Gordon's Bay to Cape Agulhas

This stretch of coastline is an absolute must for nature lovers and especially marine enthousiasts, who have done the Big Five. Dive with Great White Sharks and go and see Whales and land-based African Penguins - the ultimate marine thrill.

Things to do
Weather
Self-Drive

BAOBAB trips to Shark Alley can be arranged on a tailor-made and self-drive basis. Please examine the accommodation guide for our choice of B&B's and guesthouses with guideline prices and itineraries and then contact us for a precise quote for your chosen holiday (or for further assistance to help you make up your mind!!).

Accommodation & Activities along Shark Alley

All BAOBAB’s prices are excluding the international flight, which provides you with more flexibility, especially when you are based outside the UK. BAOBAB can arrange all aspects of your holiday once you are in South Africa, including car hire, shark cage diving, whale watching and of course accommodation.

This spectacular section of the Atlantic Ocean stretches from Gordon’s Bay to Cape Agulhas. It offers a range of magnificent mountains, quaint settlements, such as Hermanus and Gansbaai, rugged rocky cliffs and magnificent bays, such as False Bay and Walker Bay, most famous for the visiting whales and the resident great white sharks. An absolute must for nature and wildlife lovers.

Things to do
Shark Alley coastline has some beautiful and rugged seascapes such as False Bay, Kogel Bay and Walker Bay and offers a variety of activities and places of interest, which will remain for life as some of your best memories. For example:

Whale watching: The Southern Cape provides some of the world’s easiest and best places for whale watching with all 9 of the southern hemisphere great whale species passing its shores. The Southern Right Whale, a species once hunted to the verge of extinction, is most commonly spotted visiting the area between June and November to calve and mate. Humpback whales are also seen, but less commonly.

Shark diving: The Great White Shark experience has become one of the defining tourist attractions along South Africa’s coastline. Forever cast as a villain by Hollywood, this misunderstood predator is actually becoming an endangered species. Where done sensitively by minimising intrusion to the marine environment, a great white shark cage dive can be a breathtaking experience accessible to anyone (not just divers). More info..

African penguins: Betty’s Bay, a quaint and sleepy coastal town, holds one of the two land based African penguin breeding colonies at Stony Point. The first nest was found in 1982 and now the colony has grown up to 80 nests. The penguins co-habit with the several species of cormorant and can be viewed up close from a newly constructed boardwalk.

Hermanus: A typical colonial fishing town trumpets itself as the whale capital of South Africa and even has an official whale crier. Though world famous for whale watching, it probably also has some of the most congested whale viewing points along the Cape.

Gansbaai: Gansbaai is a workaday place, dependent upon its fishing and seafood canning industry. Nowadays, it is also the main launching point for shark safaris to Dyer Island, home to a substantial African penguin and seal colony both prized morsels for the great whites. Hence, the channel between the island and the mainland is at certain times of the year shark infested and nicknamed Shark Alley.

Cape Agulhas: Cape Agulhas is where the world’s great oceans, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, converge. This southernmost tip of Africa is a rather desolate and windswept place, however its lighthouse built in 1848 on this treacherous coastline is worth a visit.

Summers are hot and dry with the occasional summer rainfall sweeping the coast. Average daytime temperature is between 25-32ºC and water temperature about 16ºC. Winters are mild with a general weather pattern of 1-2 days of beautiful weather with temperatures exceeding 20ºC followed by 2-3 days of wet weather.

The best time to visit the Shark Alley coastline depends more on your personal interests than on the weather. The shark diving peak season is between April and September when the sharks are particularly active in their feeding patterns. During the shark low season (UK winter) there is a risk of not seeing sharks – although this is quite rare! May/June to November is best time for whale watching, a period when most whales migrate into the waters of the Cape to calve and mate.

Self-drive is very common in South Africa with generally good quality roads and they drive on the left. The coastal route between Gordan's Bay and Agulhas is not only beautiful, but also a joy the drive. It has good quality roads, plenty of viewpoints & picnic places and reasonable distances for day trips.