Langebaan travel guide

A little more than an hour by road from Cape Town (125 km), this is a very popular family resort which has been all but spoilt by heavy development. Situated on the sheltered waters of the beautiful Langebaan Lagoon, it is an ideal centre for watersports – sailing conditions are reputedly the best along the Western Cape coastline. The beach is also good and sheltered so it’s not too cold for swimming. The Langebaan Tourism Association corner of Breë and Oostewal streets, T022-772 1515, http://www.langebaaninfo.com, Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat 0900-1300, is in the municipality.

Today it is impossible to picture the town’s origins as a small fishing village in the 1880s. The hillside is a mosaic of new houses and vacant plots waiting for the next building to obstruct the view of an earlier speculator. The town is dominated by the hideous-looking Club Mykonos timeshare complex and hotel, a collection of elaborate pastel-coloured town houses built to look like so-called Greek tavernas where holiday- makers from Cape Town spend their allotted two weeks of time share, parking their ski boats in the little harbour, and gambling in the on-site 24-hour casino. In October the annual Langebaan Mussel Festival includes good food, wine tasting and arts and crafts stalls.

The first Europeans to visit the region were French whale and seal hunters in the 17th century who stored their booty – whale oil and seal skins – on an island in the lagoon known as Isle la Biche. This was renamed by the first Dutch settlers as Schaapen Island. It was not until 1870 that a village began to take shape. Prior to this, Langebaan was put on the map by Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape in the 1820s, who built a hunting lodge on a private farm overlooking the lagoon. The growth of the village was slow due to a shortage of fresh water, a problem which was only solved after the Second World War when a pipeline was built to bring water from the Berg River to the northeast.

The lagoon is an important feature of the region. The northern part, opening onto the Atlantic Ocean, is known as Saldanha Bay and is the deepest and safest natural harbour in South Africa. Not surprisingly, it has been fully utilized by the South African navy. More recently, mining interests have built a large iron-ore wharf and steel mill on the bay, a real eyesore which is visible from all angles. In contrast, the southern shores and waters are part of the fascinating West Coast National Park – a rather precarious situation, as heavy ore carriers and naval boats frequenting the lagoon threaten the fragile marine environment....read more