Set at the south end of Walker Bay, opposite the better-known resort town of Hermanus, Gansbaai is an unassuming fishing village named for the geese that once nested in the vicinity. Today, it is best known as the venue for thrilling year-round cage dives to see great white sharks. The surrounding cliffs also offer superb seasonal whale-watching. 

Discover Gansbaai

During the calving season, which peaks over Sep-Oct, Walker Bay attracts 100 southern right whales and a smaller number of humpback whales. The cliffs on the residential suburb of De Kelders provide a fine vantage point for watching these giant marine creatures breaching and lobtailing close to shore. 

Half-day ‘shark cage dives’ out of Gansbaai head to the waters around Dyer Island, where a dense population of rapacious great white sharks thrives on a breeding colony of 60,000 Cape fur seals. 

In addition to Cape fur seals, Dyer Island supports breeding colonies of the several marine birds including the charismatic African penguin and African black oystercatcher. 

De Kelders Cave, on the outskirts of Gansbaai, is an important archaeological site that has yielded some of the oldest known evidence of occupation by modern humans, dating back 80,000 years. 

Day hikes through pristine fynbos, a habitat unique to the Cape floral Kingdom, can be enjoyed in the adjoining Walker Bay Nature Reserve.