Cape West Coast, Cedarberg, South Africa

The Cape West Coast is a distinctive and unusual region only one hour north of Cape Town offering unique sandveld vegetation, picturesque fishing villages, long sandy beaches, immense bird colonies and its unique brand of hospitality seen in the open-air seafood restaurants, which typify the West Coast. One of the delights of the West Coast is that it is little visited by South Africans compared to Hermanus and the Garden Route (with their warmer waters) so you can find kilometres of empty beach for evening strolls.

Thanks to the Benguela current, fish are in abundance along the West Coast. Rich nutrients attract vast shoals of fish, which in turn supports a superb birdlife. Indeed the West Coast has some of the best birding in South Africa, especially migratory birds. The West Coast National Park has some important wetlands, which harbour some 25 million water birds including plovers, herons, ibis and black oystercatchers. There’s plenty of antelope as well including eland, kudu and zebra. In springtime, flower-lovers will delight in the Postberg Nature Reserve, part of the West Coast National Park, with its carpets of wild flowers such as yellow gousblomme (gazanias) and botterblomme (rain daisies). This section of the park is only open during August to October.

If you are keen on seeing wild spring flowers we recommend visiting during the time of the Darling Flower show held in mid September. The Duckitt Orchid Show runs concurrently with the flower show on a local orchid farm. You can also visit the Tienie Versveld Reserve near Darling which hosts babianas, lachenalias, chincherinchees and sundews. The Columbine Nature Reserve near the picturesque town of Paternoster is also well worth a visit.

The turquoise waters of Langebaan lagoon are ideal for swimming (being considerably warmer than the Atlantic Ocean.) Langebaan lagoon offers ideal conditions for water sports such as windsailing and yachting.

• West Coast National Park & Postberg Nature Reserve
• Turquoise waters of Langebaan Lagoon
• Vast sandy beaches
• Alfresco restaurants on the beach
• Quad biking
• Bird Island at Lambert’s Bay
• West Coast Fossil Park
• Beach walks
• Spring flower displays from late August to September
• Whale and seal watching boat cruises
• Sunset boat cruises at Langebaan

See our  escorted Spring Flower Tour if you wish to tour this area during the flower season... 

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