Western Cape Article - South African Vacations

ADVENTURE AND SPORTHangklip Coast: The coast can be explored via several walking and hiking trails.Palmiet River: Canoeing, white-river rafting, tubing and swimming are enjoyed in the river.Rooiels Lagoon: The Rooiels Lagoon offers safe swimming conditions for children.Sand-boarding: Silversands Dune is a popular sand-boarding location.Water-sport: The coastline offers many opportunities for angling, snorkelling, crayfishing,swimming, scuba-diving and surfing.ARCHAEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGYCape Hangklip: Cape Hangklip has rendered evidence of human activity dating from theNeanderthal era. Artefacts include several stone hand-axes. The later Khoisan inhabitantsalso left behind signs of habitation, such as kitchen middens (trash heaps) and fish traps inthe caves.ART AND CRAFTSArt Route Gallery: The gallery in Clarence Drive exhibits and sells many original works of art.FAUNA AND FLORABird life: The many different natural habitats of the area are home to a large number ofdifferent species of birds.Fynbos: The Cape Floral Kingdom contains some 8 600 species of fynbos.Die Mond Nature Reserve: The reserve stretches across the mouth of the Heuningnes River,the lagoon and the dunes that are covered in coastal fynbos. In spring (from late July toSeptember) it is richly carpeted in wild flowers.Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve: The entire Kleinmond area is a highly significant natural andbotanical biosphere and was proclaimed a Biosphere Reserve in 1998. The KogelbergBiosphere Reserve covers over 100 000 ha and includes many species of fynbos. Inthis extremely precious area are the towns of Rooiels, Pringle Bay, Betty’s Bay andKleinmond.Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens: The Harold Porter National Botanical Garden hasa dramatically beautiful location between the Kogelberg Range and Atlantic Coast near the oldwhaling station at Betty’s Bay. The waterfalls and small streams of the fynbos landscape arethe favourite hang-outs for the resident colonies of baboons. Harold Porter, the businessmanwho bequeathed this piece of land to the National Botanical Institute, first called it “Shangri-la”because of the beautiful surroundings. The footpaths starting at the cultivated gardens at thefoot of the mountains take you into completely unspoilt surroundings. Some of the sights thatyou will see in the garden are gorges with rich vegetation and waterfalls, as well asmountains. Leopards are still fairly common in the area but these animals are rarely seensince they are shy and prowl mostly at night.Kleinmond Coastal Nature Reserve: The Palmiet River Lagoon is part of the reserve and is apopular venue for swimming, board-sailing, canoeing and power-boating activities. Anextensive network of footpaths leads from the nature reserve through the mountains and to146