Kalk Bay: A Little Gem in South Africa's Western Cape

Dec 29, 2011
Christopher Clark

Fisherman at Kalk Bay harbour - Frames-of-Mind

Head south from Cape Town and discover the vibrant cultural hub of the False Bay coastline

Finding long-term accommodation in the small seaside town of Kalk Bay is no easy feat. People rarely leave. With a beautiful, clean and sunny coastline, a fun, friendly and laid-back social scene, great shops and galleries and an abundance of national parks, marine life and outdoor activities, it is not hard to see why. Theirs is a coveted life. Venture out from Cape Town and you may never leave. I have no doubt that some of the oldest residents came here on a day trip and stayed forever. Kalk Bay has a strong grip.

The Early History of Kalk Bay

The first to be drawn by Kalk Bay's allure were the early pioneers of The Dutch East India Company at the beginning of 18th Century. Having set up their station a little further down the False Bay coastline at the Cape of Good Hope and what is now known as Simon's Town (after the former Cape Governor Simon Van Der Stel), Kalk Bay came into being when the Dutch began to ferry limestone from deposits in the surrounding hills back to Simon's Town for constructing houses and other buildings. 'Kalk' is the Dutch word for lime.

Transport around the peninsula by land proved difficult and hazardous with large areas of quicksand and inadequate roads and tracks between the areas of Clovelly and Glencairn en route to Simon's Town. The famous Kalk Bay harbour began to develop so that materials could be transferred back and forth by boat instead.

From that point on Kalk Bay seemed to swell and fall away much like the Indian Ocean that gave birth to it. After the Dutch, it became an important whaling port for the British at the turn of the 19th century. But the whaling boom soon faded as the whales were brought to the edge of extinction.

The next surge of life came when a Filipino ship was shipwrecked on the rocks nearby in the 1840s. Once the fortunate castaways had settled into a comfortable existence with an abundance of fish at their disposal, other Filipino migrants soon caught wind of the promise of the Cape and, as revolutions threatened their own country, they too set sail for Kalk Bay. Though many later returned, a small number of Filipino names still survive in Kalk Bay today.

The population grew further from an influx of freed Malay slaves who began to move to the area from Cape Town and then further still after the railway line was established from Cape Town all the way through to Simon's Town in 1883, facilitating both trade and commuting between Kalk Bay and Cape Town. The new Malay population depended heavily on fishing and the harbour became a bustling market for bartering over fresh fish. Increasing numbers of houses, boarding-houses, schools, hotels, churches and so on were cut into the rugged mountainside that presided over the clear Indian Ocean below.

Recent History and Modern Day Kalk Bay

But over-fishing forced further change to Kalk Bay after the 1950s. The fishing boats began to slumber whilst bric-a-brac and antique shops, galleries, boutiques, cafes, bars and restaurants began to take over the main road and the harbour itself.

Kalk Bay soon became a haven for a variety of bohemians, artists, writers and the like. Today many of the shops are selling books, artwork and crafts made by Kalk Bay residents themselves. Artisans sell and barter over a variety of wares on the street corners and in the car parks. The main road resounds with the cacophony of different kinds of music. Troubadors and street musicians of varied styles and abilities patrol the pavements and serenade the tourists. Those who can't afford instruments fashion their own from old coke bottles and bits of wire.

Kalk Bay's colourful and eclectic history is further reflected in its architecture, with low, bright, pastel-coloured Malay buildings co-existing with high and handsome British colonial structures with ornate, white-painted, metal balconies alongside thatched Afrikaans churches and cottages. The houses mostly sit loosely and sporadically bunched together on the hill behind the busy main road and small step-paths and cobbled lanes weave and snake in and out of them up towards the scrub of the mountains behind.

Just above the town, Boyes Drive winds its way along the edge of the rockface towards Cape Town. From here you can survey Kalk Bay below and look across the ocean towards Seal Island and Cape Argalhus on the other side of the bay, where more sharp mountains seem to rise straight out of the ocean. When the sun is setting behind Kalk Bay on a clear day, these mountains turn a deep, burning red.

Come to Kalk Bay

Whilst for many the shops, markets, bars and cafes are the main attraction of Kalk Bay, the sea and the mountains have just as much to offer. Roughly between September and November the majestic Southern Right whales so avidly hunted by the British come again in large numbers to the warm False Bay waters to breed and give birth. They are often seen breaching within twenty metres of the waterfront. Kalk Bay is also a great place to see dolphins and seals. At the harbour a number of half-tame seals wait patiently day after day to be fed fish from the market.

Behind the town the mountains offer great hiking opportunities and spectacular vistas. There are also the Kalk Bay caves, a network of numerous, long tunnels and great chambers that run through the mountains. Whilst some are open and easy to walk through, other sections are claustrophobically tight and need to be scrambled through on hands and knees, sometimes for hours at a time.

When evening comes, a pre-dinner pint on the Brass Bell's aptly named Bikini Deck is advised or a cocktail and cigar underneath the tobacco leaves and portraits of Hemingway and Che Guevara as trains pass the windows at Cape to Cuba. Follow this with a good piece of fresh fish at the ever-busy Olympia Cafe or rather cooked Malay style on the barbecue next door at Outspan Restaurant. Then head to the bright, stylish and Mediterraneanesque Polana to dance the night away with an eclectic and eccentric crowd to live jazz and indie bands. In summer you can dangle your legs out of the high, open windows whilst the waves crash against the rocks below. Then, after all this, try, just try, to think about leaving.