Dwarskersbos is a

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

and vacation resort some north of Laaiplek in

West Coast District Municipality The West Coast District Municipality (; ) is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC1. Moorreesburg is the seat of the district. As of 2011, it had a total population of 391,766. G ...

in 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 ...

province of

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 O ...

Etymology

The name is said to be derived from the name of the plant of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Euclea ''Euclea'', from the Greek '' eukleia'' meaning "glory and fame", denotes a group of flowering plants in the Ebenaceae or ebony family. They were described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1774. The genus includes evergreen trees and shrubs, native to ...

( or ''kersbos'') which grows abundantly in the region.

History

The Portuguese navigator

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

first set foot on South African soil on 7 November 1497 near here when he explored the present

St Helena Bay Saint Helena Bay () is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Nicknamed by locals as ''Agterbaai'',''St Helena Bay.'' CapeWestCoast.org. http://www.capewestcoast.org/regions/town.php?town ...

. The town was established on the farm “Dwarskersbos” that belonged to the Smit family in 1920. A 6m high

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

struck Dwarskersbos on 27 August 1969.

Geography

Its beach stretches from

Velddrif Velddrif (the name of the town) or Velddrift (the name of the farm on which the town was established), is a coastal fishing town in the Bergrivier Local Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. The town had a population 12507 in 2015 and is locat ...

and Dwarskerbos almost 40 kilometres north towards

Elands Bay Elands Bay is a town in South Africa, situated in the Western Cape Province, on the Atlantic Ocean, at . The town is located about 220 kilometres (two and a half hours drive) north from Cape Town. It is a world class surfing location and is also ...

, making it the longest uninterrupted sandy beach in South Africa.

Notable people

* Hannah Botha (1923-2007), an TV and film actress

References

{{West Coast District Municipality Populated places in the Bergrivier Local Municipality Populated places established in 1920