So you’ve seen the lions, rhinos and other beautiful wildlife of the savannah; now brace yourself for the Marine Big 5: whales, sharks, dolphins, seals and penguins!
Gansbaai is one of the only places in the world that can offer this extensive range of marine wildlife and Grootbos, situated right on the doorstep of this aquatic wonderland, is perfectly positioned to be your host and guide.
To offer you the best possible experience and ensure your safety, Grootbos has partnered with Dyer Island Cruises who share the same dedication to service excellence, conservation and education.
Join us on a purpose-built eco-friendly tour vessel led by experienced marine biologists and guides who will share their knowledge with you, with an emphasis on the welfare and conservation of the marine life.
Witness thousands of Cape Fur Seals basking in the sun on Geyser Rock; trawl along the infamous Shark Alley on the lookout for the magnificent Great White Shark; float alongside curious and enormous Southern Right Whales; admire the colonies of endangered African Penguins on Dyer Island and watch spellbound as Bottlenose Dolphins surf and breach in the wake of the boat. Besides the Big 5, you will also see an incredible variety of sea birds and breathtaking unspoiled scenery!
Tourists and nature lovers aren’t the only ones flocking to our pristine shore every year for a bit of rest and relaxation. Over 3000 Southern Right Whales migrate all the way from the freezing Antarctic region to calve, nurse their young and mate in the sheltered bays and warmer waters of South Africa’s coastline. These gentle giants of the ocean grace us with their presence for approximately half of the year between June and December.
Southern Right Whales grow between 14-16m in length and can weigh anything between 40-60 tonnes! They can be identified by their lack of a dorsal fin, their white callosities (rough patches of skin covered in barnacles and parasites) and their vaporous v-shaped blow caused by their double-barreled blowholes.
The name Southern Right comes from early whalers, who determined that these were the ‘right whales’ to hunt. Not only did they fetch a good market price but they were also easy prey. They swam slowly, spending a lot of their time on the surface and near the coastline, and would float when dead. Whale populations plummeted right up until the 20th century but finally became internationally protected in 1935. Populations have recovered well since then although they still have a long way to go.
Today these whales are the “right whales” to watch. Besides the huge concentration of Southern Rights in Walker Bay and their tendency to show off, the cliffs and coastal pathways of Hermanus and De Kelders offer arguably the best land based whale watching in the world! Grootbos not only takes you to the best viewing sites but also offers boat-based and airborne tours for another perspective and an even closer encounter of these magnificent behemoths.
"Whales are different. They live in families, they play in the moonlight, they talk to one another and they care for one another in distress. They are awesome and mysterious. In their cold, wet, and forbidding world they are complete and successful. They deserve to be saved, not as potential meatballs but as a source of encouragement to mankind." - Victor B. Scheffer (former chairman of US Marine Mammal Commission)
The Great White Shark is the most feared and revered predator of the ocean. Unfortunately due to negative publicity, it has suffered undeserved persecution and is today a threatened species. The shark viewing industry in Gansbaai as well as numerous educational and research programmes are going a long way in changing these negative perceptions.
South Africa boasts one of the largest concentrations of Great White Sharks, supporting an estimated 2000 of the 5000 great white sharks left on the planet. The Gansbaai area and more specifically Dyer Island is considered as the shark diving capital of the world, offering unsurpassed opportunities to observe, encounter and cage dive with the Great White Shark.
A large Great White can grow in excess of 6 m and weigh more than 3000kg. They are not mindless killers as many would believe but are in fact highly selective hunters, feeding on a variety of fish, seals, and even dolphins. Their finely developed senses allow them to detect the electrical impulses of their prey. One of their common seal hunting techniques involves approaching the seal from below, racing towards the surface at high speed, and hitting the seal mid-body, with the resulting momentum often taking the shark partially or completely clear of the water. They can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and can at times launch themselves more than 3 m (10 ft) into the air.
But why would anyone want to protect such a fearsome creature? The Great White is an apex predator, meaning that it is at the top of the food chain. Great Whites keep our oceans balanced. Without them there would be a serious knock-on effect that would threaten the survival of several other species. Besides the tragic ecological consequences, our fear of these creatures is almost completely unfounded. There is an average of 5 fatal shark attacks per year – this is worldwide and including all species of shark! Your toaster is far more likely to kill you.
The Great White is one of the most ancient and adapted species of the ocean, believed to have been around for over 70 million years. Their very first ancestors may have even outlived the dinosaurs and the ice age, appearing as early as 200 – 500 million years ago! Yet there is still much we need to discover about these awe-inspiring guardians of the deep.
There are 2 different species of dolphins which are regular visitors to our waters; the Humpback Dolphin and the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.
The Humpback Dolphin, as the name suggests, is distinguishable by the large hump on it's back. These dolphins measure between 2 - 2.5 m long with an average weight of 150 kg. Dyer Island has a resident pod of this highly endangered species.
The Common Bottlenose Dolphin is the archetypal dolphin, commonly seen on television and in aquariums. Around Dyer Island, we encounter the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin, which is a sub-species of the Bottlenose Dolphin. They usually measure about 2.4 m long and weigh between 180 - 230 kg.
Neither of these species tend to venture into waters much deeper than 30 m, which is why human encounters are common.
Humpback Dolphins live in small groups and we observe them in pods ranging from 1 to 12 individuals while Bottlenose Dolphins can sometimes be seen in groups of 100 animals or more.
These dolphins eat mainly fish, squid and octopus using high frequency echo-location to locate and capture their prey. They can often be seen working as a team to chase down and herd schools of pilchards and anchovies.
Females normally have one calf every three years and they take care of their young for at least 3 to 4 years.
Also known as the Jackass Penguin for its donkey-like bray, the African Penguin is endemic to South Africa and Namibia. It’s distinctive black and white colouring is a form of camouflage known as countershading – their bellies are white for predators swimming below looking up towards the light and their backs are black for predators looking down towards the dark water below.
African Penguins grow up to 70 cm tall and weigh between 2 - 5 kg. They might look clumsy on land but they make up for it in the water where they are exceptionally agile and swift, sometimes even outperforming dolphins and seals. Over millions of years of evolution, they have turned their wings into flippers and learnt to fly underwater.
The diet of the African Penguin consists mainly of pilchards, anchovies, squid and small crustaceans. Since they are able to dive to incredible depths (some have been recorded at 180 m), remaining underwater for several minutes, they can reach fish that other birds cannot.
Penguins are monogamous breeders, often staying with the same partner for up to 10 years. In addition to being such faithful partners, they are also known to return to the same colony and the same nest year after year. Breeding usually starts at about 4 years old and results in one or two eggs a year, laid either in burrows dug out of guano deposits (hardened bird droppings) or sandy holes dug out under boulders and bushes.
Unfortunately our dapper little friends are in trouble. Today the African Penguin is an endangered species. During the 1900’s, the harvesting of penguin eggs as a sought-after delicacy alongside the extraction of guano as a valuable fertilizer nearly wiped out the entire population. Marine pollution and overfishing further exacerbated the problem. Of the 1.5-million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th-century.
All penguin breeding sites are now protected with several organisations working tirelessly to halt their decline through measures such as monitoring population trends, hand-rearing and releasing abandoned chicks and setting up artificial nests. The Dyer Island Conservation Trust is one of these organisations, concentrating their efforts on the rehabilitation and protection of the penguin population of Dyer Island. Guests at Grootbos will have the opportunity to visit this colony and learn more about the various conservation measures being taken to protect these charming creatures.
The gregarious and playful Cape Fur Seal is endemic to Namibia and South Africa and is the only resident seal in South Africa. They are mammals which mean that they give live birth to their young and feed them with milk. This also means that they cannot breathe underwater. Their diet consists mostly of boney fish but they also eat squid, octopus and occasionally crayfish (rock lobster). Fully-grown male seals, or ‘bulls’, can weigh more than 300 kg while females, or ‘cows’, are much smaller, weighing around 80 kg.
Geyser Rock, adjacent to Dyer Island just off the coast of Gansbaai, is home to a colony of nearly 60,000 Cape Fur Seals where they constitute the main food source of the infamous Great White Shark.
Breeding is a continuous cycle. Mature bulls start arriving at the breeding colony in November, quickly establishing mating territories with several cows, known as ‘harems’. The cows give birth to a single pup after a gestation period of one year and mating ensues about a week later. Each pup has a distinctive call and scent that enables its mother to locate and recognize it when she returns from feeding at sea. Similarly the pup also recognizes its mother’s call and smell. During the suckling period, which lasts between 8 - 10 months, the seal pups learn and practice their hunting skills.
It is estimated that Geyser Rock can produce 10 - 12,000 seal pups per year but not all of them will be lucky enough to make it past their first birthday.
