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Gansbaai
Gansbaai (Dutch/Afrikaans for "bay of geese," sometimes referred to as Gans Bay) is a fishing town and tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It is known for its dense population of great white sharks and as a whale watching location. The main tourist attraction in Gansbaai since approximately 1995 has been cage diving with great white sharks. It is said that after Kruger National Park, the great white sharks attract some of the highest numbers of tourists to South Africa for any single activity. History Klipgat Cave is located in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, next to De Kelders, the residential shore area of Gansbaai. As one of only three places in South Africa where such old remains have been excavated, Klipgat Cave is an important historical sites in the Western Cape. The reserve and the cave are open to anyone that has a wild card. The earliest evidence of the presence of sheep-herding Khoi people (after the hunter-gathere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overstrand Local Municipality
Overstrand Municipality (; ) is a local municipality (South Africa), local municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located along the Atlantic coast between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas, within the Overberg District Municipality. The principal towns in the municipality are Hermanus, Gansbaai and Kleinmond. As of 2022, it had a population of 132,495. Geography The municipality covers an area of stretching along the coast of the Overberg, from the eastern edge of False Bay almost to Cape Agulhas. At its western end it is separated from the City of Cape Town by the Kogelberg mountains; to the north it is separated from the Theewaterskloof Municipality by the Kogelberg and the Kleinrivier Mountains; and to the east it abuts on the Cape Agulhas Municipality along a boundary that runs generally north-south just to the west of Elim, Western Cape, Elim. The western part of the municipality consists mostly of a narrow coastal plain with mountains immediately behind, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great White Shark
The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is the only known surviving species of its genus ''Carcharodon''. The great white shark is notable for its size, with the largest preserved female specimen measuring in length and around in weight at maturity. However, most are smaller; males measure , and females measure on average. According to a 2014 study, the lifespan of great white sharks is estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, well above previous estimates, making it one of the longest lived Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fishes currently known. According to the same study, male great white sharks take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, while the females take 33 years to be ready to produce offspring. Great white sharks can swim at speeds of 25 km/h (16 mph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shark Cage Diving
Shark cage diving is underwater diving or snorkeling where the observer remains inside a protective cage designed to prevent sharks from making contact with the divers. Shark cage diving is used for scientific observation, underwater cinematography, and as a tourist activity. Sharks may be attracted to the vicinity of the cage by the use of bait in a procedure known as ''chumming''. This procedure has attracted controversy due to claims that it could potentially alter the natural behaviour of sharks in the vicinity of swimmers. Similar cages are also used as a protective measure for divers working in waters where potentially dangerous shark species are present. In this application, the shark-proof cage may be used as a refuge, or as a diving stage during descent and ascent, particularly during staged decompression where the divers may be vulnerable while constrained to a specific depth in mid-water for several minutes. In other applications, a mobile cage may be carried by the d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Kelders
De Kelders (or ) is a coastal village in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. Die Kelders Caves Die Kelders Caves are an archaeological site that is relevant to human evolution. The site consists of two caves that contain human remains dating to the Middle Stone Age. The remains include isolated teeth, two manual phalanges, one pollical phalanx (of the thumb), and a mandible. The assemblage contains at least 10 (mostly) subadult individuals. The morphology of some of these bones are similar to other Middle Stone Age sites across Africa, including Klasies River Caves, Equus Caves, and Witkrans. Its name is Afrikaans for 'the cellars', derived from the coastal caves in sandstone cliffs. Activities The village itself is a holiday resort 19 km south-west of Stanford, South Africa, Stanford, between Gansbaai and Hermanus, Western Cape, Hermanus. It lies on the shore of Walker Bay, adjacent to Walker Bay Nature Reserve and Walker Bay Whale Sanct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walker Bay Nature Reserve
Walker Bay Nature Reserve is a nature reserve made up of five areas located on the coast between Hermanus and Cape Agulhas, in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is administered by CapeNature CapeNature (officially the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board) is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wilderness areas and public nature reserves in Western Cape Province, South Africa. Parks managed by CapeNature West .... External links * * * {{Western Cape Provincial Parks Provincial nature reserves of the Western Cape ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telephone Numbers In South Africa
Telephone numbers in South Africa are administered by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. On 16 January 2007, the country switched to a closed numbering plan. It became mandatory to dial the full nine-digit national telephone number. For calls within the country, this is prefixed by trunk code ''0'' (zero), which is often included in listings of the area code. Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. Special services by Telkom have numbers with special formats. When dialed from another country, the national number is prefixed with the appropriate international access code and the telephone country code 27. Background History Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces. Namibia South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. However, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San People
The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Their recent ancestral territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa. The San speak, or their ancestors spoke, languages of the Khoe, Tuu, and Kxʼa language families, and can be defined as a people only in contrast to neighboring pastoralists such as the Khoekhoe and descendants of more recent waves of immigration such as the Bantu, Europeans, and South Asians. In 2017, Botswana was home to approximately 63,500 San, making it the country with the highest proportion of San people at 2.8%. 71,201 San people were enumerated in Namibia in 2023, making it the country with the second highest proportion of San people at 2.4%. Definition The term "San" comes from the Khoekhoe la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Van Riebeeck
Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator, ambassador and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg on 21 April 1619, as the son of a surgeon. He grew up in Schiedam, where he married a 19-year-old Maria de la Queillerie on 28 March 1649. She died in Malacca, now part of Malaysia, on 2 November 1664, at the age of 35. The couple had eight or nine children, most of whom did not survive infancy. Their son Abraham van Riebeeck, born at the Cape, later became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Employment in the VOC Joining the ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'' (VOC) (Dutch East India Company) in 1639, he served in a number of posts, including that of an assistant surgeon in the Batavia in the East Indies. He was head of the VOC trading post in Tonkin, Indochina. After being dismissed from that position in 1645 due to conducting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khoekhoe
Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") peoples, the accepted term for the two people being Khoisan. The designation "Khoikhoi" is actually a ''kare'' or praise address, not an ethnic endonym, but it has been used in the literature as an ethnic term for Khoe-speaking peoples of Southern Africa, particularly pastoralist groups, such as the Inqua, Griqua, Gonaqua, Nama, Attequa. The Khoekhoe were once known as '' Hottentots'', a term now considered offensive."Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. Nienaber, 'The origin of the name "Hottentot" ', ''African Studies'', 22:2 (1963), 65–90, . See also . The Khoekhoe are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926. It is part of Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated as a biosphere reserve. History Conservation Pre-Game Reserve (1867-1898) A Game Commission was established in 1891 with J.M. Malan of Rustenberg as chairperson which resulted in the establishment of the game law of 1891 It must be noted that there were already individual farmers as far back as 1867 who published notices in the ''Staatscourant'' to prohibit hunting and so try preserve the game on their own land. In total 200 owners protected game on about 300 farms between 1867 and 1881 in this manner. One o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whale Watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2009. Whale watching. In Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 2nd Edition (Perrin, W.F., B. Würsig and J.G.M. Thewissen, eds.) Academic Press, San Diego, CA., pp1219-1223. A study prepared for International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2009 estimated that 13 million people went whale watching globally in 2008. Whale watching generates $2.1 billion per annum in tourism revenue worldwide, employing around 13,000 workers.O’Connor, S., Campbell, R., Cortez, H., & Knowles, T., 2009, Whale Watching Worldwide: tourism numbers, expenditures and expanding economic benefits, a special report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Yarmouth MA, US, prepared by Economists at Large. http://www.ecolarge.com/work/whale-watching-worldwide/ The size a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
