From July to December whales can be seen at the shores of South Africa. Most common in South African waters are the Southern Right Whales. The name originated when these creatures have been hunted extensively.

They have been the 'right' whales for hunting because they have been slow and did not drown after killing. That made it easy for the whale hunters. Today the Southern Right Whale supplies food for an unique success story in a twofold sense: for the tourism and the protection of species. The commercial whale hunting started at the end of the 18th century. Not only one century later the population had been reduced so drastically that hunting near the shore became unprofitable. Whale hunting moved to antarctic waters. At the beginning of the second world war only 200 - 300 Southern Right Whales had survived. Only then, when it nearly was too late, the nations started to think about how to protect the whales. Today the estimated number of Southern Right Whales is about 7000, approximately 2000 of them are on the shores of South Africa. The birth rate is 7 %, that means every 10 years the population doubles (for comparison: the world population grows by 3%).

From mid July the whales are coming back from the Antarctic. They are staying here until beginning of December to calve, breed and mate in the save and warm waters. Whales can be seen all along the Western Cape coastline from Cape Town up to Hermanus.

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