Gansbaai (Dutch/Afrikaans for “bay of geese,” sometimes referred to as Gans Bay) is a fishing town and popular tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. With a harbor, fleet of trawlers and Pelagic fish factory has become the economic and commercial hub of immediate area.
The Dynefontein Mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the town, offering opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, and birdwatching. The mountains are adorned with fynbos vegetation, a unique and diverse plant kingdom that is indigenous to the region.
It is known for its dense population of great white sharks and as a whale-watching location. Gansbaai is named the ‘BIG 2 TOWN’ after the numerous Great White Sharks that cruise in the water on the eastern side – and the many Southern Right Wales that can be seen in Walker Bay on the Western side between May and December.
Gansbaai, midway between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas, is ruled by the sea and floral abundance.
Brief History of Gansbaai
The earliest evidence of the presence of sheep-herding Khoi people (after the hunter-gatherer-“San”, the original indigenous population of the Western Cape) in the Western Cape has been found in Klipgat Cave, at De Kelders. Until the first white settlers arrived at the end of the 18th century, the Khoi people thrived in this region. An expedition sent by Jan van Riebeeck to the area, described meeting people of the so-called Chainouqua-tribe near Baardskeerdersbos, a rural hamlet, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Gansbaai. The river flowing through the Baardskeerdersbos Valley is still called “Boesmansrivier” (Afrikaans for Bushman’s river).
It was the people of Khoi-descent that erected the first permanent settlement in the Gansbaai vicinity. In 1811 fishing cottages were built under the dense Milkwood Forests in Stanfords Bay at De Kelders. The first white settlers in the area were “trekboers” (nomadic farmers). They copied the Khoi herding techniques of using a grazing area until it was exhausted, then moving on to greener pastures. The area was big and fertile enough for such purposes. On many of the large farms around Gansbaai, the old and original homesteads and mudstone houses tell of the days when the white farmers settled down.
Gansbaai was founded, according to local storytellers, in 1881 after 18-year-old fisherman Johannes Cornelis Wessels walked there across the dunes from Stanford and discovered excellent fishing in the area. He settled there, and soon after other families followed suit. The settlers called it “Gansbaai” after the colony of Egyptian geese that gathered at the freshwater fountain in the present-day Gansbaai Harbor.
Gansbaai’s economy received an economic boost in 1939 when a small factory was built to process sharks’ livers for vitamin A and lubricant, which was in great demand during World War II. After the war though fell in disrepair. It was not until local school principal Johannes Barnard persuaded village fishermen to set up the first fishery cooperative in South Africa that the economy began to recover.
Barnard helped the fishermen obtain capital from the Fisheries Development Corporation, deepen the harbour and establish a modern fish meal factory. It is still the primary employment generator in Gansbaai and the canning division is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The fleet
The town became a municipality on April1, 1962.
Up until the 20th century, however, it was little more than a simple fishing village due to its isolation and lack of communication with the outside world. The R43 and paved roads only came in the 1980’s.
Today, Gansbaai’s economy still revolves around its fishing industry and Abalone farms, but an increasingly large part of it now comes from tourism. It is considered the great white shark capital of the world, drawing National Geographic Society film crews and researchers from around the globe to study the wildlife. It has also become a popular whale-watching spot for the Southern Right Whale, who return annually May to December.