Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plett, is the primary town of the

Bitou Local Municipality Bitou Municipality (; ), formerly known as Plettenberg Bay Municipality, is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is WC047. Geography The municipali ...

in the

Western Cape Province 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 inhabi ...

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 ...

. According to the census of 2001, the town had a population of 29,149. It was originally named Bahia Formosa ("Beautiful Bay") by early Portuguese explorers and lies on South Africa's

Garden Route The Garden Route (Afrikaans: ''Tuinroete'') is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant ...

210 km from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

and about 600 km from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

History

Middle and Later Stone Age

Nelson Bay Cave on Robberg and Matjies River Cave at nearby Keurboomstrand were inhabited for over 100,000 years by

Middle Stone Age The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of ...

man and then later by ancestors of the

Khoisan Khoisan ( ) or () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for the various Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who traditionally speak non-Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen and the San people, Sān peo ...

, who were possibly the same people who traded with the Portuguese survivors of the Sao Goncalves shipwreck. Their tools, ornaments and food debris can be viewed in these caves, which are still being excavated.

Colonial period

Long before

Jan van Riebeeck Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator, ambassador and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg on 21 April ...

landed at the Cape, Portuguese explorers charted the bay in the 15th and 16th centuries, the first being

Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias ( – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the Cape Agulhas, southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lies ...

in 1487. Ninety years later Manuel de Perestrelo aptly called it ''Bahia Formosa'' or the Beautiful Bay. The first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an inhabitants were 100 Portuguese sailors marooned here for 9 months when the ''São Gonçalo'' sank in the bay in June 1630. The survivors built two small boats, one which linked with a passing vessel while the other made it to

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. A stone that they left behind on Beacon Island, known as the ''Van Plettenberg Stone'', is now in the Cape Town museum. In 1763, the first

an settlers in the Bay were stock farmers, hunters and frontiersmen from 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 ...

. A

stinkwood Stinkwood, German ''Stinkholz'', French ''Bois Puant'', is the common name for a number of trees or shrubs which have wood or plant parts with an unpleasant odour, including: *'' Anagyris foetida''; Southern Europe *'' Bignonia callistegioides'' (c ...

navigational beacon was first erected on Beacon Island in 1771. The original was a square block of stinkwood, inscribed with the latitude and longitude of Plettenberg Bay and erected to enable mariners to check their location. It was replaced by a stone one by Captain Sewell in 1881. The bay housed a barracks for the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

in 1776. The Governor of the Cape, Baron Joachim van Plettenberg, renamed the town Plettenberg Bay in 1779. In 1869 the barracks was bought by St Peters Church and used as a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

for the next 70 years. Today it is the privately owned Old Rectory hotel & spa In 1787/88 Johann Jerling erected a timber shed commissioned by the

; the remains can still be seen and are preserved as a provincial heritage site. In the 1830s, Plettenberg Bay was a stopping point for ships travelling through during the winter time, heading to India. As of 1833, the population of Plettenberg Bay was estimated around 400, with half being

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, according to diplomat Edmund Roberts who visited the area. Edmund Roberts noted that the bay had a large abundance of cattle and sheep. He also recognized "the excellence of its butter" and a timber industry.

Modern period

A whaling station on Beacon Island closed down in 1916. Parts of the iron slipway are still visible today. A hotel called The Beacon Isle was built on the site of the whaling station. This was replaced by the iconic Beacon Isle Southern Sun Resort which opened for business in December 1972. This building, designed by André Hoffe, has a layered atrium which pays tribute to the Guggenheim Museum of Frank Lloyd Wright. Between 1960 and 1990 Plettenberg Bay holiday resort expanded dramatically, extending along Robberg Beach ('Millionaire's Row'), and back towards the N2. During the apartheid period property within Plettenberg Bay was designated for whites only, with segregation of the beaches and toilet facilities. New Horizons, across the N2, was designated as a settlement area for coloured people in 1968. As the 1980s progressed informal settlements of Xhosa people grew up around the edges of New Horizons and in the area of KwaNokuthula which became a town. Although Plettenberg Bay escaped most of the violence associated with the end of apartheid, the assassination of

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 194210 April 1993; born Martin Thembisile Hani ) was a South African military commander, politician and revolutionary who served as the leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff of uMkhonto we S ...

in April 1993 led to a protest march into the town from KwaNokuthula, during which industrial premises on the outskirts of the town were burnt to the ground. Formal segregation ceased with the repeal of the apartheid laws, but the consequences of the previously segregated property ownership remain highly visible to this day.

Ecology

Land ecology

Local vegetation varies from Cape

Fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

to Knysna-Amatole montane forests further inland. The best examples of the original indigenous forest are to be found in the gully of the Keurbooms River, home to Knysna Loerie and Fish Eagles. Robberg Peninsula is essentially a Fynbos reserve.

Sea ecology

Plettenberg Bay hosts one of the largest

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

breeding colonies along the South African coast at the mouth of the

Keurbooms River The Keurbooms River () is a river in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The river has its sources south of Uniondale, Western Cape, Uniondale in the Langkloof and flows in a roughly southeastern direction. It passes De Vlugt and the Prin ...

, named after the indigenous keurboom tree. There are many pelagic birds in the area as well as the endangered

African oystercatcher The African oystercatcher or African black oystercatcher (''Haematopus moquini'') is a large charismatic wader resident to the mainland coasts and offshore islands of southern Africa. This oystercatcher has a population of over 6,000 adults, whi ...

which live along the shores. The Keurbooms River estuary is home to the Knysna or Cape Seahorse, Hippocampus Capensis. This is South Africa's only endemic seahorse, and is found only in the estuaries of the Keurbooms, Knysna and Swartvlei rivers. It measures about 12 cm in length, and attaches itself to eel-grass. The Robberg Peninsula is home to a large

Cape fur seal The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, and Afro-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. It has a large an ...

colony, seals can often be seen in the surf off Robberg Beach.

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 Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

s, attracted by the seal colony, can also be spotted from the high ground of Robberg Peninsula.

Southern right whale 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� ...

s are a common sight in the bay during their breeding season from July to December.

Bryde's whale Bryde's whale ( ), or the Bryde's whale complex, putatively comprises three species of rorqual and possibly four. The "complex" means the number and classification remain unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The c ...

s frequent the bay throughout the year being the most sighted during the summer months.

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh u ...

s migrate past during July and December.

Killer whale The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopolit ...

s (orca) and

sei whale The sei whale ( , ; ''Balaenoptera borealis'') is a baleen whale. It is one of ten rorqual species, and the third-largest member after the blue and fin whales. It can grow to in length and weigh as much as . Two subspecies are recognized: ...

s are occasionally sighted. Whales can be viewed from various viewpoints in the town as well as from Robberg Peninsula. Plettenberg Bay also boasts three species of dolphins which visit the bay throughout the year, these being the

bottlenosed dolphin The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus ''Tursiops''. They are common, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. molecular biology, Molecular studies show the genu ...

, the

common dolphin The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, wit ...

and the endangered

humpback dolphin 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. Humpback dolphins inhabit shallow nearshore waters along coast ...

. The bay falls within the

Agulhas Bank The Agulhas Bank (, from Portuguese for Cape Agulhas, ''Cabo das Agulhas'', "Cape of Needles") is a broad, shallow part of the southern African continental shelf which extends up to south of Cape Agulhas before falling steeply to the abyssal pla ...

ecoregion (bioregion), specifically within the Agulhas inshore ecozone. There has been a long history of sport fishing from the rocks, ski boats launched from Central Beach, or in Keurbooms estuary. The sea life activity both surface and sub-surface varies considerably as either deep water upwelling brings cold water into the Bay, or warm water eddies over from the Agulhas Indian Ocean current offshore. A distinctive flower-shaped sea shell called a pansy shell is endemic to this part of the coast, and is used as the symbol representing the town. Looking for these shells on the beach at low tide is a popular activity amongst visitors and locals alike.

Climate and geography

Plettenberg Bay is typified by an extremely mild maritime

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

climate with very few rainfall or temperature extremes. It is located within the Knysna Afromontane Forest biome, containing temperate gallery forest, supported by the mild temperatures and high, evenly distributed rainfall. * rainfall: 640 mm per annum. The bay is defined on the southern end by Cape Seal at the terminus of the Robberg (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

for Seal Mountain) Peninsula, separating the bay from the open

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

. It is one of the southern cape coast's typical "J-shaped" bays, which is formed by wave action eroding the

shales Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

of the

Bokkeveld Group The Bokkeveld Group is the second of the three main subdivisions of the Cape Supergroup in South Africa. It overlies the Table Mountain Group and underlies the Witteberg Group. The Bokkeveld Group rocks are considered to range between Lower Dev ...

between the weather-resistant headlands composed of the Table Mountain Group, both of the

Cape Supergroup The Cape Fold Belt (CFB) is a long fold-and-thrust mountain belt along the western and southern coastlines of Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Fold Belt formed during the Permian period (300 to 250million years ago) in the late Paleozoic ...

geological sequence of rocks. To the north, the

Tsitsikamma The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was ama ...

and

Langkloof Mountains The Langkloof Mountains are a short mountain range within the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form a link between the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma mountains to the north of Plettenberg Bay in the Garden Route region. The ...

keeps the moisture on the southern slopes of the mountains and prevent the temperature extremes of the interior reaching the bay.

Tourism

The town is highly seasonal, with a large proportion of second homes used exclusively during peak holiday periods. Popular with domestic and foreign tourists alike, many make it a stop along the garden route to visit local attractions such as Robberg Peninsula Nature Reserve, the world's largest free-flight aviary

Birds of Eden Birds of Eden is the world's largest free flight aviary and bird sanctuary, located in Kurland village near Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mesh dome of the sanctuary was built over of indigenous forest, and is up to ab ...

, Sea Kayaking and Whale Watching, as a base to start the coastal

Otter Trail The Otter Trail is a hiking trail along the Garden Route coast of South Africa and is named for the Cape clawless otter which occurs in this region. This trail is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world and stretches from Storms River, ...

Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary Monkeyland is a free roaming, multi-species primate sanctuary founded in 1998 by Tony Blignaut, which is located at The Crags near Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. The sanctuary covers more than of indigenous forest, with a pr ...

or a host of other outdoor activities on offer. Although

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

and

Port Elizabeth Airport Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport is an airport serving Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), a city in the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. It was formerly known as H. F. Verwoerd Airport and Port Elizabeth International Airport. The ai ...

s are both within 1 and 2.5 hours drive away and offer frequent domestic and select international flights,

CemAir CemAir (Pty) is an airline from South Africa servicing tourist destinations and business towns, as well as leasing aircraft to other airlines across Africa. The airline's head office and engineering and maintenance facility are located in Hangar ...

also restarted regular direct flights from Plettenberg Bay Aerodrome to

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the List of South African airports by passenger movements, second-busiest airport in South Africa and List of busiest airports in Afric ...

and Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport in 2014, enhancing accessibility by air.

Education

The following primary and secondary schools are located in Plettenberg Bay. *Kwa-Nokuthula Primary School * Formosa Primary School * Harkerville Ek Primary School * Kranshoek Primary School * Phakamisani Primary School * Crags Primary School * Plettenberg Bay Primary School * Plettenberg Bay Secondary School * Legacy House School * Murray High School * Plettenberg Bay Christian School * Wittedrift Primary School * Greenwood Bay College * Wittedrift High School

Notable people

* Athenkosi Dlala, footballer *

Oliver Hermanus Oliver Hermanus (; born 26 May 1983) is a South African film director and writer.
"Oliver Hermanus." IMDb: The Internet Movie D ...

, filmmaker *

Geordin Hill-Lewis Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis (born 31 December 1986) is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Cape Town. A member of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Democratic Alliance, he was elected mayor in November 2021. Hill-Lewis attended Edge ...

, DA politician * Samkelo Mvimbi, hockey player * Asenathi Ntlabakanye, rugby union player *

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

, golfer

References

External links

Bitou Municipality

Plett Tourism
{{Authority control Populated coastal places in South Africa Populated places in the Bitou Local Municipality Whaling in South Africa