Hermanus

About 90 minutes outside is the beautiful town of Hermanus.

Hermanus Pieters was a teacher from Caledon that established a grazing area for his sheep and cattle in the 1820’s after he discovered a fresh water spring. From then on the area became known as Hermanuspietersfontein. Thankfully the name of the area was shortened by the postmaster in 1902!

Walker Bay was given it’s name in honour of the British Naval Officer that charted the coast in 1818. Nearby Pringle Bay also gets it’s name from another Britsh Naval Officer, Simons Town Naval Station’s Comander-in-Chief (1796-1798), Sir Thomas Pringle who established a small port to load fresh produce from the local farmers in the area.

Both of these beautiful bays are well known for their whale watching opportunities between June and November. The Southern Right Whale comes here to mate and calve. Great White Shark cage diving is very prevalent at Gansbaai and is fast becoming a major tourism draw-card for Cape Town.

The wines around Hermanus are from the Hemel-en-Aarde (meaning Heaven and Earth) Valley, and this valley used to be called Elephants Pass.