Langebaan the new Hermanus

Located on the Cape West Coast and once a whaling station, Langebaan has evolved and firmly established itself as a tourist attraction to be reckoned with. While the town was officially founded in the early 1900’s, its history dates back hundreds years as an area once inhabited by the Khoi San people long before even the earliest Dutch and English explorers passed through.

Located as it is on the shores of a tranquil lagoon the town of course offers a wide variety of water sports and activities, including kayaking, windsurfing, kitesurfing, boat trips and fishing, as well as paddling in the shallows or simply enjoying the white sandy beaches. The lagoon itself forms a part of the West Coast National Park, a wildlife sanctuary and home to many indigenous and migratory bird species as well as small mammals, making it ideal for bird watchers and nature lovers alike.

Also for those who wish to view the raw, untamed natural beauty of the Cape West coast region and planning a visit during the spring, it is worth bearing in mind that the area like much of the surrounding countryside is carpeted with wildflowers in the months of July to September. A recent addition to the Langebaan landscape is the Langebaan Country Estate development, both a residential estate, and an old style country club, with a golf course, braai area, pro shop and other facilities, this genteel location will appeal to those who seek an upper class outlet for their energy.

Boasting fossil sites, fynbos and wildlife, the Elandsfontein Private Reserve offers as exclusive a getaway with a decidedly wilder theme. View the recently reintroduced antelope, zebra and Cape Buffalo on a game drive, and watch the sunset from the luxurious lodge.

A famed local mountain biking company, Live2Ride, who offer mountain bike tours of some of the most beautiful parts of the country, have chosen Langebaan to be a part of their West Coast experience and they are well worth contacting for those energetic enough to explore by pedal power. For a similarly close to nature opportunity to explore, albeit on a very different mode of transportation, Windstone offers horseback tours of the area, as well as various activates for families and children.

But Langebaan is not entirely devoted to the outdoors. For culture lovers, the Bay Gallery in Bree street showcases the work of local artists, in various media, including paintings, sculpture and textiles. If you crave the bright lights of the city, this town has something for you too, in the form of the Club Mykonos hotel complex, which boasts several entertainment options, including a casino for those who are feeling lucky.

With all of this activity, one is bound to work up an appetite, and Langebaan is glad to oblige. There are several fine restaurants, coffee shops and other eateries in town, but surely the most famous, and unique must be the Strandloper Restaurant. This legendary local restaurant is located on the beach at Langebaan lagoon, and serves exquisitely prepared seafood and other dishes .Patrons can take off their shoes and feel the sand and sea between their toes whilewatching the kids play on the beach.

Langabaan Lagoon is probably one of the best places in the world to learn to kitesurf, with plenty of wind and those shallow warm waters at shark bay it is just paradise.

Places to stay in langebaan
Things to do in Langebaan

Thanks to SAvenues for some of the copy.

lighthouses on the West Coast

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Red, white and blue: Cape Columbine is one of five South African lighthouses with guest accommodation

Seeing a SA lighthouse inspired a maker’s descendant to delve into their history, writes Sarah Hudleston.

There is something rather romantic about lighthouses. If you sit on the beach at night at Beira, as we did as children when we used to camp at the Club Nautico on sailing trips, you can see the Macuti lighthouse.

My 10-year-old sister and cousin were so inspired by it they wrote a 26-verse epic poem, which they managed to get published in their school magazine even though it ground along in the vein of Macuti by day, Macuti by night, its pulsing rays give ships a good light …

This and thousands of other lighthouses were built with lenses manufactured by one firm — Chance Brothers of Smethwick, near Birmingham in England.

Now one of the brothers’ descendants, Toby Chance, has written a history of lighthouses with the emphasis on the part his family played in making the world’s shipping lanes a lot safer.

Chance’s collaborator on Lighthouses: The Race to Illuminate The World is Peter Williams, founder of Leading Lights, a lighthouse enthusiast magazine with a surprisingly large readership. Williams has visited many of the Chance lighthouses while Chance himself visited the South African lighthouses and many of the 200 lighthouses in Britain. He also got inside the Port Said lighthouse in Egypt, which although out use since the sea level has receded, is still lovingly cared for with its lenses polished to perfection.

Although many of the 2400 lighthouses originally built with Chance lenses are not operating, many are still in perfect order. A large number have also been converted to electricity, but in some of the world’s more remote places, they still have the original oil-fired mechanisms. M ost, however, still have the original Chance lenses.

Chance says his book is supposed to be a work of history, not travel. He was inspired after a visit to the Slangkop lighthouse near Kommetjie.

“The lighthouse keeper could not believe he was talking to a Chance. I decided there must be a lot of interest in lighthouses and decided to record the history of my family through their work with lighthouses.”

The underlying theme, though, is the spread of science, technology and politics in the 19th century. In his research, Chance read family diaries which recorded odd social interactions with people of vastly different cultural backgrounds. “This story needs to be placed in the context of colonialism and the expansion of the Empire,” said Chance.

Using the Internet, Chance uncovered a large number of “obscure academic papers which I was able to knit together to make into a story”.

Pushing the family firm from being a manufacturer of glass into lighthouse optics, James Chance, the author’s great-great grandfather, cemented the firm’s fortunes and earned a baronetcy for his services to Britain.

The family’s venture into glass first began in 1788 with the construction of a glass factory. In 1822 Lucas Chance bought the British Crown Glass Company outside Birmingham, and it was this business that his nephew, James, made a household name.

In the years after he launched his new dioptric lens at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851, the Chance Brothers supplied the mechanisms and/or built the structures of lighthouses around the world.

Seventy-six lighthouses were built in Newfoundland, 61 in New Zealand, South Africa had 31 and Mozambique three, including the now-immortalised Macuti lighthouse. Countries from Borneo to Holland all opted for Chance lighthouses.

Lighthouses: The Race to Illuminate The World by Peter Williams and Toby Chance is available from kalahari.net at R353.95.

If you go ...

Lighthouse tourism is growing worldwide as pharologists — lighthouse spotters — and ordinary tourists looking for a remote and romantic retreat at the ocean’s edge are opting for lighthouse stays.

The US, Europe and Australia have hundreds of stays on offer while southern Africa has a mere handful.

The most luxurious of the local offerings is the inactive Shark Island Lighthouse at the Shark Island Resort in Lüderitz, which will set you back a princely R500 per night.

Of South Africa’s 31 lighthouses, just five offer accommodation.

In the Western Cape, you can choose from three — in one of the three cottages at Cape Columbine near Paternoster on the West Coast, or in the self-catering cottage at Cape St Blaize, outside Mossel Bay. Danger Point — which looks across to the notorious rock that sank the HMS Birkenhead — also has self-catering accommodation. Heading up the coast, accommodation is available at the Great Fish Point lighthouse near Port Alfred, and the North Sand Bluff Lighthouse at Port Edward has two romantic cottages on offer.

If hunkering down with friends in a lonely lighthouse doesn’t appeal, daytime visits are possible to most of the country’s lighthouses.

For bookings and information, www.africanow,co.za Further information is available on the National Ports Authority website www.transnetnationalportsauthority. net.

South Africa: Smoothound Sharks to be Tagged in Langebaan Lagoon

BuaNews (Tshwane)

7 November 2008
Posted to the web 7 November 2008

As part of efforts to research the population of smoothhound sharks in the Langebaan Lagoon, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) is hosting a tagging derby on Saturday.

According to the department, their marine and coastal management branch and the West Coast Shore Angling Association are cooperating in a joint venture to try to tag as many smoothhound sharks as possible.

The tagging will form part of research into the population of smoothhound sharks in the Langebaan Lagoon system.

The joint venture which is dubbed the Langebaan Lagoon Smoothhound Shark Derby 2008 is a tag-and-release tournament aimed at promoting collaborative opportunities between marine scientists and fishers to strengthen the sustainable management of marine resources.

It will further assist with existing research on the smoothhound shark population in the Langebaan Lagoon.

Recent studies have shown that the main angling target species smoothhound shark, white stumpnose and elf are resident in the lagoon.

The tag and recapture experiment will help to identify the stock size of the population of these species within the Langebaan, Saldanha Bay area and the results will inform the sustainable management of these species, the department said.

Smoothhound sharks (Mustelus mustelus) are commonly caught off the southern African coast by commercial trawlers, long-lining operations, line-fishing boats, and shore-based recreational fishermen.

Smoothhound sharks are one of the most frequently caught species. They are abundant in bays with soft substrate such as Langebaan Lagoon, where they feed on clams, worms and crustaceans.

Sharks are slow growing animals, mature late and produce small numbers of offspring. Their life-history traits make them extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation.

The tournament will be also be used to introduce the Green Marine Angling program, an initiative of the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC), in collaboration with the department.

This program is geared towards responsible angling where a code of handling is introduced to minimise the effects of poor handling practices when releasing fish, the department said.

This tournament does not only represent an exciting angling experience but also an opportunity for members of the South African Shore Angling Association to actively participate in research on a locally important species.

Only anglers who are registered members of the South African Shore Angling Association (SASAA) will be allowed to fish in this tournament.

A maximum of 100 anglers will be allowed to participate in the Derby which is taking place from 06:00 to 13:00.

click here for event accomodation

Registration will be taking place from 05:00 at the Langebaan Yacht Club

A Visit to the West Coast National Park

On the 8th of March, 2008 I visited the West Coast National Park with the Sonmerset West Bird Club. The first great sighting was not however a bird but rather a Caracal. This was my first sighting of this shy & not often seen cat. Unfortunately no photos, though we had quite good but fleeting views.

We visited all of the bird hides in search of waders with some success, though the tides were not ideal; as well as Abrahamskraal waterhole (one of the parks few sources of fresh water).

My bird list for the day totalled 62 species–four of them lifers: Grey-winged Francolin (Scleroptila africanus) which was a target sopecies for me in the park; Lesser Honeyguides (Indicator minor) which were hanging around the nest of a pair of Acacia Pied Barbet (Tricholaema leucomelas) (The Lersser Honeyguide is a parasitic species, laying its eggs in the nest of other species.); Little Stint (Calidris minuta); and Large-billed Lark (Galerida magnirostris).

Male and female Yellow Canaries (Crithagra flaviventris) drinking at Abrahamskraal.

Grey-winged Francolin (Scleroptila africanus) near the Seeburg hide.

Southern Black Korhaan (Eupodotis afraoides)

I also took the opportunity to photograph a few butterflies for submission to the South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment’s Virtual Museum. This is a Cape Black-eye (Leptomyrina lara).

All in all a fantastic day’s outing & the park is highly recommended for all birders–and anyone who enjoys apending time in the great outdoors.

Thank you to http://zanature.wordpress.com for the story.

Accommodation in and around the West Coast National Park

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Lange­b­aan Ho­li­days­ - S­o­uth Afri­ca

Lang­e­baan is­ s­ituate­d 120 k­m­­ nor­th of C­ape­ Town, jus­t off the­ R­27. It was­ founde­d in 1922 and us­e­d as­ a whaling­ s­tation until the­ 1960’s­. The­ white­ C­ar­ibbe­an lik­e­ be­ac­he­s­ s­ur­r­ounding­ the­ c­r­y­s­tal c­le­ar­ wate­r­s­ of the­ Lang­e­baan Lag­oon ar­e­ one­ of the­ m­­ain attr­ac­tions­ of Lang­e­baan. The­ town has­ tur­ne­d into a m­­e­c­c­a for­ wate­r­ s­por­ts­ e­nthus­ias­ts­. Lang­e­baan offe­r­s­ num­­e­r­ous­ e­x­c­e­lle­nt holiday­ fac­ilitie­s­ for­ the­ wate­r­ s­por­t e­nthus­ias­ts­ who favour­ a we­e­k­e­nd vis­it or­ holiday­ in Lang­e­baan to e­njoy­ the­ hos­t of wate­r­ s­por­t and fis­hing­ oppor­tunitie­s­ this­ vibr­ant holiday­ r­e­s­or­t town offe­r­s­. With it’s­ pr­ote­c­te­d lag­oon it’s­ the­ pe­r­fe­c­t plac­e­ for­ s­ailing­, k­ay­ak­ing­ and k­ite­s­ur­fing­.

Fl­ora­ a­n­d­ Fa­un­a­

T­he West­ Coast­ N­at­i­on­al­ Par­k an­d­ L­an­geb­aan­ l­agoon­ has m­uch t­o offer­ t­he vi­si­t­or­ whet­her­ he/she i­s i­n­t­er­est­ed­ i­n­ ar­chaeol­ogy, fl­or­a an­d­ faun­a, b­i­r­d­ wat­chi­n­g, fossi­l­s, hi­st­or­y of t­he ar­ea or­ just­ won­d­er­ful­ si­t­es an­d­ vi­ews. M­an­y vi­si­t­or­s d­escr­i­b­e t­he d­i­spl­ay of wi­l­d­ fl­ower­s i­n­ t­he Par­k as b­r­eat­ht­aki­n­g. Ar­eas of t­he Par­k ar­e b­l­an­ket­ed­ wi­t­h fl­ower­s of m­an­y d­i­ffer­en­t­ shad­es an­d­ hues. T­he wi­l­d­ fl­ower­ d­i­spl­ay can­ b­e seen­ an­yt­i­m­e b­et­ween­ Jul­y an­d­ Oct­ob­er­ an­d­ t­he b­est­ t­i­m­e i­s ver­y m­uch d­epen­d­en­t­ upon­ t­he weat­her­. T­he t­i­m­e of year­ when­ t­he fl­ower­s ar­e usual­l­y at­ t­hei­r­ b­est­ i­s d­ur­i­n­g t­he m­on­t­hs of August­ an­d­ Sept­em­b­er­. I­t­ i­s i­n­t­er­est­i­n­g t­o n­ot­e t­hat­ t­he col­our­ pat­t­er­n­s chan­ge fr­om­ week t­o week as fl­ower­s fad­e an­d­ ot­her­ var­i­et­i­es com­e i­n­t­o b­l­oom­.

A­rch­a­eology­

F­ossil deposits extending­ som­­e 20 m­­illion years ag­o into the past hav­e been f­ou­nd in the v­ic­inity of­ the Park­. The oldest hu­m­­an rem­­ains sou­th of­ the Orang­e Riv­er hav­e been f­ou­nd on the F­arm­­ Elandsf­ontein. M­­ore rec­ently, som­­e 117 000 years ag­o a lone f­em­­ale tru­dg­ed down a steep du­ne to the lag­oon leav­ing­ her f­ootprints in the wet sand. Within a f­ew hou­rs the du­ne dried ou­t and the wind f­illed in the f­ootprints with sand enc­asing­ them­­. Ov­er those thou­sands of­ years m­­ore layers of­ sand were deposited ov­er the f­ootprints. The sandstone c­lif­f­ c­ollapsed and exposed those f­ootprints. They were disc­ov­ered in 1995 and were nam­­ed Ev­es’ F­ootprints - Ev­e bec­au­se she m­­ay hav­e been the anc­estor of­ m­­odern wom­­an. The site where the f­ootprints were disc­ov­ered m­­ay be seen today. K­onstabel K­op, one of­ the hig­hest points in the Park­, was v­ery rec­ently disc­ov­ered to be an extinc­t v­olc­ano, whic­h blew its top ov­er 500 m­­illion years ag­o.

Hi­story­

T­he a­r­ea­ is r­ich in hist­or­ica­l event­s fr­om­­ t­hefir­st­ inha­bit­a­nt­s, t­he Khoikhoi a­nd­ Sa­n t­o t­he a­r­r­iva­l of t­he Eur­opea­ns. T­he fir­st­ Eur­opea­n t­o set­ foot­ on la­nd­ w­a­s Va­sco d­a­ G­a­m­­a­ a­t­ St­ Helena­ Ba­y on t­he W­est­ Coa­st­ Peninsula­ in 1497. A­nt­onia­ d­e Sa­ld­a­nha­, a­ft­er­ w­hom­­ t­he ba­y is na­m­­ed­, d­id­ not­ ent­er­ t­hose w­a­t­er­s a­t­ a­ll. J­ur­is va­n Spilber­g­en m­­ist­a­kenly na­m­­ed­ it­ in 1601 a­s Sa­ld­a­nha­ Ba­y; he t­houg­ht­ t­ha­t­ he ha­d­ r­ea­ched­ Ca­pe T­ow­n - or­ig­ina­lly na­m­­ed­ A­g­oa­d­a­ d­e Sa­ld­a­nha­. A­lt­houg­h t­he D­ut­ch w­er­e t­he fir­st­ t­o cla­im­­ ow­ner­ship of t­he a­r­ea­, t­he Fr­ench w­er­e fr­equent­ visit­or­s. Count­r­ies w­ould­ cla­im­­ ow­ner­ship by pla­nt­ing­ a­ post­ in t­he g­r­ound­ a­nd­ for­m­­a­lly d­ecla­r­ing­ ow­ner­ship. One of t­hese ‘post­s’ m­­a­y be seen t­od­a­y nea­r­ G­eelbek cla­im­­ing­ t­he la­nd­ on beha­lf of t­he D­ut­ch Ea­st­ Ind­ia­ Com­­pa­ny. Eur­opea­n set­t­lem­­ent­ w­a­s ver­y lim­­it­ed­ beca­use of t­he la­ck of w­a­t­er­ for­ 8 m­­ont­hs of t­he yea­r­. How­ever­, m­­a­ny st­ir­r­ing­ event­s ha­ve occur­r­ed­ in t­he r­eg­ion over­ t­he cent­ur­ies includ­ing­ t­w­o sea­ ba­t­t­les a­nd­ a­ visit­ by t­he Confed­er­a­t­e St­a­t­es of A­m­­er­ica­’s, A­la­ba­m­­a­, in 1863, t­he m­­ost­ fea­r­ed­ w­a­r­ship of it­s d­a­y. Even t­he 5 isla­nd­s in t­he a­r­ea­, w­hich a­r­e a­d­m­­inist­er­ed­ by t­he Pa­r­k ha­ve a­ hist­or­y of t­heir­ ow­n, includ­ing­ ba­t­t­les for­ ow­ner­ship, use a­s sm­­a­llpox qua­r­a­nt­ine hospit­a­ls, exploit­s for­ g­ua­no, sea­ling­ cent­r­es a­nd­ ot­her­ a­ct­ivit­ies.

Accommodation in Langebaan

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Langebaan Lagoon the jewel in the Crown

 

How does the Lagoon keep its colour, so clear and bright?  The Langebaan Lagoon is one of three lagoons worldwide that is nourished by the sea and not by a river.  What makes the lagoon so unique is that there is no river-mouth or fresh water flowing from the land into the sea.  The Lagoon exists thanks to massive changes in sea-level over millions of years.  When the sea waters retreated the low lying land was covered in sea-sand.  With time the wind blew to such an extent that large dunes formed along the coastline.  At one stage the sea broke through the rocky hills at the mouth of Saldanha Bay and the sea into the low lying land alongside the large dunes that today form the Langebaan Peninsula.  This Peninsula is also known as the Postberg Nature Reserve and lies adjacent to the West Coast National Park.  The Postberg area is only open to the public for approximately two months of the year during flower season.

The manner in which the southern winds blow surface water into the sea, has led to a welling up of deep nutrient-rich water from the Benguela current which replaces the surface water.  This plankton-rich water streams into the Lagoon twice a day with the tides.  With the tide streaming in and out at the Saldanha Bay entrance, as fast as 1 meter per second – the Lagoon, which is at the end of this stream, is constantly well-fed!

This nutrient-rich water has resulted in various miniature animals living in the waters and in turn these organisms attract numerous fish and birds.  Millions of tiny filter-feeders such as the common sand prawn and mussels constantly filter the water and this leads to the exceptionally clear colour of the water.  Young fish flourish naturally in the waters of lagoon.  Flamingos are the most well known and eye-catching birds that frequent the southern wetlands constantly filtering the water for food.

The shallow waters in the southern tip of the lagoon have developed into a salt marsh which means that it has a salt content of up to three times more than sea water.  This type of wetland provides essential decayed plant material which is needed in the food chain.  As a result of salt marshes having a more constant salt level as well as depth level than rivers do (which can sometimes dry out), a large web of salt marshes and wetlands has developed in the southern part of the lagoon.  The Langebaan Lagoon is in fact one of the most developed salt marshes in South Africa.

In the wetlands section of the lagoon, it is estimated that each cubic centimeter contains 60 million “staafdiertjies”.  This area is acknowledged as one of the most biologically productive in the world.  One can thus understand why it is said that the biomass per cubic centimeter in the West Coast waters is more than the biomass per cubic centimeter found in a rain forest!

There is more than double the number of non-vertebrae organisms found in the bay of Saldanha and in the Langebaan lagoon, than in any other lagoon in South Africa.  There are literally millions of “workers” that see to it that the waters are kept clean.

To top it all, the Langebaan Lagoon also has channels of differing depths and this leads to the different nuances of turquoise colouring.  Some days it really looks like the lagoon has turned itself into a turquoise Peacock posing for a photograph!

Langebaan lagoon forms part of the area, approximately 100klm North West of Cape Town, that has been declared a Ramsar site (therefore of international importance).  This is in the most part, due to the large number of migratory wading birds that visit Langebaan annually.  The Ramsar site includes four islands, namely Schaapen, Marcus, Malgas and Jutten islands, and is where these birds breed in their thousands.  Each summer the wading birds migrate from their breeding sites in Siberia and Greenland, to Langebaan where they can feed on the non-vertebrae organisms in the south of the Lagoon.  It is not surprising that the birdlife of the Langebaan lagoon is richer than any other wetland in the country.

The lagoon itself is 17km long and in an effort to preserve the delicate ecosystem, certain activities are prohibited in certain parts of the lagoon.  The area closest to the entrance of the Atlantic Ocean is the least sensitive and therefore a variety of water sports are allowed by the two established yacht clubs – indeed a water-sports paradise!  The middle section is a restricted recreational area where power boats and the exploitation of marine life are not allowed.  The wilderness area is totally closed to the public as pollution has a detrimental affect on the salt marshes.  Within the boundaries of the West Coast National Park there are proper bird hides, which allow for the viewing of birds without any disturbance to them.

With the sun setting, the sight of pleasure cruises happening on the water, are commonplace and naturally a day spent at Kraalbaai (which is more beautiful than any Greek Island!), is a memory that will stay with one forever.  The most enjoyable option is set sail on a yacht around 11h00, rubber duck in tow, and then to braai (barbeque) on your yacht en route.  Arrive ashore with your rubber duck and picnic at the “Preekstoel”.  Children particularly, enjoy the shallow waters found at Kraalbaai (which is up to 10ºC warmer than the deep-sea waters close to the Peninsula).

As wetlands are such prime areas for coastal developments or marinas, many salt marshes are being lost.  Here in the West Coast, however, there is staunch control and no industrial development is allowed in Langebaan.  As mentioned, the wilderness area of the Lagoon itself is closed and not even open to the public.

It appears as though the balance between man and nature in the Langebaan lagoon will continue – and thus be preserved for the generations to come.  Langebaan is indeed a holiday makers’ paradise!

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Rocking the Daisies, Darling West Coast

Rocking the Daisies is an eco-friendly music and lifestyle festival taking place in Darling, a small town in the be-flowered Cape West Coast area.

Spring time in the Cape is a sight to see… The spectacular displays of the Western Cape’s floral kingdom are quite something to behold.

Not only does this relatively new (but very popular) festival offer some of the very best local talent, as well as an international guest star, Eagle Eye Cherry, it’s also one of the greenest festivals in the country.

So, if you’re near Cape Town this coming weekend, and fancy dancing in the daisies, all weekend long, see if you can snap up a ticket and head on over to flower-ville.

Tickets for the weekend cost R320 (27 euros). Find out more here.

Find accommodation for the concert on the West Coast