Gouritsmond is about halfway between Gqeberha and Bot River, a central venue for us to rendezvous with our middle daughter, Ashley, who is doing her BSc honours at Nelson Mandela University. It was a toss-up between “Gourits” and that famous old hostelry, the nearby Albertinia Hotel, with its fine table and all. But, in the end, the draw of the river and the sea won out.
As a retirement and holiday destination, however, it’s mostly the peace and quiet, coupled with excellent fishing, that attracts people to settle in Gouritsmond. Walking along the tidally exposed flanks of the Gourits River the next day, we meet Andre Schutte and his 17-year-old Jack Russel. A retired farmer from Potchefstroom, Schutte hired out his land and is now renting a rondavel nearby. He tells us it’s the best move he ever made and that “Gourits is the most beautiful and peaceful seaside town in the world”.
On the evidence presented to us on our walk around the town and its environs this morning, his opinion is hard to dispute. Apart from the unpretentious homes and bungalows — most with some or other boat in their driveways — it’s the soft beauty of the place and the absence of fences, alarms and vicious-looking guard dogs that strikes one most.
Our hosts, Matty and Johan van Jaarsveld, came to Gouritsmond from busy Knysna to retire a few years ago, and relish the fact that “nothing goes on here”.
“It’s the ideal place for your soul to come to rest,” Matty tells us soon after we arrive, and with only the sounds of birds in the trees, the distant roar of surf and the sea breeze tugging gently at the curtains when I took a nap later, she may well have a point.
One of the benefits of having a budding botany and estuarine scientist walk with you along the banks of the Gourits River is you’re made aware of what makes an estuary like this a complex, dynamic and highly productive ecosystem. For a start, I learn keeping estuaries healthy is important as they are a food chain facilitator for the endemic fauna, through their sustaining of microalgae, invertebrates, fish (fry and adults), resident mammals, birds and local human communities that depend on fishing for their survival. And due to climate change, estuarine systems are increasingly important for the capture and storage of carbon.
Ashley deconstructs parts of the whole for us by singling out some of the individual flora, like the pink-tipped succulents (Salicornia perennis) that grow in the adjacent salt marsh and the African daisy bushes (Osteospermum) just beyond them. Then there are the exoskeletons of dead sand prawns (Callianassa kraussi) and mud prawns (Upogebia Africana), which are an important part of the spotted grunter’s diet, a species much sought after by fishermen here. We also learn that dusky cob are present in the estuary during spring and summer, and that these are caught with one of their natural prey, live mullet.
According to the Western Cape government’s Gouritz River Estuary Draft Estuarine Management Plan of 2021, “the Gouritz estuary is a warm temperate, medium/large permanently open, tidally dominated, barred estuary that displays a moderate ichthyofaunal community, good water quality and only moderate aesthetic appeal”.
When the first recorded European explorer, Bartolomeu Dias, unwittingly rounded the Cape in 1488 and ended up far to the east of the peninsula, his first landfall was the yet to be named Gourits River mouth. Due to the many cattle and herders he saw on its banks, Dias appropriately named the river, Rio dos Vaqueiros — the river of cowherds.
The origin of the Gourits River’s name, one of a few options listed in Ann Gadd’s A-Z Place Names of South Africa, states it stems from the Khoi word, Gouriguas, meaning “‘brown’ or ‘muddy’”. When this is combined with the slightly modified Gouriquas clan name, it could well mean, as Gadd suggests, “people of the brown/muddy river”. It makes sense to me because this mercurial river, often with little flow along its 328km length (due to the paucity of rain in its large, but predominantly dry catchment area), carries a lot of silt and debris when it floods periodically, making it a dirty brown colour when it does.
It wasn’t until 1668 that Hieronymus Cruse (a soldier and explorer of the interior for the Dutch East India Company) came across the cattle-rich Gouriqua people. One of his contemporaries, Sgt Pieter Cruythoff, who had been bartering for cattle with the Hessequa tribe to the west (between modern-day Stormsvlei and Riversdale), met up with Cruse, who had first sailed to Mossel Bay and then journeyed westward to the Cape over land. Their discoveries were a major coup for the burgeoning meat consumption needs of a nascent Cape Town, as well as to supply the growing number of ships anchored in Table Bay.
Arriving at the bustling small-craft launching site a couple of kilometres north of town, I regret not packing my inflatable kayak. Instead, we dangle our legs over the wooden mooring platform and listen to the banter of the fishermen, whose enthusiasm is only surpassed by their laughter as they regale each other with amusing anecdotes of their fishing exploits. We learn from one of them that there are deep-sea fishing charters available here, too; outings that apparently can bag a proficient guest the likes of large cob (between 8kg and 40kg), yellowtail, hake, skipjack and tuna.
We head back down the river bank to the mouth. En route we see a number of bird species including reed cormorants, swift terns, sand plovers, black oystercatchers and many seagulls overhead. The exposed river bed is also littered with the zooplankton-eating root-mouthed jellyfish (Eupilema inexpectata). Ashley tells us that unless they float on the next tide, they are likely to die or become fodder for the Cape clawless otters and sea birds.
It’s been a long walk and we crash on the beach alongside the river mouth. After bathing in the soft spring sun a while, and zoning out to the lulling sounds of the nearby surf, I pluck up the courage to expose my lily white, speedo-clad body to the girls and dash off into the surf. It’s the briefest of swims, but it galvanises me for the long walk back to our digs.
Later we head east down the coastal dirt track for sundowners, passing the large tidal pool where a number of braai gatherings are in full swing. This road used to connect with the Melkhoutfontein track to Still Bay, but was blocked to the public when the Reins Private Nature Reserve (now the Gourikwa Reserve) was proclaimed many years back.
But the 12km stretch that ends near Borrelfontein Farm is one of the most beautifully rugged sections of coastline in the southern Cape. Covered with patches of orange lichen and occasional blotches of red ochre, this rocky coastline is home to many hidden coves and fishing holes, often punctuated by the rods of fishermen.
The large platform of weathered rock from which we choose to watch the sun go down carries a lone fisherman on its edge. A voluble youngster, he appears to “donate” as much bait to a pair of harrying seagulls as he does to the fish that seem to keep getting away.
Yet, like us, he’s in the moment, in nature and nothing else really matters.
Travel Notes
Getting there: Gouritsmond is easily accessed off the N2 from Mossel Bay (46km — via the Vleesbaai road) or from the Albertinia side (34km).
What sort of vehicle will I need: You can get here in a normal sedan, but if you want to explore the back routes to Still Bay and Fransmanshoek, an SUV would be advisable.
What activities are on offer here: Gouritsmond is a pristine nature destination and a wonderful place to chill out next to the coast. But for those who like to explore what else is on offer, try some of the following activities: Catch the big one with Gourits Fishing Charters (074 561 9325 or visit www.gouritsfishing.co.za); book a game drive at nearby Garden Route Game Lodge (028 735 1200); have a family meal from the local Bite Me Diner (call Lloyd — 064 374 3207), grab a fish and chips takeaway from Vis Inni Mond, enjoy a fine cup of coffee at Koffie Stories in the General Dealer or indulge in the legendary sit-down menu at the Albertinia Hotel; book a guided tour of the historic Ystervarkpunt Lighthouse in the Gourikwa Reserve (12km from Gouritsmond — 087 702 9126); hike the Oystercatcher Trail between Mossel Bay and the Gourikwa Reserve (call 082 078 1696); visit one of the aloe houses in Albertinia for a great health and beauty shopping experience; go wine-tasting and/or have lunch at Jakkalsvlei Private Cellar outside Herbertsdale (58km); or just fish, swim, sunbathe, walk and mess about in boats on the river to your heart’s content.
Where we stayed: Sandy Paws, a comfortable and excellent value apartment above the owner’s garage with a distant view of the river mouth — 10 minutes’ walk from the beach. Call or Whatsapp Matty on 079 188 5217.
Best time of year to go: February to May and August to November.
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