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 Bergrivier Local Municipality is a local municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It governs the towns of Piketberg (the seat of the municipal council), Velddrif and Porterville, as well as the surrounding villages and rural are ...

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

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 ...

. The town had a population 7800 in 2007 and is located on the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

at which the

Berg River The Berg River (also called Great Berg River or in Afrikaans: Bergrivier) is a river located just north of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is approximately 294 km (183 mi) long with a catchment area of 7,715& ...

flows into

St. Helena Bay Saint Helena Bay ( af, St. Helenabaai) 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/regi ...

Geography and environment

Velddrif is located approximately north of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to which it is connected by the R27 road. The R27 joins the R399 at Velddrif, which is near the point at which that the meandering

flows into the sea at

. The estuary is an importan
bird
habitat and is home to around 30,000 birds, including up to 80 species which are endemic to the Cape coast. Well over 350 different species of birds can be seen here, as it is a habitat for sea, river and land birds. Flowers grow in this area, including the ''

Euclea racemosa ''Euclea racemosa'' (the sea guarrie or dune guarrie) is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree that is indigenous to the Indian Ocean coast of Africa from Egypt to South Africa, as well as in Comoros, Oman and Yemen. ''Euclea racemosa'' has l ...

'' (Kersbos), ''

Babiana ringens ''Babiana ringens'', the rat's tail, is a flowering plant endemic to Cape Province of South Africa. The foliage is long and erect with an inflorescence consisting of a sterile main stalk adapted for ornithophily, pollination by birds. The plant b ...

'' (Rotstert), '' Willdenowia incurvata'' (Sonkwas Riet), ''

Limonium ''Limonium'' is a genus of 120 flowering plant species. Members are also known as sea-lavender, statice, caspia or marsh-rosemary. Despite their common names, species are not related to the lavenders or to rosemary. They are instead in Plumbag ...

'' (Strandroos) and ''

Leucospermum rodolentum ''Leucospermum rodolentum'' is an upright, evergreen shrub of up to 3.0 m high, from the family Proteaceae. It has felty grey, elliptic to wedge-shaped leaves of 4–6½ cm (1.8–2.6 in) long and ¾–1½ cm wide, and very sweetly scented, ...

'' (Sandveld Luisebos). Regular boat trips can be taken up the river for birdwatching.

History

The name ''Velddrif'' is derived from a

drift Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** Drift, Cornwall, village ** Drift Reservoir, associated with the village ...

in the field ( af, veld) through which a local farmer, Theunis Smit, took his stock to access grazing across the Berg River. In 1899, a ''pont'' (

pontoon ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

) was built to cross the Berg River.

Economy

The main industries of Velddrif are fishing, tourism and salt production. There are two large

salt works A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural s ...

in the town that provide much of the salt in the Western Cape. The fishing industry is substantial in Velddrif; the town is part of the Crayfish Route. A common sight in the area are the rickety wooden jetties on which the dried fish speciality, ''

bokkoms Bokkoms (or Bokkems) is whole, salted and dried Mullet (fish), mullet (more specifically the Southern mullet, ''Chelon richardsonii'', a type of fish commonly known in the Western Cape of South Africa as "harders"),HAT – Verklarende Handwoord ...

'', is hung out to dry. The town contains

Port Owen ''Port Owen'' is a man-made marina in the town of Velddrif, 145 km from Cape Town, on the west coast of Western Cape Province, South Africa. Velddrif, which has incorporated the village of Laaiplek has the lowest crime statistics in South Afric ...

, which comprises 100 hectares and has 3.5 km of waterways. The town attracts a number of tourists, especially for its wildlife, fishing, yachting and

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

, which represents the work of over 100 artists and craftsmen in the area.

Birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

is a significant component of the town's tourism sector, as the

Berg River Estuary Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer Former states *Berg (state), county and duchy of the Holy ...

, next to the town, is famous as a rare bird hotspot with over 200 species found in the 24,000 ha wetland. There are numerous restaurants in Velddrif and nearby Laaiplek that serve fresh fish and other seafood. A holiday resort has grown up around the marina area of

and Admiral Island Security Village. The annual

Berg River Canoe Marathon The ''Berg River Canoe Marathon'' takes place annually in South Africa's Western Cape Province over a distance of some 240 km from Paarl to the small harbour of Velddrif on the West Coast. The three other notable South African canoe races a ...

starts in

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

and ends at the Carinus Bridge Velddrif. The first Berg River Canoe Marathon was held in 1962, has gained a reputation for being one of the toughest courses in the world and isthe longest course in South Africa. Ayesha Abdool Aziz, who hails from Edgemead Primary, holds the current record for the group aged under 9.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Bergrivier Local Municipality Populated places founded by Afrikaners