Gansbaai

Gansbaai
Danger Point lighthouse near Gansbaai
Gansbaai Show map of Western Cape Gansbaai Show map of South Africa Gansbaai Show map of Africa  Gansbaai shown within Western Cape
Coordinates: 34°34′58″S 19°21′8″E / 34.58278°S 19.35222°E / -34.58278; 19.35222Coordinates: 34°34′58″S 19°21′8″E / 34.58278°S 19.35222°E / -34.58278; 19.35222
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Overberg
Municipality	Overstrand
Established	1881
Area
• Total	12.44 km2 (4.80 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	11,598
• Density	930/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	45.2%
• Coloured	29.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	24.5%
• Other	0.4%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	53.2%
• Xhosa	39.8%
• English	3.5%
• Sotho	1.6%
• Other	1.9%
Postal code (street)	7220
PO box	7220
Area code	028

Gansbaai (Dutch/Afrikaans for "bay of geese," sometimes referred to as Gans Bay or Gangs Bay) is a fishing town and popular tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It is known for its dense population of great white sharks and as a whale-watching location.

The main tourist attraction in Gansbaai since approximately 1995 has been cage diving with great white sharks. It is said that after Kruger National Park, the great white sharks attract some of the highest number of tourist to South Africa for any singular activity.

Klipgat Cave is located in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, next to De Kelders, the residential shore area of Gansbaai. As one of only three places in South Africa where such old remains have been excavated, Klipgat Cave is one of the most important historical sites in the Western Cape. The reserve and the cave are open to the public.

The earliest evidence of the presence of sheep-herding Khoi people (after the hunter-gatherer-"San", the original indigenous population of the Western Cape) in the Western Cape has been found in Klipgat Cave as well. Until the arrival of the first white settlers at the end of the 18th century, the Khoi people thrived in this region. An expedition sent by Jan van Riebeeck to the area, described meeting people of the so-called Chainouqua-tribe near Baardskeerdersbos, a rural hamlet, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Gansbaai. The river flowing through the Baardskeerdersbos Valley is still called "Boesmansrivier" (Afrikaans for Bushman's river). "Bushman" is a name commonly used for the San-people, but will in this case have reflected Khoi-people.

It was people of Khoi-descent that erected the first permanent settlement in the Gansbaai vicinity. In 1811 fishing-cottages were built under the dense Milkwood Forests in Stanfords Bay near De Kelders.

The first white settlers in the area were "trekboere" (nomadic farmers). They copied the Khoi herding techniques of using a grazing area until it was exhausted, then moving on to greener pastures. The area was big and fertile enough for such purposes. On many of the large farms around Gansbaai, the old and original homesteads and mudstone-houses tell of the days that the white farmers settled down.