Hermanus

A long, long time ago… I spent a weekend at the coastal city of Hermanus. One of my flatmates (Terri) is from there and she wanted to show us her city during their infamous Whale Festival (much like Junction City and its Scandinavian Festival). It was a fun occasion and there were crowds of people and blockaded streets. The nightlife was awesome and we actually found ourselves sitting at a place called Cubana for the duration of four or more hours, and being totally entertained by dancing to music while sitting in our seats. Looking back on it, it seems quite odd, but it was one of those moments when time flies by because of the simplicity of the fun you are having.




During the daylight hours, we went whale watching on the various beaches Hermanus has to offer. At this time of the year a certain whale called the Southern Right comes to breed right of the coast of Hermanus, making it one of the world centers for whale watching. Honestly, the Southern Right is quite an ugly species of whale, but they were abundant and came really close to the shore which makes for great land based whale watching.



On the road back to Hermanus we decided to make a stop at Monkeytown, which is another open sanctuary for monkeys. This one is quite different from Monkeyland in that it is open air and free roaming, but you are the one to walk through caged enclosures to ensure that the monkeys don’t get too friendly (Monkeyland had no cages and was fully open for both you and the monkeys). The best part about Monkeytown is that you could really get close to the little guys if you wanted to because they would get right up and hug the bars. If it weren’t for my fear of rabies, I probably would have tried to pet one. :)