Whale Watching in Southern Africa

Whale Watching in Southern Africa is another popular Africa Vacations activity -- so popular that we've heard that the "Big 5 Game Watching" has now been expanded to the "Big 7", to include whale watching and shark cage diving to observe great white sharks. (We've decided to pass on the shark cage diving!)

About 37 whale and dolphin species can be found in Southern African waters (and 100 different types of shark too!) but only a small number come in close to the coast.

Starting in June every year, whales migrate north from their subantarctic feeding grounds to their breeding grounds, to mate and calve. The South African coastline has many protected rocky bays and inlets and this, together with much warmer ocean temperatures, provide ideal spots for nursing whales.

In southern Africa, the whale watching season extends from June to December, and September to October is the peak of the season.

Best Places for Viewing Whales in Southern Africa

Hermanus in South Africa's Cape Province regarded as one of the country's best land based destinations for watching whales. They even have an official "Whale Crier", to announce the best daily whale sightings.

In Kwa-Zulu Natal:
"For land-based viewing there are whale watching towers in three KZN Wildlife Reserves: Cape Vidal, Amatikulu and Mpenjati though, at the right time of year (generally June - November), you could be lucky from just about any vantage point along the coast. Humpback whales are most commonly seen. Throughout the year pods of bottlenose dolphins, 30 - 50 strong routinely patrol up and down the coast just beyond the breakers."
Read More on the Zulu Kingdom website...

Whale Species

Here's another great site, Antarctic Connection which provides lots of useful information on 8 different species of whales, and a "Did You Know?" section on each as well:

• Blue Whales
• Fin Whales
• Humpback Whales
• Minke Whales
• Orca Whales
• Southern Right Whales
• Sei Whales
• Sperm Whales

Whale Behaviour

Some of the different types of whale behaviour, that you can also see captive whales performing, for example at one of the Sea World Adventure Parks worldwide:

• Breaching The whale lifts its whole upper body out of the water and falls back into the water with a huge splash.


• Lobtailing (Tail Slapping)The whale slaps its flukes on the water's surface, making a loud clap.


• SpyhoppingThe whale lifts it's head vertically from the sea to observe what is happening on the surface.