The West Coast. From Melkbos to the Orange River, by Leon Nell

The West Coast. From Melkbos to the Orange River, by Leon Nell. Penguin Random House South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa 2021. ISBN 9781775847021 / ISBN 978-1-77-584702-1

The West Coast. From Melkbos to the Orange River. Leon Nell spent several seasons on the West Coast, travelling its highways and byways to explore and photograph this region.

Leon Nell  

The ancient forces of nature and humankind have shaped an enigmatic coastline between the southernmost tip of Africa and the banks of the Orange River. From Cape Aguihas northwards along the West Coast of South Africa to the border of Namibia, the landscapes, climate, people and customs intersect to form a region of complex diversity and striking splendour. Coastal towns north of Cape Town, from Melkbosstrand to Lambert's Bay - fondly known as Die Weskus - have become popular over the years, while the Diamond Coast further north remains a remote, sparsely populated territory. This is the West Coast and Diamond Coast of South Africa. One of the first dilemmas confronting Weskus visitors is demarcating the boundaries of the West Coast of South Africa. Many locals deem with a superior air of confidence that Die Weskus lies firmly ensconced between Yzerfontein in the south and Lambert's Bay in the north, including a few scattered inland towns such as Darling, Hopefield and Aurora. Some purists believe that if it is not situated on the shores of the South Atlantic, it does not qualify as a West Coast town - a notion I dismissed soon after realising that a hamlet like Churchhaven and beloved towns such as Langebaan, Saldanha and Velddrif would not meet this criterion, as they either face a bay or lagoon, like Saldanha and Langebaan, or are literally inland, such as Velddrif, the latter the very embodiment of West Coast towns with its distinctive brogue. Geographically speaking, the West Coast of South Africa should run all the way from Cape Agulhas in the south, up along the western coast of the country, to Alexander Bay on the border of Namibia in the north. This notion is equally nonsensical, for that would mean including Cape Town and its surrounding suburbs, such as Gordon's Bay and Simon's Town, the mere thought of which would be ridiculed outright by Capetonians and Weskussers (West Coasters) alike. Yet there are people in towns up north beyond the provincial demarcation of the Western Cape who would soon enough take exception if you excluded Hondeklipbaai, Kleinzee, Port Nolloth and even Alexander Bay, bordering Namibia. Quibblers would point out that these towns form part of Namaqualand, and not the West Coast proper, in which case Lambert's Bay would be part of the Sandveld, and not the true West Coast, which in turn is just another moot point, for Velddrif is as much part of the West Coast as its well-known bokkoms. Our travels here include the coastal region north of the Olifants River, better known as the Diamond Coast, and delve deep into the heart of Namaqualand, while using writer's licence to deviate a little inland to areas such as Darling, Hopefield, the West Coast Fossil Park, Aurora, and more, with profuse apologies for areas omitted. This is not a tourist guide. Anyone wanting more accommodation information can simply google or phone the relevant tourism authorities for details, while most vehicles have built-in Global Positioning Systems (GPS), making reaching your destination easy enough. That internet search engines have their own pitfalls goes without saying - try and delve into the history and environs of a town that may interest you and you will face a barrage of accommodation details for that town without even a vague mention of the information you seek. [...]

This is an excerpt from The West Coast. From Melkbos to the Orange River, by Leon Nell.

Title: The West Coast
Subtitle: From Melkbos to the Orange River
Author: Leon Nell
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa 2021
ISBN 9781775847021 / ISBN 978-1-77-584702-1
Softcover, 21 x 25 cm, 159 pages, throughout colour photographs, 2 maps