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Tourist Routes
Province: Western Cape
The Cape West Coast Route
Vanrhynsdorp is the northern starting point for the Cape West Coast Route. The West Coast is the largest and most varied of the Western Cape tourist areas. It combines some austere, arid coastal regions, the lagoon and industrial developments of the ooast, the rich farmlands and the wilderness areas of the Matzikamma, Cederberg, Groot Winterhoek Mountain, Knersvlakte and Namaqualand. Tourists to the region can find rock-art, mission stations, old fishing villages, the popular Maskam, Gifberg, Urionskraal and the almost forgotten Koebee valley in the Matzikamma mountain range and stark unspoiled beaches, new developments in wine farming while hiking and climbing areas offer a diversity of challenges. Landscapes vary from desolate, almost desert-like beaches to rich agricultural land and Strandveld fynbos.
Agriculturally this area is diverse combining wheat, sheep, potatoes,
tomatoes, a variety of vegetables, wine, citrus and rooibos, a local health drink. If it's water you want the Bulshoek and Clanwilliam Dams are premier inland watersport venues and the Doorn River is used for white-water rafting.
There's even water therapy in the baths near Citrusdal. Still on the
water route the aquamarine-coloured Langebaan lagoon south of Saldanha offers superb sailing, boardsailing and kayaking. The area is also famous for its fossils dating back 10 million years and a set of footprints of early man dating back 117 000 years.
If ifs nature you're after, you have the widest diversity of birds in the country while nature reserves offer eco- and historical tourism at its
best, with explorations of wildlife and informed access to San rock-art. The Gifberg and Cederberg are favourite hiking and climbing areas. Areas of the Cederberg and Gifberg can be walked by families, while the Maskam, Wolfberg and Krakadouw crags are rated among South Africa's toughest rock climbing sites.
This is prime adventure tourism territory, on or in the water, and in the sky as well, offering hang-gliding, paragliding, 4X4 trails, mountain-hiking and water sports. The coast, chilled by the Benguela current is South Africa's best fishing spot, and no-one should leave the area without sampling a beach fish or crayfish braai (barbecue).
Open-air restaurants offer legendary sea-food meals complete with freshly baked bread and bredies (stews). Only when you meet a strandloper, sip some soetes, taste bokkoms or savour kreef, admire vygies and dance the langarm in your velskoene, will you have seen it all. Strange words? Yes, but once you get to know them they take on colourful meaning in the West Coast wonderland. Like Strandloper, a local wading bird and one of hundreds of species found in this region. Not to mention the rare Cape Gannet. Sipping soetes, a honey tinged desert wine, just right on winter evenings or over crushed ice on a hot summer night is very special.So are herbal drinks like Rooibos which is unique to the region and the many wines from the Olifants River and Swartland Wine Routes. Bokkoms, a salty sun dried fish is a local delicacy, just as kreef, West Coast lobster found along the coast or at various open air and other restaurants.To be savoured with the most spectacular sunsets over the Atlantic. Vygies and a myriad of wild flowers magically appear after the winter rains and appear in spring all over the countryside. The most colourful carpet in the world. Fynbos and succulents add to the diverse vegetation. Then there's the Langarm, a dance that gets any party going. And Velskoene, finely handcrafted shoes, and there are the locals. A wise and weather-beaten folk, with a twinkle in their eyes, full of generosity and hospitality- Cragged sculptured rock formations of the Matzikamma, Gifberg and Cederberg, sunkissed beaches and still bays with their fishing boats, hiking trails, cyding, rafting, boating and fishing, historical sites, breathtaking scenery and much more. Suddenly all these strange words will evoke memories, new friendships and pictures never to be forgotten. Then you can truly say you have seen it all.
Touring this route from Vanrhynsdorp taking the R27 west to Vredendal, Lutzville, Ebenhaezer,Papendorp, Strandfontein, Doring Bay, Lamberts Bay,Graafwater to the N7 near Clanwilliam or from Lamberst Bay to Elands Bay, to Dwarskersbos, Veldddrif to Hopefield, Malmesbury, or from Veldddrif to Vredenburg, Langebaan,Yzerfontein to Cape Town.
Depart from Cape Town with the R27 north to Darling to Yzerfontein or with the N7 north to Malmesbury, Hopefield, Saldanha, Vredenburg, Pateroster, St Helena Bay, Velddrif, Elands Bay.Lamberts Bay, Doring Bay, Strandfontein, Vredendal to Vanrhynsdorp. From Vanrhynsdorp tour the N7 south to Klawer, Citrusdal, Ceres, Riebeck Kasteel, Malmesbury to Cape Town- Or tour the route from Cape Town via Porterville, Citrusdal, Clanwilliam, Klawer to Vanrhynsdorp. Depart from Vanrhynsdorp with the R27 west via Lutzville, Strandfontein, Lamberts Bay, Velddrif,Saldanha, Yzerfontein to Cape Town.
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