Whale watching in Hermanus

Every July, Southern Right Whales migrate to Hermanus, a town south of Cape Town, to mate and calve. They remain there until November, then return to the oceans around Antarctica until the next winter. One of these whales can weigh up to 80 tons and be up to 15.5 meters long. It's tail fin can be up to 3 meters long. We drove to Hermanus for a few days to see if we could catch of glimpse of some, and we did.

There's a path along to rocky shore that's great for spotting them, and sometimes they came close enough for us to see their features clearly through the water. We wished we had a foot-long lens or a big pair of binoculars like some of the other tourists, but our point-and-shoot did us just fine.

Further down the path, you pass some little Dutch cottages. On the roof of one of them were two men who were watercoloring. It was hard to believe we were actually in Africa.—by Sara