Bloubergstrand is a seaside suburb of the
City of Cape Town
The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026.
The remo ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, along the shores of
Table Bay
Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named ...
, due north of the city centre of Cape Town. The name Bloubergstrand literally means "blue mountain beach" in
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
, and is derived from ''Blaauwberg'' (), a nearby hill. Bloubergstrand is mainly a residential area, and attracts large numbers of visitors especially kitesurf enthusiasts. The beach at Bloubergstrand is a popular location for a classic view of
Table Mountain
Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...
across the bay and is one of the world's top kitesurf destinations.
Robben Island
Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...
is located west of the coast of Bloubergstrand.
History
"Harry die Strandloper", or Hadah, was the leader of the
Goringhaikonas, who were the first people documented to live in Bloubergstrand. Hadah, whose original name was Autshumao, was taken to
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
in 1629 by the captain of the ship ''London'' to be taught English. Because of his entrusted duties to deliver letters to the British seafaring community, he became the first postmaster in South Africa.
In 1806, the first casualties of the
Battle of Blaauwberg
The Battle of Blaauwberg, also known as the Battle of Cape Town, fought near Cape Town on Wednesday 8 January 1806, was a small but significant military engagement. After a British victory, peace was made under the Treaty Tree in Woodstock. ...
drowned when their boat was driven by the large surf into the rocky point at the end of Stadler road and it capsized. The invading British forces went on to defeat the defending Dutch forces and subsequently occupied the whole of the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
. This was an initial step in the major colonisation that took place throughout the southern African continent.
Previously a National Monument, now a Provincial Heritage Site, "Ons Huisie" (literally translated to Our Small Home) has a long and colourful history in the development of Bloubergstrand. It was the first dwelling of Frederick Louis Stadler. (Hence Stadler Road is the original street). Shortly after the Battle of Blouberg in 1806, he became owner of almost all the farm property that is now known as Bloubergstrand. The exact building date is not known, but a Thomas Bowler made a beautiful pencil drawing of the house in 1853. Hendrik Louis Stadler, the sixth son of Frederick Louis, was the owner of "Ons Huisie" at that time. His sons, Frikkie, Rozier and Johannes, were some of the original founders of Bloubergstrand. The building is now a restaurant of some reputation.
From the 1940s a well-known writer of illustrated Afrikaans children's books, Helena 'Mollie' Lochner, lived at the end of Stadler Road in "Die Groot Withuis" or the Lochner House, on the southernmost tip of the promontory. Her ashes are buried under the front step of the house. When she died "Mollie Lochner Huis" was bequeathed to the
South African Teachers' Union
The Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (SAOU), sometimes translated as the South African Teachers' Union, is a trade union representing principally Afrikaans-speaking teachers in South Africa.
The union was founded in 1905 to represent Afrikaans-sp ...
as a holiday home for female teachers but because of the high maintenance cost they had to dispose of it. Over the years it was changed beyond recognition, ultimately demolished in 2004 and a contemporary Westcoast styled guesthouse was developed.
The large wooden cross out on the promontory rocks was erected in memory of Heather Bam who lived in the same house before Mollie and who drowned off the point in 1911.
![Heather Bam monument, Bloubergstrand](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Heather_Bam_monument%2C_Bloubergstrand.JPG)
During
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
, Bloubergstrand was classified as a whites-only beach. The ruling was repealed in 1991 following the abolishing of the
Group Areas Act
Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of u ...
.
Local traditions
The past continues in certain areas. Local licensed fishermen still use a small local design of rowing boat to put their nets out in Small Bay for
mullet when the temperature and other conditions are favourable. They retrieve their nets manually, after which the fortunate locals buy this delicacy directly from them.
A traditional way of cooking the "harders" or mullets after cleaning them at the water's edge with the seabirds enjoying a free meal, is to make a wood fire, put much salt on the external skin and then to "braai" or grill to taste. The mullet has quite a few small bones and needs to be carefully digested together with freshly baked bread or pap from maize, enhanced with a regional traditional jam. Sometimes another local delicacy, "braaibrood", replaces the freshly baked bread. "Blouberg Braaibrood" consists of two slices of white, whole wheat or brown bread, on the outside,
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
d with onion, a chutney, tomato and cheese on the inside.
Streetnames in the Village of Bloubergstrand, since the early days, bear the names of well-known people i.e. General Sir David Baird, General Jansens, Commodore Sir Popham, General Ferguson and locals such as the family Stadler.
Sea life
The Bloubergstrand area falls within a marine nature reserve and the extraction of species such as
Cape rock lobster and
abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...
is prohibited. A licence is required in order to catch previously well-known local varieties of
galjoen
The galjoen, black bream, or blackfish (''Dichistius capensis'') is a species of marine fish found only along the coast of southern Africa from Angola to South Africa.
Galjoen is the national fish of South Africa.
Distribution and habitat
T ...
and
Hottentot. Seafood is popular in the area, and includes the local
white mussels. In season
southern right whales
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20° ...
, occasionally
killer whales
The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
,
humpback dolphins
Humpback dolphins are members of the genus ''Sousa''. These dolphins are characterized by the conspicuous humps and elongated dorsal fins found on the backs of adults of the species. They are found close to shore along the coast of West Africa ( ...
,
Haviside's dolphin
Heaviside's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus heavisidii'') is one of four dolphins in the genus ''Cephalorhynchus''. The small cetacean is endemic to the Benguela ecosystem along the southwest coast of Africa.
Taxonomy and evolution
Nomenclature
E ...
and
Cape fur seals
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal.
Description
The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. ...
are commonly seen in the bay. The
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 mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
is also known to live off the coast.
The beach
Bloubergstrand has a long white sand beach on the Atlantic Ocean, with a few rocky outcrops where
black mussels are found. The water is cold due to the
Benguela current but the beach is popular with kitesurfers and windsurfers. The bay on the west side of Bloubergstrand, known as 'Big Bay' has become a very popular
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
and
kitesurfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
spot due to the constant trade winds bringing a 1–3 m surf for a majority of the year. Big Bay beach is also well known for the ease with which white mussels (a species of the genus ''Donax'') can be extracted from the sand by a process locally known as 'jiving'.
See also
*
History of Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870
Blaauwberg House Self-catering Accommodation Bloubergstrand
References
{{Authority control
Suburbs of Cape Town