Witsand Information

St Sebastian Bay on the Cape South Coast is by far the most important nursery area for Southern Right Whales
on the African Coast. In a recent aerial survey (October 1999), a total of 126 adults and 107 calves were
counted at St Sebastian Bay and off De Hoop. This total constituted 61% of all the calves seen between
Nature's Valley and Muizenberg.

It is probable that this may be the largest assemblage of Right Whale cow-half pairs in the world, with the possible
exception of the Peninsula Valdes region of Argentina.

Aerial surveys starting back in 1969 marked St Sebastian Bay as the most important nursery, and seemed to
have formed the last stronghold of the species off the African coast. As the whale population increased the
calving whales spread out from this bay to De Hoop and other areas of the Southern Cape Coast.

Witsand is a beautiful small village that lies on St Sebastian Bay. The locals have a great love for the magnificent
creatures that visit them every year and are especially proud of the whale calves.
(Courtesy Peter B Best of theMammal Research Unit and the Whale Unit of the South African Museum in Cape Town).