De Kelders

De Kelders is still essentially a fishing village and famous for its seafood. The village is spread out on the shores of Walker Bay – renowned as the home of the Southern Right Whale. The whales seem to love these sheltered bays and rocky inlets that the whales return year after year to mate and calve between July through November. Some of the best land-based whale watching in the world is the major attraction of De Kelders and whales come to within meters of the rocks that line the edges of kelp beds along the De Kelders coastline, never ceasing to elicit delight. The coast here has one of the most unusual and distinctive geological features in the form of a series of underground caves beneath the cliffs. Known formerly as Die Drup Kelder (the drip cellar) the town is today simply called De Kelders (Dutch for the cellars). These natural caves – there are a number of them, both large and small – contain stalactites and stalagmites and crystal clear pools set in the floor with cool water perfect for swimming. One in particular, known as the Freshwater Cave, is famous for its pool, but not open to the public in a bid to conserve its original beauty. Stanford’s Bay in De Kelders is an ideal alternative for swimming. A little further up the coast from De Kelders, just outside the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, are some of the oldest remains of modern man found in the Klipgat Cave.

De Kelders is part of the Cradle of Human Culture Route’s Coastal Journey. One of the main attractions on this route is the Klipgat Cave in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve which offers dramatic ocean views from a space that was occupied during the Middle and Later Stone Ages. www.capenature.co.za/reserves/walker-bay-nature-reserve/