had been shipwrecked, also settled at Kalk Bay.

The mountain massif dominating the Muizenberg to Kalk Bay stretch of the False Bay Coast is a suberb recreational area for the energetic walker, cave explorer and nature lover.

Clovelly Cave with its labyrinth of passages and chambers was sufficiently well known to be considered haunted by the local coloured folk. Apparently a half-demented old mountain hermit had once made his home there and had amused himself by stealthily approaching visitors on the mountains and scaring them out of their wits with his sudden chuckle close behind them.

Eventually he was found dead in his cave. The sinister echo of his chuckle is reputed to linger on in the cave, and it is said that a cold hand touches any interloper’s shoulder the moment his light goes out. Not forgetting, the amazing Boomslang Cave, penetrating right through a ridge for 146 m, which was discovered in 1911 by Arderne and Sampson.

The cave was named, after their discoverers disturbed a boomslang ( tree snake ) quenching its thirst in a puddle at the southern exit high over Fish Hoek.

Boomslang cave pictures courtesy of  June Arderne. June's great - great grandfather was actually the Arderne who found the cave in 1911.