Hermanus, is a town on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is famous for southern right whale watching during the southern winter and spring and is a popular retirement location. The whales can be seen from the cliffs in the town centre as early as June and usually depart in early-December. They were once hunted in the nearby town of Betty's Bay, but are now protected to ensure the survival of the species. The Old Harbour Museum contains several exhibitions that explain the whaling industry, and the De Wetshuis Photo Museum houses an exhibition of photos by T. D. Ravenscroft that depicts the history of Hermanus. The Whale Museum houses a skeleton of a whale and shows an audio-visual presentation of whales and dolphins twice daily.HistoryHermanus Pieters was a Dutch teacher who arrived in Cape Town in 1815. He was recruited by Dutch-speaking farmers who disliked that English was the only language used in all government schools. He settled in Caledon, but taught Dutch to farmers in a wide area around that town, including the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. He often vacationed at the spring in present day Hermanus, where he fished and grazed his sheep, so that the place eventually became known as “Hermanus Pieters se Fonteyn”. He died before the village Hermanuspietersfontein existed. 65 years after his death the postmaster decided to abbreviate the name to Hermanus.
