History of Gansbaai
De Kelders in Gansbaai has one of the oldest associations with man in the world. At the time when Neanderthal man was still the dominant species of genus Homo in Europe, a group of modern people (Homo sapiens sapiens) had already made Klipgat Cave their home. Remains have been excavated showing modern man living here more than 70,000 years ago. Klipgat Cave is located in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, next to De Kelders, the residential shore area of Gansbaai. As one of only three places in South Africa where such old remains have been excavated, Klipgat Cave is one of the most important historical sites in the Western Cape. The reserve and the cave are open to the public at a minimal cost.
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 as well. Until the arrival of the first white settlers 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). "Bushman" is a name commonly used the for San-people, but will in this case have reflected Khoi-people. It was people of Khoi-descent that erected the first permanent settlement in the Gansbaai vicinity. In 1811 fishing-cottages were built at Stanfords Bay in De Kelders.
The first white settlers in the area were "trekboere" (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 that the white farmers settled down.
In 1852 the troopship HMS Birkenhead ran aground off Danger Point. A barely visible rock 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Danger Point (now aptly called "Birkenhead Rock") was fatal for the troopship carrying young Welsh and Scottish soldiers and their officers and family on their way to Eastern Cape to fight the Xhosa. The Birkenhead became famous because it was the first shipwreck where the "women and children first" protocol was applied. All women and children were saved; most of the men perished. Most of the horses swam ashore and were the ancestors of a feral herd that roamed the plains east of Gansbaai until late in the 20th century.
More than 140 ships have been wrecked and thousands of lives lost between Danger Point and Cape Infanta, to the east of Gansbaai. In 1895, the Danger Point Lighthouse was built, providing more security for the ships in these dangerous waters. Gansbaai was founded 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. Up until the late 20th century, however, it was little more than a primitive fishing village due to its isolation and lack of communication with the outside world.
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, however, demand fell and the few short years of prosperity were over.
It wasn't 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. The town became a municipality in 1963.
Today, Gansbaai's economy is split between the fishing industry and tourism thanks to the shark cage diving and Whale watching industries.
Gansbaai is now considered the Great White Shark capital of the world. National Geographic, BBC, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and many documentaries have been filmed here and researchers from around the globe come to Gansbaai to study the wildlife.
The Southern Right Whale can be seen in large numbers, especially from the rocky shores of De Kelders on Walker Bay, the site of an old whaling station. The lookout platform to the station and the steps leading to it are still standing. Today whales are protected in South Africa and the descendants of the whalers are now the skippers on the boats that take tourists out for boat-based whale watching. Some of the skippers on the shark boats were previously fishermen hunting the Great White Shark and it is fantastic to see the balance switch to eco-tourism in such a strong way.
The hinterland is known for its vast mountainous landscapes covered with unspoilt vegetation of the Cape Floral Kingdom ('fynbos'). Despite being the smallest of the world's six floral kingdoms, the Cape Floral Kingdom, with 9000 species, is the richest.
Dyer Island, Geyser Rock and Shark Alley are the most popular tourist attractions. The original name of Dyer Island was Ilha da Fera (Island of wild creatures), so named by Portuguese seafarers in the 15th century. Dyer Island is the largest of a group of islands about 4 miles offshore from Kleinbaai. It is named after Samson Dyer, an emigrant from the USA to the Cape Colony in 1806, who lived on the island collecting guano, which he sold to mainlanders as fertilizer. The island is home to thousands of African Penguins.
Geyser Rock is a smaller island nearby, and is home to around 60,000 Cape Fur Seals. The shallow channel between the two islands is popularly known as "Shark Alley"
Dyer Island is a nature reserve and cannot be accessed by the general public, but Whale watching boat tours leave from Kleinbaai stop at a shark diving boats as well as visiting the islands and passing through the famous Shark-Alley.
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