Strandfontein

Översikt

STRANDFONTEIN is a large day-resort with an enormous tidal pool backed by a pavilion and flanked by sandy beaches. It has braai sites as well as grassed terraces that make good picnic areas. Lifeguards are on duty during peak periods, and the NSRI’s Station 16 is based here. The resort is very popular with anglers, who come from far and wide in the hope of hooking fish such as white steenbras and galjoen, but it is mostly visited by residents of the nearby suburbs. During the apartheid era the resort was zoned for exclusive use by ‘Coloureds’, and they still make up the main user group due to the historical delineation of residential areas on racial grounds. Seal Island – a large rock that is home to some 60 000 seals - lies directly offshore, about 5? km away. This is a prime feeding area for great white sharks between April and September, when seal pups spend time in the waters around the island before dispersing once they are weaned. It is here that unusual shark breaching behaviour can be observed, as the predators surge up from deep water to attack the seals from below, moving with such power that they fly through the air. Licensed operators offer shark-viewing and cage-diving trips to Seal Island, departing from the harbours at Simonstown and Gordon’s Bay.

Cape Town Green Map
updated 03/2012 by Cape Town Green Map