False Bay, Cape Town is a wonderful destination with great places to visit, sights to see and things to experience. This is why the group, A Whale of a Heritage Route, decided to focus on packaging the area as a niche destination.
The business, tourism and educational initiative works to market and Route approximately 500 businesses, historical attractions and associated events, as well as focusing on Southern Right whale watching in season. The subsequent Route Map is dedicated to encouraging and endorsing the various unique aspects of the area while making it easy for visitors to get to know the neighbourhood.
The businesses and organisations that subscribe to the Route enterprise enjoy preferential promotion and exposure. The website peaks in the winter months, which gives them a competitive advantage.
One of its most valuable aspects is its whale watching/sighting log and whale-sighting map. It is created by user-generated sightings – whenever a person along the False Bay coastline spots a whale, they can SMS the location of their sighting to the website via a specific whale watchers number. Each SMSed sighting is logged on the database and forms part of the whale sighting log.
This log feeds to the South African Tourism’s (SA Tourism) Whale Desk and keeps the area on the International Whale Watching/Spotting Radar. SA Tourism declared this whale watchers recording and reporting system the most sophisticated of the various destinations that report to them.
The Route, recognised by the City of Cape Town, is widely popular within the community and abroad. They have partnered with the Izivunguvungu Brass Band School from Redhill/Ocean View which plays at the Route’s functions. The initiative has also been adopted by Muizenberg Junior School (which is currently building a giant whale tail) and is linked to Hawaii and the town of Congleton, south of Manchester, UK where a school twinned with Muizenberg Junior is building a life-size bear.
The Route description:
The Route begins in Strandfontein in Aerodrome Road and ends at the Cape Point lighthouse via Uxbridge Road in Muizenberg.
The Muizenberg section offers a guided walking tour of the historical area while a second walk incorporates Main Road with an emphasis on The Historical Mile. The Old Hotel Trail is the slower, third option, and goes from Kalk Bay to Muizenberg on a traditional fishing boat. In Muizenberg you have the opportunity to experience old-world heritage dating from the stone-age to the 1900s. The Muizenberg walks are about three hours each and start near Surfer’s Corner, the birth place of surfing in South Africa.
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
