Plettenberg Bay Has A Wealth of Bird and Mammal Life

    plettenberg bay

  seagulls AND oystercatchers

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BEACON ISLAND – HISTORICAL BEACON

The above historical beacon situated on the front lawn of the Beacon Island Hotel is the navigational beacon set up on this island in AD1772 renewed again in 1881. Renewed again in 2007 and it was used by masters of the sea anchoring in this bay to check their chronometers latitude and longitude. This island was given the name Beacon Island.
 

The Plettenberg Bay Gull and Oystercatcher Program 

The past summer interns and students of the Nature’s Valley Trust in partnership with BirdLife Plettenberg Bay and Cape Nature, studied the Kelp Gulls and African Black Oystercatchers that share the Plett beaches with residents and holiday makers.

The research area covered the bird breeding colonies on Keurbooms Peninsular, Lookout Beach and Robberg Peninsular.

The students were specifically studying how well adapted the gulls and oyster catcher species are (or aren’t) to urban living, how climate change may affect them in the long run, and how disturbance by people and dogs affects their breeding success. The program included an MSc project done by Ms Minke Witteveen at the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute for African Ornithology at UCT and an internship project done by Ms Shirley Van de Voorde from the Van Hall Larenstein Institute in the Netherlands.
 

Remote Controlled Drone For Bird Study

The study incorporated flying a remote controlled drone over the colonies to photograph nests, enabling accurate population counts, putting egg loggers into nests to record incubation temperatures, strapping GPS units onto birds to enable us to see where they spend their time, and ringing birds to enable long term monitoring of specific individuals.

                            Last year’s counts suggested there were 5000 Kelp Gulls in Plett!

The data collected will be used to help Cape Nature better manage the areas where these spectacular birds breed, and to help BirdLife South Africa secure Important Bird Area (IBA) status for our important rivers, estuaries and beaches in and around Plettenberg Bay, helping to secure these areas for generation to come to enjoy as we do so today.
 

Gull Aerobics – Stretch Those Wings

 

Beach Walk And Lunch For Two

 

 Whale Watching

South Africa has to be one of the most incredible destinations worldwide for watching marine mammals. In early June, southern right whales leave their Antarctic feeding ground to frolic in the warm waters of the Cape coast.  Here they mate, calve and generally hang out, occasionally flopping a tail up, or sticking their heads out of the water to check out the humans. They are a delight to watch.

These huge beasts sometimes loll around mere meters from the shore, thus they are clearly visible for some spectacular shore and cliff based whale watching from points along Robberg and Keurboom beaches and Robberg Nature Reserve.  Whale presence in Plettenberg Bay is from mid-May to February with the southern right whales around from June to November, the migratory humpback whales arrive with their calves early November and stay until the end of February and we see them again during May and June.

All year round sightings of the resident Bryde’s whales, pods of Bottle Nose and the shy indo-pacific humpback dolphins. A breeding colony of Cape fur seals along the Robberg Nature Reserve peninsula further provides excellent sightings all year round of marine animals.  Although one can often see whales from the beach, the ideal vantage point is on an elevated ridge or high point overlooking the ocean. One can see a great deal with the naked eye, but a pair of binoculars definitely enhances the experience greatly.

There Is Something Xtra Special About Plett

Memories of family holidays and people who have passed through Plettenberg Bay.  Many who return and those who have never left.