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Photo: Gerhard Kotze  

 
Pic: Great white shark
Believe this if you dare!
All the shark's nerves end in its nose.  If you grab this, the entire shark goes lame and you can do almost anything you want with it.
   That's what we're told, but "No, thank you".
The Gansbaai area, which has achieved legendary appeal as the "Big 2 Town", is broadening its appeal base by branding itself as Dangerpoint Peninsula.  It comprises the following destinations:
Gansbaai – Big-2-town
De Kelders – Best spot to watch whales
Masakhane – Booming community under milkwood trees
Blompark – In the heart of the peninsula
Kleinbaai – Home of the shark-diving boats
Franskraal – Between estuary and ocean
Pearly Beach – The longest undisturbed sand-beach in the Cape
Baardskeerdersbos – Unique fynbos habitats
Buffelsjagbaai – Most secluded shore community

Environmentally, the area's attributes are great – the stunning views from De Kelders across Walker Bay to range upon range of mountains stepping back from Hermanus; the spectacular coastal walks especially the long stretch of beach at Die Plaat (part of Walker Bay Nature Reserve); and an extraordinary natural environment that Grootbos Private Nature Reserve has turned into one of the Cape's most professional, WOW! experiences.

Shark tourism is big, but their customers are largely bussed in-and-out and exposure to the town is minimal.  The exception to this are large numbers of international scientists and film crews that spend extended visits to document the fascinating marine wealth of the area.  Day visitors miss out!

Between June and December, Gansbaai is home to the Southern Right Whale.  This coastline with its many bays becomes the breeding area for these giants of the oceans.  When there is a north wind, waking to the sound of whales blowing is one of life's special experiences!

It's an area looking for an identity – that is if you ignore its claim as the world capital of the Great White Shark (or the "Big 2" town) for a moment.  It lacks urban quality, like so many country towns, and it is difficult to discover a "sense of place", but then its growth is based on the fishing industry, with city suburbia exported to the coast.

Official history records that in 1881 Johannes Cornelis Wessels, an 18 year old fisherman, walked across the dunes from Stanford to the now Gansbaai: named after a colony of Egyptian geese that nested in the area.  Fishing was so good that he decided to settle there in a hut he made from stone, daub and reeds.  Other families followed and built primitive dwellings among the dunes close to the sea. 

 
Danger Point Lighthouse
This rocky peninsula extends 8km to sea, where the legendary HMS Birkenhead met its doom at night on February 26, 1852 with the loss of 445 lives.
   (Click here for a survivor's story.)
  The lighthouse came into operation in 1895 after more than 20 ships were lost.
  It houses a memorial to the Birkenhead open to the public on weekdays (10h00–15h00).  Call 021 449 2400 to arrange access at other times.
But the area was known long before – Lady Anne Barnard visited in 1798; American Samson Dyer lived on the island that took his name in the early 1800's; and Stanford's Cove was in use from the mid-1800's as a fishing station and to ship produce from Stanford to the Cape.  (Many of the Birkenhead survivors were repatriated to Cape Town from here.)

The Gansbaai area is on the brink of change.  A new tar road linking Gansbaai to Cape Agulhas is planned for completion by 2006.  Tour buses and rental cars (insurance is invalidated if driven on dirt roads) will then be able to reach Africa's southernmost tip via Hermanus – and Gansbaai will not be the dead end that it has been for most travellers.

Trawlers at Gansbaai harbour Trawlers at Gansbaai Harbour   Pic: Gansbaai Scuba
What Gansbaai really needs is a makeover of its harbour to provide the town with a real focus and attraction.  If Kleinmond can do it with a little slipway harbour, imagine what Gansbaai could achieve!  (Kleinbaai's harbour should follow next!)  Innovative empowerment ownership (like Kleinmond's) would also introduce a new vitality across the town.

Change will come.  In the past the area was seen as a cheaper alternative to other coastal destinations.  New developments are targeting the very upper brackets.  Like Arabella Country Estate changed Kleinmond, so will these change Gansbaai.

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