Page 225 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN C APE  223

THE SOUTHERN CAPE

The Southern Cape’s interior is characterized by its towering
mountains, whose high-walled passes offer visitors a number
of awe-inspiring scenic drives. The region’s largest town,
Oudtshoorn, upholds its reputation as the ostrich-farming
capital, while on the coast, tourists are drawn to Hermanus
every year to watch southern right whales from excellent
vantage points along the coast.

The quaint seaside towns of the Southern other wildlife also roamed the area – in
Cape lie in a region known as the Over- fact, the pass follows an ancient migra tory
berg, which extends east of the Hottentots trail, named gantouw (eland’s path) by the
Holland Moun tains, and is defined to the indige nous peoples. As the settlers
north by the Riviersonderend Mountains penetrated further into unexplored
and the Langeberg and Outeniqua ranges. territory they faced another mountain
Along the coast, the Overberg stretches to barrier: north over the Langeberg and
the mouth of the Breede River, just north Outeniqua lay the Little Karoo, pro tected
of the De Hoop Nature Reserve. Sir Lowry’s by the Swartberg Mountains. It was in this
Pass, a circuitous road that winds high above territory that two of South Africa’s greatest
Gordon’s Bay and offers splendid views across road builders, Andrew Geddes Bain and
the False Bay coastline, is the gateway to his son, Thomas Bain, made their fame.
the Overberg. The spectacular Four Passes Tour (see
Early European settlers were pre vented pp234–5) is a worth while excursion.
from crossing this formidable mountain Visitors can detour to the exquisite
barrier until Sir Lowry’s Pass was constructed dripstone formations of the nearby
by Major Charles Michell in 1828. Before Cango Caves or ride a giant bird at
this, the Over berg was populated by the Oudtshoorn’s ostrich farms.
nomadic Khoi (see pp50–51), who were At the coast, windswept Cape Agulhas
attracted by abun dant mountain water marks the meeting point of the cold
and grazing for their herds. Elephant and Atlantic and warm Indian oceans.

Thatched fishermen’s cottages at Arniston (Waenhuiskrans)
Whale breaching the surface at Hermanus, famed for its whale-watching opportunities

222-223_EW_South_Africa.indd 223 25/05/17 2:46 pm