Seal colonies are flourishing on South Africa’s coastline. If you’re a seal fan (and who can resist those big eyes?) you’ll find it’s easy to see them, either along the west coast or on islands close to Cape Town and Mossel Bay.
Seal Cinema
Watching seals is a little like watching a foreign soap opera without subtitles.
Seals sleeping, bickering, honking, squabbling and mock-biting, blinking soulfully, arching themselves into yoga positions, feeding bawling babies, hauling in, hauling out, bellowing, or blissfully scratching themselves with their silly hind-flippers.
Graceful, yet Comical
At first they all look the same. Then you’ll start noticing the differences between them. There is every shade of seal coat, from the fat black pups, fading to chocolate, through sienna brown, olive-grey and silky copper.
In the sea, they porpoise gracefully through the water. Sometimes they come and gaze quizzically at you, quite unembarrassed about their little doggy ears. Other times they lie dozing quietly in the waves like drifting pieces of kelp, raising their flippers like sails to cool down after a hectic hake hunt.
Boom Time
A few thousand years ago, South African fur seals were confined to islands. Any seal foolish enough to haul out onto the mainland was swiftly eaten, either by Strandlopers (early beachcombing humans) or other predators – lions, brown hyenas, jackals and the like.
It was only in the 1930s that they began to set up colonies on the mainland, notably on the undisturbed beaches of diamond concessions along the South African West Coast and Namibia. The population limits of islands fell away, and numbers began to grow.
Diamond Seals
Kleinsee, a large diamond mining area controlled by De Beers, hosts the largest breeding colony in South Africa. In fact, it is thought to be the largest mainland seal colony in the world. For more than 3 kilometres there is nothing but a moving mass of seals – close to half a million of them.
It’s unlikely you will ever see a larger crowd of non-human mammals. The smell, of course, takes a little getting used to.
Sea Lions, actually
Scientists will tell you that Cape fur seals are not true seals, but ‘eared seals’, also known as sea lions. They have small ears and, unlike true seals, they can turn their hind flippers forward to act as legs on land.
True seals on the other hand, have to drag themselves forward, half by rowing forward with the fore flippers and half by undignified caterpillar-like movements, with blubber rippling.
Where to See Seals
Two of the best-placed colonies for visitors are on Duiker and Seal Island, both a short boat ride from Hout Bay outside Cape Town. There’s another Seal Island just outside Mossel Bay.
The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town has a small colony near the Clock Tower – convenient if you want to see them up close and personal.
If you’re into sheer numbers, though, take a trip to Kleinsee. There are plenty of other attractions on this diamond coast to make it worth your while.
Shark Alley
If you like a bit of an edge to your seal viewing, book a boat trip that will take you past Geyser Rock near Gansbaai, in the Western Cape.
Every day, the 60 000 seals on this tiny outcrop run the gauntlet of Shark Alley – one of the world’s largest concentrations of great white sharks. In fact, this is where the local great whites have perfected a manoeuvre called ‘air jaws’ – a spectacular leap clear of the water in pursuit of a fleeing seal.
It’s also one of South Africa’s premier shark cage-diving and shark viewing locations.
Aqua Dancer
It’s fascinating watching seals from land, especially a breeding colony with plenty of round, bleating black pups. But to gain a truer idea of their abilities, watch them from a boat. It is a privilege to see a clumsy land animal launch itself into the sea, then speed, twist and arc effortlessly through the water.
Even better, if you dive one of the many wrecks around Hout Bay, you may be lucky enough to see a seal underwater, playful as a puppy, graceful as a dancer.
©Photographs are courtesy and copyright of Chris Marais
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