South Africa · Africa

Western Cape

  • Code:WC
  • Type:province

Introduction

Almost everything written about the Western Cape is about its first eighty kilometres. Beyond the city, the vineyards and the coast road east lies a much larger province of eroded sandstone mountains, a cold Atlantic shore, a semi-desert of ostrich farms reached over spectacular passes, and the actual southernmost point of Africa — which is not where most people think it is.

Overview

The Western Cape's reputation rests on a small and genuinely superb corner of itself, and the rest is where South Africans go. North of the city the Cederberg rises into weathered sandstone formations and cedar-clad slopes, holding a large body of San rock painting and the only region on earth where rooibos is grown commercially. Up the cold Atlantic shore, fishing villages sell crayfish off the quay and the whole coast turns briefly and spectacularly to flowers after a good winter. Inland, a route through the Klein Karoo threads a series of mountain passes into semi-desert country of ostrich farms and limestone caves, and it is the alternative to driving the coast twice. And along the southern edge, the Overberg runs through wheat country and whale coast to a low, unglamorous headland that is the genuine southern tip of the continent — the place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are formally agreed to meet, which is emphatically not the famous cape everyone photographs. The province rewards a second week far more than most.

Discover Western Cape

Two to three hours north of the city, the Cederberg is a range of weathered sandstone that has eroded into arches, overhangs and improbable balanced formations, coloured deep orange and red, with clear streams and rock pools in the valleys between. It is a wilderness area rather than a resort: accommodation is farm cottages and campsites, roads are largely gravel, phone signal is patchy, and the pleasure is walking, scrambling and swimming rather than being catered to. The range also holds a substantial body of San rock painting — a separate tradition from the great Drakensberg concentration on the other side of the country, generally more accessible and often reachable on a short walk from a farm track with the landowner's guidance. This is also the region where rooibos is grown, and the low, wispy bushes covering the flats between the mountains are the crop itself.

Ways to Experience This Destination

The Cederberg

Eroded orange sandstone, rock pools and cedar slopes, with San rock painting on accessible farm land and the world's only rooibos country.

The cold Atlantic shore

Whitewashed fishing villages, quayside crayfish, empty beaches and a national park lagoon of startlingly clear turquoise water.

Klein Karoo and the passes

Nineteenth-century mountain passes into a hot semi-desert valley of ostrich farms, feather-boom mansions and deep limestone caves.

Overberg and Cape Agulhas

Wheat and canola country running down to whale coast and the genuine southernmost point of Africa — modest, and all the better for it.

Practical Western Cape travel notes

  • The southernmost point of Africa is not the famous cape near the city — it is a low headland well to the east, and that is also where the two oceans are formally agreed to meet.
  • This province has a Mediterranean climate and is out of step with the rest of the country: it rains in winter and the summers are hot, dry and often very windy.
  • The spring flower display depends entirely on the winter's rainfall, so it moves year to year and can be poor. Check locally, go on a sunny day, and go at midday when the flowers are open.
  • The Cederberg is a wilderness area, not a resort: gravel roads, farm accommodation, patchy signal. Bring what you need with you.
  • A car is necessary for everything outside the city and the Winelands — public transport does not usefully serve the Cederberg, the west coast, the Karoo route or the Overberg.
  • Distances are moderate here by South African standards, which makes a series of two-night trips out from one base a better shape than a single long circuit.

Frequently asked questions

A great deal, and it is where South Africans themselves go. The Cederberg to the north is eroded orange sandstone with rock pools, walking and accessible San rock painting. The cold Atlantic coast has fishing villages selling crayfish off the quay and a national park lagoon of remarkable clarity. Inland, a route of nineteenth-century mountain passes leads into semi-desert ostrich country with deep limestone caves. And the Overberg runs south to the continent's genuine southern tip.

Cities in Western Cape

Cape Town

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