When headed to the Overberg, you’ll find a graveyard of ships and floral riches beyond compare along a coastline patrolled by great white sharks and southern right whales. The Overberg is a land of canola and wheat fields stretching to the horizon and rolling rûens (hillocks) of fragrant fynbos.
It is a place where ancient forest vestiges still linger, where farms have been turned feral to restore the renosterveld of old and kloofs are still frequented by leopards and beaches by brown hyenas. It is a cape blasted by the unending southeastern wind in summer, and cool westerlies ripening the southernmost grapes in Africa. A terrain of hunkered bush butting its shoulder into waters where two ocean currents meet. This is the continent’s end, Africa’s Deep South.
The barnacles of history cling to the littoral: early humans eking an existence, the fish traps of subsequent Khoisan arrivals, and, much later, the survivors of shipwrecks washed ashore. Millennia of human habitation give a nostalgic cast to the land: from the Stone Age remains and fishers’ cottages to grand Cape Dutch homesteads.
This is a coast of legendary islands encircled by great white sharks and blubbery winter arrivals from the freezing deep. A place of lighthouses whose beams and horns have tried in vain to warn ships from the most treacherous of capes. Castaways, treasure, ghosts: the Southern Overberg is a piece of Africa like no other.
The most impressive of the small nature reserves in the Overberg region is the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden in Betty’s Bay, whi...
Technically, the term ‘Fynbos’ only refers to fine-leaved plants, like the various Erica and Heather species. Fynbos in the Overberg reg...
The De Hoopvlei hike is a 24 km route that takes around 6 hours to complete and is relatively easy. Starting on the calcrete cliffs behind t...
Between June and December, the Southern right whales that breed in South African waters do so between Arniston and Infanta - watch the swell...
Many of the hikes in the Overberg area are coastal walks, though there are also numerous nature reserves where short rambles are in order. I...
The Overberg region encompasses a rich and diverse range of ecosystems. Relic remnants of indigenous montane forest and expansive softwood p...
The protea family is well represented in the Potberg area: look out for ground species like Protea denticulata, which adds to the rich Overb...
The Overberg is a large, loosely defined area of the Western Cape stretching more or less from Sir Lowry’s Pass to Cape Infanta. Most choo...
De Hoop Nature Reserve offers a few beautiful coastal walks as well. From the starting point Koppie Alleen car park, you can walk in either ...
The Overberg area has many beautiful, scenic towns that have an abundance of attractions on offer. Places of interest in the region include ...
As you enter the Overberg from Houw Hoek, you will be driving along a line of mountains that emerge from the Hottentots Holland and run, unb...
The Overberg wine route is one of the Western Cape’s lesser known routes, but a gem nonetheless. The region spans over 250 km of pristine ...
Explore the Western Cape Overberg Region. The Grabouw/Elgin district in the Western Cape produces 60 percent of South Africa's total apple e...