Malgas (or Malagas) is a settlement on the right (southwest) bank of the
Breede River
The Breede River (), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed th ...
in the
Overberg
__NOTOC__
Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...
region of the
Western Cape
The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...
. It is situated 25 kilometres north-west of the Breede River mouth at
Witsand, and 30 kilometres south-east of
Swellendam
Swellendam () is the third oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town and Stellenbosch), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape D ...
.
"Malgas" is the Afrikaans for gannet. The word "malgas" is probably an adaptation of the , referring to the
Cape gannet (''Morus capensis'') with its black-tipped wings. According to the
2011 census, Malgas has a population of 44 people in 20 households.
Malgas Pont
It is well known for the "pont", a man-hauled
pontoon cable ferry
A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...
across the Breede River, which is the last of its type in South Africa.
The man-hauled ferry has been replaced by a motor driven ferry, a yellow steel pontoon with a massive diesel engine.
References
External links
*
Populated places in the Swellendam Local Municipality
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