The Cape - Natural History Tour

The Cape - Natural History Tour is a set date group departure, in conjunction with Ornitholidays. The tour takes a maximum of 14 clients and is led by Bert Palthe and Roger Lawrence.

We journey to the Cape of Good Hope to an area of outstanding beauty, and visit at a time when we have the chance to see a bounty of wondrous natural events. Firstly, the Southern Right Whales will be coming to the warm waters of Hermanus to mate and calve, and we shall be able to watch them from our bedroom windows, as well as take walks along the cliff paths, to have close views of these great creatures as they spyhop, sail and lobtail. This is the premier site in the world to see these rare giants. Secondly, the Great White Sharks are still patrolling the Fur Seal colonies a little way down the coast. We can take a short boat ride and have these powerful predators following the boat and feeding on bait - a fantastic and thrilling sight. Lastly, if our timing is right, we have the chance to view the flowering of the Namaqualand wild flowers. Of course, there will be penguins, dolphins, fur seals, flamingos, baboons, eagles, lizards, ostriches, gazelles, tortoises and much more besides. This holiday will examine all aspects of the natural history of the area, and throughout the tour a local naturalist guide will accompany Simon.

Day 1
We will leave London Heathrow on an evening scheduled flight with South African Airways.

Days 2/3/4/5
We arrive into Cape Town early next morning where our guides will meet us. We then transfer by Volkswagen microbus to Hermanus on the southern Cape coast, where we stay at the Windsor Hotel in sea-facing rooms for four nights.


Humpback Whale	Windsor Hotel

Southern Right Whales come inshore to breed at this time of year and wonderful views can be obtained along this section of coast. They come very close inshore at times. We will spend some time walking along the rocky shore locating whales and watching their antics. Walker Bay at Hermanus offers the best shore-based whale watching in the world. Bryde's Whale also visits this section of coast on occasions and perhaps we can get a glimpse of this species as well, but it is not regular and does not breed in these waters. Apart from whales we should also see dolphins in the breakers. There are a number of species and these include Common, Bottlenosed and Humpback Dolphins, with a slight chance of also viewing Dusky Dolphin, although it is only occasionally seen near Hermanus.

On one of the three full days we have at Hermanus we have an excursion out to sea in search of Great White Sharks.


Great White Shark	dolphins

We launch at Gansbaai not far from our hotel and will have a marine biologist on board with us who is researching this impressive large shark. It is a thrilling experience to see these sharks at very close quarters as they rise to take the bait our scientist will be offering. We stay out all day and will also view a large breeding colony of Cape Fur Seals and learn about other marine life. For those of us who are qualified divers there will be an opportunity to go down in a specially constructed steel cage to view the sharks under water. On rare occasions Killer Whales (Orcas) have been sighted from this area as well and if luck is our way this impressive mammal could also be on our list.


fynbos flowers

During our stay at Hermanus we will also have time to walk in a small botanical garden nearby. Here we can examine and identify numerous flowering plants from the Fynbos habitat unique to the South West Cape. There will be proteas, leucospermums, leucodendrons, restios, ericas and many others. The Cape Floristic Kingdom (Fynbos) is the richest known flora in the world with over 2,600 species of flowering plants in an area under 200 sq miles. This is more than the total number of species found in the British Isles. This area is also very good for viewing tortoises, lizards and even Puff Adders!

Days 6/7/8/9
After breakfast we depart for the Cape Peninsula. En route, at Betty's Bay we stop for a walk and light lunch in the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens. Here we have another opportunity to identify and photograph the flora, but in addition to this we will look for some of the endemic birds for which the South West Cape is famous. We should see Cape Bulbul, Grassbird, Cape White-eye, Orange-breasted and Lesser Double-collared Sunbirds, Cape Sugarbird, Cape Siskin, Cape and Sentinel Rock Thrushes and many more.


Cape Sugar bird	Jackass Penguins

Our drive to Simonstown takes us along the coast through a scenically beautiful area. We pass rugged mountains that slope steeply into the sea, with a narrow coastal plain in some places. Several mountain peaks tower above the road and Kogelberg, the highest peak at 4,163 feet has the distinction of being the highest mountain in Africa next to the sea.

We arrive at Simonstown for a stay of four nights at Boulder's Beach, which overlooks a section of False Bay. Here, there is a large breeding colony of Jackass (African) Penguins. This is one of only two mainland breeding localities of this endangered endemic species. You will see them at close quarters as they often wander right into the hotel grounds. We will also visit them in the rookery where they nest in burrows amongst the shrubbery above the high tide mark. From here we will make excursions to various places of interest. These will include the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (wonderful for birds, botany and scenery), a trip up Table Mountain by cable car (weather permitting), and also weather dependant to Robben Island where past President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during the apartheid regime. The island and prison is now a historical monument and there is a move afoot to declare the island as a national park. We also visit the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and Cape Point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans supposedly meet. Humpback Whales are sometimes seen from this point. Apart from wonderful scenery and flora, this reserve has mammals endemic to the Cape. These include Bontebok, Cape Mountain Zebra and Cape Grysbok. We should also see Eland, the largest antelope and Ostrich, the largest bird.

Days 10/11
We now move to Langebaan on the west coast and stay for two nights at a private guesthouse, on the boundary of West Coast National Park. This national park surrounds an enormous tidal lagoon and at this time of year will be teeming with birds. Apart from Palearctic waders arriving from the north there will be flocks of Lesser and Greater Flamingos. En route to this destination we may see Blue Crane, the national bird of South Africa. This area is also the southern extension of the Namaqualand spring flower region. It is difficult to predict peak season in the short period the flowers mature, but if our timing is right we should see a spectacle of carpets of wildflowers in bloom. These will be mainly species representative of Compositeae, Asteraceae, Liliaceae and Geraniaceae but many others as well. In a good season (dependant on the amount and timing of winter rainfall and temperatures) the transformation of a barren scene is almost unimaginable.

Day 12
We have the last full morning for further sight-seeing at Langebaan and will visit a Black Eagle nest on a man-made cliff in a quarry. There should be a young chick on the nest at this time. We then make our way back to Cape Town for the evening scheduled flight of South African Airways to London Heathrow. We arrive into London early next morning.

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