Every winter, from July to November, Southern Right whales show up along the coastal waters of South Africa’s Western Cape to calve, nurse and begin to rear their young. Walker Bay in Hermanus, a spectacular 90 minute drive across the Overberg Mountains from Cape Town, is the place to be if you want to see these giant mammals as they migrate from their summer feeding grounds in Antarctica. The former fishing village of Hermanus is located on a cove between sea cliffs and the Olifantsberg Mountains. The little town boasts an 8 1/2 mile cliff path, spectacular at any time of the year, but in "whale season" it offers some of the best land-based whale watching in the world.
