*The Ultimate House & Home Guide

Saldanha

Seaside splendour in a very rare form … Saldanha bay is the largest and deepest natural bay in South Africa, and in its most northern corner lays the seaside town of Saldanha. About 110 kilometres up the West Coast from Cape Town, this picturesque harbour town offers a largely unspoilt stretch of land home to seagulls, cormorants, Cape gannets, duikers and terns that tend to outnumber humans by about a million to one.

When referring to the harbour town of Saldanha, it should not be confused with the whole of the Saldanha Bay local municipality (SBM). The SBM’s seat is situated in its largest town, Vredenburg, in the centre of the West Coast Peninsula, also called the Vredenburg Peninsula. The SBM covers an area of more than two thousand square kilometres and a total population of around one hundred thousand people. Vredenburg’s residents amount to approximately 40% and Saldanha’s to about 30% of this total. The two smaller towns of Langebaan and Hopefield, as well as the rest of the much smaller villages of Jacobsbai, Paternoster and St Helena Bay, and the air force base at Langebaanweg make up the rest. It is a region rich in history and a diverse mix of cultures that draws tourists and visitors from all over the country and across the world. Job creation and building the population’s pride in what the peninsula has to offer, as well as eco-tourism, are its top priorities.

Saldanha was named after Antonio de Saldanha who visited South Africa in 1503, but there is fossilised evidence in the West Coast Fossil park that man may have been present here as many as 117 000 years ago. The town is known for its Naval Training Base, the South African Military Academy and a whole fleet of fishing vessels that add character to the bay. Today we also recognise the name Saldanha from the branding that its several fish canning operations use. The town’s economy is driven by export and the fishing industry (crayfish, fish e.g. snoek, yellowtail and tuna, mussels, oysters from its very successful oyster farm, as well as seaweed processing plants). The port developed into a modern harbour when it became necessary to facilitate the export of iron ore from Sishen in the Northern Cape. This not only required the construction of a railway of more than 800 kilometres to the mines at Sishen, but also the construction of a deepwater jetty in Saldanha Bay to accommodate ore carrier ships.

This semi-bustling seaside town still maintains the ideal of slow living and has a Mediterranean climate characterised by dry summers and mild, wet winters with a low rainfall. It makes the bay ideal for water sports and the beaches are not crowded.

Vredenburg

Call it a tiff or a quarrel, a disagreement or a dispute, the fact of the matter is that the tale behind this town’s name starts with discord and strife, and a good old fight, like most great stories do. The word vrede means ‘peace’ and burg means ‘town’, but before peace and quiet came, tantrums were thrown and tempers flared over one of life’s most essential means, i.e. water. The site became known as Twisfontein (‘quarrel spring’), later renamed Prosesfontein (‘lawsuit spring’), but when the dust settled after the Dutch Reformed Church came to the rescue in 1875 by procuring peace between the two sides who fought over a freshwater spring, the town was promptly renamed Vredenburg (‘peaceful town’). Problem solved. And we all love a happy ending, don’t we?

Today Vredenburg is the transportation and commercial hub of the Cape West Coast. Located about 15 kilometres inland from Saldanha Bay and 140 kilometres north of Cape Town, Vredenburg is largest of the towns in the Saldanha Bay local municipality (one of the best operating municipalities in SA), and therefore the main business and administrate town on the West Coast. During the last few years the town has grown considerably due to large industries, such as Saldanha Steel, Duferco, Namakwa Sands and the Saldanha Harbour. The harbour in Saldanha is the deepest natural harbour and the second largest in South Africa. This has attracted various large overseas companies, such as Ferro Marine Africa, to invest here.

Vredenburg offers excellent modern amenities: superb schools and the West Coast College for tertiary education; various shopping centres, of which the West Coast Mall is the largest; outstanding healthcare facilities and two hospitals; several industrial areas, and great residential neighbourhoods. On recreational front, you can indulge yourself in various activities from golf, hiking and horse riding to bird watching and freshwater fly-fishing at locations in and around town and the neighbouring villages of Jacobsbaai, Paternoster, St Helena Bay, Velddrif, Dwarskersbos, and even as far as upto the Verlorenvlei.

Visit Vredenburg and surrounds during spring to experience nature’s splendour when she starts straightening her flowery ‘feathers’ and strutting her vygies and daisies, wille magrietjies and madeliefies. You will find these wildflowers transforming the Vredenburg landscape as well as the West Coast National Park’s. While you are it, you can also marvel at its other fauna and flora, go back in time in the West Coast Fossil Park and visit the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve and the Cape Columbine Lighthouse – a beacon amidst the rocks, and the only brick and mortar in the reserve.

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