Page 230 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

228  THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN C APE

E Shipwreck Museum
Independent St. Tel 028 424 1240.
Open 9am–4:45pm Mon–Fri, 9am–
2:45pm Sat, 10:30am–12:30pm Sun.
Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec, 1 Jan. &
This museum was officially
opened in April 1975 and is
housed in an old rectory and
church hall, both of which have
been declared national
monuments. The rectory, built
in 1845, is furnished in the style
of a 19th-century townhouse
Coming face to face with a great white on a shark-diving expedition typical of South Africa’s
southern coast. The interiors
4 Gansbaai feature is the Shipwreck and furnish ings contain artifacts
Museum, which pays tribute to from the many shipwrecks that
Road map B5. R43 SE of Hermanus.
* 11,600. n Kapokblom St, the southern coast’s tragic occurred along this capricious
028 384 1439. Open daily. 4 history. This treacherous length stretch of coastline. The
∑ gansbaaiinfo.com of coastline has been labelled salvaged wood, as well as ships’
the “graveyard of ships” as its decor, frequently appear in
The name Gansbaai (Bay of rocky reefs, gale-force winds door and window frames and
Geese) originates from the and powerful currents make it in the ceiling rafters.
flocks of Egyptian geese that one of the most The museum is full of
used to breed here. dangerous in the shipwrecked figureheads,
Gansbaai is renowned for the world. Since 1552, porcelain, cannons, anchors, old
tragedy of HMS Birkenhead. In more than 130 ships bottles and coins. The beautiful
February 1852, this ship hit a have foundered here, marble-topped wash stand in
rock off Danger Point, 9 km (6 an average of one the bedroom was salvaged
miles) away, and sank with 445 wreck per kilometre from the Queen of the
men – all the women and of coast. Thames, which sank in
children were saved. To this day, The best time to visit 1871, while the medicine
the phrase “Birkenhead Drill” Bredasdorp’s Heuningberg chest came from the Clan
describes the custom of Nature Reserve is from mid- Mac Gregor, which was
favouring women and children September to mid-October, shipwrecked in 1902.
in crisis situations. when the countryside The church hall,
From Gansbaai there are becomes bathed in Figurehead, Shipwreck dating back to 1864,
several boat trips to Dyer Island, colour from hundreds Museum is now called the
where you can watch great of blooms bursting Shipwreck Hall. Its
white sharks feed on the seals into flower. It is home to a rather gloomy interior is a
that breed on nearby Geyser number of South African suitable environ ment for the
Island. This area is also home to endemic plants and of these, interesting and diverse relics
large numbers of African the Bredasdorp lily (Cyrtanthus displayed in glass cases, all of
penguins, another food source guthriea) is found only on the which were recovered from
for the great whites that Heuningberg Mountain. major shipwrecks in the area.
congregate here. Nicknamed
“Shark Alley”, the channel
between the islands and the
mainland is a popular
destination for shark-diving.

5 Bredasdorp
Road map B5. * 15,500.
Bredasdorp lies in a region of
undulating barley fields and
sheep pasture. The town
is a centre for the wool
industry, but serves mainly
as an access route to Cape
Agulhas (via the R319) and
Arniston (via the R316).
The town’s most interesting A 19th-century kitchen in the Shipwreck Museum at Bredasdorp
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp386–7 and pp403–4

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