yzerfontein

Yzerfontein lies 85 km north of Cape Town on the R27. Situated as it is, between Cape Town and Langebaan, Yzerfontein is the perfect base from which to explore the many attractions of the Cape West Coast.

Closer inspection reveals that this really is a tourist´s paradise. In Yzerfontein, where warm, lazy days stretch into long, pleasurable evenings, you´ll find rest and adventure in equal proportions.

The town is known for its natural beauty, vast stretches of beach and tranquillity, as well as its tradition of hospitality. Basking in year round sunshine, a splendid winter climate where balmy, daytime temperatures rarely fall below 10 degrees.

Yzerfontein's coastline has both rocky and sandy white beaches. The "16-Mile Beach" stretches about 19 miles (!) all the way to the land mass forming the barrier between the Langebaan lagoon and the sea (within the West Coast National Park). The coastline is washed by the cold Benguela current, so the water is not warm.

Regarded as the jewel of the West Coast, Yzerfontein became the first urban conservancy in South Africa, where the transition from fishing village to exclusive town has not changed its character. Large tracts of land remain unspoiled and covered with natural fynbos while 60% of all line fish caught on the West Coast are still landed at its small craft harbour.

You can enjoy mountain biking, whale and dolphin watching, bird watching, scenic drives and day tours as well as several hiking trails and watersports such as skiing, sailing, surfing and angling. Excellent view points from Pearl Bay Heights - from where you have an unspoilt view of Cape Town´s Table Mountain in the south and Dassen Island in the west.

The bay is a favoured destination for whales in the spring. These graceful giants of the ocean come into the bay to calve. Visitors can watch from a number of vantage points while the whales play in the sea close inshore.

Archaeological digs in Yzerfontein have found remains of food and tools left by ancient people, who inhabited Yzerfontein. They hunted antelope such as reedbuck and the extinct Cape Zebra and Bloubok, and also dined on shellfish, penguins, cormorants, tortoises, dune mole rats, snakes and ostrich eggs. They also ate the blubber from whales which washed up – we know this because of the presence of a certain type of barnacle that only lives on whales. However, they didn't seem to feast on Yzerfontein's bounty of fish.