FREE Please support our advertisers who make this free guide possible. PLEASE TIP 1 EMPOWERMENT ‘There rose no murmur from the ranks, no thought by shameful strength unhonoured life to seek. GATEWAY VENDORS GUIDES Our post to quit we were not trained, nor taught to trample down the weak. So we made women with their children go; The oars ply back agen, and yet agen, Whilst inch by inch the drowning ship sank low Still under steadfast men.’ CAPE At the Southern Tip of Africa The Overberg TOWN 1 Sir Francis H. Doyle • The Poetic Picture of the Birkenhead you will find the beginning of your adventure... Served as a sundial Aasvoëlberg Twelve Stellenbosch Elandskloof One o’clock Peak Piet Moolman’s Bos Keiserrivier o’clock Peak Misty Point Groot Hendrick’s Bos Poesjenelrivier Bonnievale Jan Joubert’s Gat Bridge Franschhoek the oldest stone arched bridge in SA Lan McGregor gebe rg M oun Elim Napier Bredasdorp Kanonberg tain Range Tradouw Pass Gobosrivier R Visit the southernmost tip of Africa: Villiersdorp 60 Swellendam Olifantsberg Buffeljags Hottentots Holland Dam discover other interesting places Mountains Theewaterskloof Boskloof Dam Riviersonderend Marloth Nature Reserve 5 324 Mountain Range and the history of the area Old wagon road cut Breede River 321 4 Sir Lowry’s Pass Village 6 through Hessequa Poort Skilpadkop 9 Buffeljagsrivier Suurbraak N Hottentots Holland Kloof 2 the original pass Groenlandberg Arniston Struisbaai L’Agulhas Bontebok National Park Houw Hoek Inn VOC post 1734 d 028-424 2584 • [email protected] the oldest wayside ren 6 km from Suurbraak nde Strand Cape Canopy inn in SA (1834) ivierso Old wagon road web: http://www.xplorio.com/en/regions/cape-agulhas/... R NATIONAL PARKS Tour Bromberg crossing at Vaandrigs Drift 2 Genadendal Greyton 406 Together we can make a difference!! Sir Lowry’s once called Khoi-na Pass Baviaanskloof Grabouw name r ie Nouberg Tirri v 2 ri 2 Serjeantsrivier el Stormsvlei Luiperdsberg rt r Gordon’s Bay a ie once the farm Kw v Soetmelksvlei once called ri Avontuur as first VOC River Visser’s Baay og ro post 1726 Rafting Steenbras Dam Elgin Donkerhoekberge D Riviersonderend R once Tygerhoek Steenbras River 43 N 324 Rockview Dam Houhoekberge 2 Jakkals River 12 This is the furthest east Swartberg the railway line from Kogelberg Houwhoek Pass Soerivier Nature Cape Town reached in 1915: it was never Reserve continued. Kromco Kogelbergdam Protem Slangrivier Kogel Bay Botrivier T +27 (0)21 3000 501 Caledon Speelmansrivier 11 E [email protected] once called Soutrivier Port Beaufort Clarence w www.capecanopytour.co.za Colebrooke Zwarteberg Middleton Malgas 1852 Drive High Noon Huisrivier G S34º 04.467’ E 19º 03.724’ * Discount offered to Wild Card holders. This price is valid for 2015. Arieskraaldam Queen Victoria Potberg River gave this land to Wydgeleë Stoffelsrivier Botrivier Nomgorivier free slaves in 1850 3 h Babilonstoring us W ale C Hermanus... 7 an ru Shaw’s Mt Potberg Breede River Harb i home to the Southern Right Whale. Steenboksberg rm ew ou s Ruggens e r e Akkedisbergpas Hamerkop N s Join us on an awesome boat-based Palmiet River name given to the rolling Kadie H Rooiels Arabella Akkedisberg hills in this area 1865 whale watching experience... once called Three Sisters e Salmonsdam R ard Paterson’s A Nature Reserve Elandsberge 44 De Bos Dam n B e Bay l g e Karsrivier 13 o em n Botriver H Kleinrivier 13 Witsand a i Nature 11 i t h De Hoop Nature Reserve St Sebastian Bay c Reserve Kleinriviersbe Napier B t rge www.dehoopcollection.co.za as a e W Onrusberge 8 Elandsrivier 10 i d Whale www.iziko.org.za Kleinmond Tafelberg Bredasdorp Infanta Betty’s St Sebastian Hawston Soetmuisberg Point Bay Harold Porter once called 7 www.gatewayguides.co.za Cape Botanical Garden 1 Hermanus New Harbour • 028 313 2722 • www.hermanus-whale-cruises.co.za Herrie’s Bay Stanford Pringle Hangklip Voëlklip Koueberg Stony Point Eco Centre Vermont Grootkop Bay Lighthouse Walker Bay & Penguin Colony Onrus Hermanus Nature Reserve Bredasdorpberge Th Die Mond se Kop Swartkransberg De Hoop Marine Reserve Cape Infanta Cape Infanta 4 e W 3 10 Lighthouse hal 317 Nachtwacht 13 The first Dutch settlers at the Cape called this e Kleinriviersvlei 319 White Shark C 3 Kleinrivier (80 km) is the shortest Strandveld Marth Point White Shark oa unexplored land beyond the seemingly impenetrable s river in the world from the source home of the Duineboere Air Force Base Overberg or not). To this day some old homesteads can show t Elim Hottentots Holland mountain range the Overberg (over the to mouth (5 km as the crow flies) The site of the and missile test site some part of a ship or its contents somewhere on The blue crane is listed i original Bontebok Ryspunt mountain). However, once these massive mountain walls had been Walker Bay Langpan Karsriviervlei the farm, such as a beam in the living room, a bell, 9 Moddervlei National Park as vulnerable on the Safaris breached, the land beyond would change for ever, as the Sousouqua Franskraal se Berge Southernmost lake in 316 crockery or cutlery. Sandberg Red List of threatened soon discovered. Captain Klaas (not his real name, but one given to him Die Kelders Africa; largest fresh Get a new perspective water lake in SA There are hundreds of stories about ships and species. There are only by the early European traders) was the leader of this Khoi-na (Khoi, Khoikhoi, Prinskraal Gansbaai wrecks off the Overberg, but only a few can be told 25 000 left in the world, Hottentot, Otentottu) clan in the area near the Kromco building. Within a few Waskraalsvlei Voëlvlei 5 Arniston or Waenhuiskrans Danger Point Wolfhuiskop here, for there have been over 250 shipwrecks and of which half are found years not only his Khoi-na name, but also his land, culture and way of life would Lighthouse once called Wagenhuiskrantz Zoetendals more than 2500 lives lost since the first recorded in the Overberg. be lost to these people. During the 1600s and early 1700s there were about Vlei Heuning- Cage Diving & Surface Viewing Uilkraalsrivier Van Breda’s 12 Arniston 1815 shipwreck on this coast – that of the Zoetendal 100 000 Khoi-na inhabitants Danger Point Die Pan nesrivier 12 Geelbek Street, Kleinbaai • Bookings +27 60 966 8844 &Reitz’s Waenhuiskrans Cave which went down off Struisbaai in 1673. Kleinbaai Soutpan chosen www.whitesharksafaris.com 2 throughout the Overberg. They 4 Pearly Beach farming Struispunt (historic fish traps) (The survivors were helped back to the Birkenhead 1852 area i the Cape after facing shared the area with the San Soetanysberg Struisbaai Longest white-sand 5 De Mond Forest Reserve Cape settlement by the Khoi-na, Buffeljags beach in the southern corruption allegations people: the two groups seemed Great white shark cage diving Dyer Island less one who was killed by an 6 Struisbaai hemisphere from the leading burghers The 4 Star Set above a pristine beach, the Arniston to co-exist relatively well. The 14 named after Jan Struys elephant.) Agulhas Sandberg Zoetendal 1673 of the time such as Adam Tas. Spa Hotel is the pearl on this rugged Cape Europeans had hardly ventured Quoin Point Quoin Point (historic fish traps) Arniston Spa Hotel Nature Nature Reserve 1 Doncaster 1836 This episode marked a turning In 1722 the wreck of the coastline. All 60 en-suite rooms, tastefully into this area, and by the 1660s NATIONAL PARKS Reserve The key to unlocking the Suiderstrand 8 Schooneberg, which went decorated. Our two restaurants offer mouth- the Nguni Africans had reached Meermin 1766 point: the VOC withdrew from Overberg was the Gantouw down on a calm clear day, watering meals for all tastes, complimented only as far south as the Fish Atlantic Ocean Northumberland Point Indian Ocean direct trade with the Overberg and Pass (Elandspad) which was first used Cape Agulhas aroused the suspicion of the authorities back by an award-winning local River hundreds of miles up Lighthouse Agulhas i instead worked through burghers. by migrating eland and subsequently by in Cape Town. The story unfolded that it had wine-list. the east coast, so the Khoi-na the Khoi-na. With a gradient of 1:4 and steep rock Cape Agulhas The first loan places in the Overberg were granted in been intentionally sunk for the loot: the captain and San lived in isolation from once called Ponta da St Brendan & The Needle ledges, it was not an easy pass. A farmer would lose on average 1708 at Botriver, and Caledon followed in 1710. From then on increasing was broken on the wheel, one accomplice (028) 445 9000 the outside world. Some early southernmost point of Africa a wagon a year on this pass. By the end of the 1800s this track had become numbers of burghers moved into the Overberg, seasonally at first and then on committed suicide and the others were [email protected] explorers and traders described a road catering for 4500 wagons a year. Because of excessive traffic and heavy a permanent basis. One of the reasons for this mini-trek was to escape the deported. The loot was buried at Vergelegen www.arnistonhotel.com the Khoi-na as the happiest, losses, this pass was replaced by Sir Lowry’s Pass in 1830. after in this broad valley. (The forests of Riviersonderend and Swellendam were claustrophobic governance of the VOC. The VOC was not to be outwitted, so in Somerset West, where a sniper in a tree most carefree and healthiest once abundant, but from 1726 the forests were cut out and the wood was as the colony expanded, government posts were set up supposedly for the Elandspad was the first stage in the evolution of a track that became known as made things difficult for those searching for it.