The Intriguing Stories of Danger Point in Gansbaai
By Janet-Lynn Vorster, Cape Town, South Africa.
The great white shark capital of the world, Gansbaai, meaning “Goose Bay”, is just over two hours from Cape Town, 162 km via the N2 and R43 highways. In the previous issue of Globerovers (July 2017), much was written on this town and the area, with separate articles on the great white sharks and penguins.
Gansbaai is an unspoilt area, stretching along the coastline with the Atlantic on one side and fynbos-covered mountains on the other. It is home to the Marine Big Five: bottlenose dolphins, Cape fur seals, African penguins, great white sharks, and the southern right whales.
The shoreline varies from endless white sandy beaches, to rockpools, caves, and rocky cliffs.
Dyer Island, roughly eight kilometres offshore, is the largest of a group of tiny islands. Adjacent to Dyer Island is Geyser Rock, home to a colony of about 60,000 Cape fur seals. “Shark Alley” is the narrow channel (240 m wide) of water separating these two islands, constantly patrolled by great white sharks.
Gansbaai is home to the White Shark Diving Company with its famous shark cage diving, marine conservation programs, and international volunteers. Book a shark cage diving trip if you want to get up-close and personal with these apex predators.
Ivanhoe Sea Safaris, regarded as one the leading boat-based whale watching companies in South Africa, launches from the quaint fishing harbour of Gansbaai.
Janet-Lynn Vorster is a numerologist by profession, and journalist, editor and photographer by hobby. She is the proud mother of three grown children and granny to three grandchildren. Janet-Lynn is the Southern African editor as well as Chief Proofreader for Globerovers Magazine.
This story continues in the December 2017
issue of GlobeRovers Magazine
BUY your own copy of the magazine