The YELLOW Route
This is a small harbour town that was originally a farm bought by the Katz family in the 1930s. The salt pans lying Northeast of the town was exploited for the salt, but currently gypsum is mined in the area. The area is well-known for the 16-mile beach that stretches from Yzerfontein to the West Coast National Park. One can do horseback riding at low tide, and a hiking trail is also evident.Â
The !Khwa Ttu San Education centre is a hiking distance away and the town of Darling with its wine route and Tannie Evita is also a short drive away.
DARLING
An hour from Cape Town, but a million miles away...
Dominated by the huge personality of Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout, the ambassador to Bapetikosweti, Darling is a town of creative people. The owners of Darling Sweet will welcome you to their establishment and they now have a showroom bakery at Evita se Perron.
Darling is in touching distance of Cape Town, but totally different in outlook - "only an hour from Cape Town, but a million miles away".Â
The Darling Wine Route will show you endless pleasure and the artistic merit of the town is something you will not miss on your driving through. Centrally located to many of the major areas in the West Coast, Darling with the Tienie Versfeld Nature Reserve is a colourful place to amaze at the wildflowers during Springtime. The wheat growing area of the Swartland is a stone's throw away and makes for an exciting drive through rolling wheatfields.
This town named after Sir Charles Darling, the Governor of the Cape in 1853, is one not to be missed on this tour.
YZERFONTEIN
Shipwrecks, shorelines and sea life...
The name translates into "Iron Fountain" yet there is no record of iron being mined or shipped from this area!
Known for the 16-mile beach, it is recorded that the indigenous people walked along these shores combing the beach for food or other implements they could use in their daily lives. Dr. Graham Avery and his team of archaeozoological researchers surveyed this beach for thirty years and discovered many bones of marine birds and dolphins and seals. The connection was made between the hunter-gatherers of the past and the stone tools found on 16-mile beach. Strong evidence exists to suggest that penguins were skinned and their pelts worn as coats. The significant Yzerfontein archeological dig site revealed artefacts of the Middle Stone Age (250 000 to 20 000 years ago) providing invaluable clues to what life was like for the early hunter-gatherers and humans on the West Coast.
Dassen Island lies 9 kilometres off the coastline beyond Yzerfontein.