Thankfully we have little need of a whaling station any more. There’s no longer a market for lamp oil, lubricants or soap made from whale oil. But the tour to the derelict Bluff Whaling Station is one of the most popular offered by Durban Walking Tours (DWT) and clearly this relic of a now-abandoned industry holds a strange fascination. You have to book early to get in and it is always booked out, our tour leader, Ruth Hagen, told me when I went on the tour last November.
This is also due to pent-up demand: the tour to the whaling station cannot be offered every month, like many of the other tours offered by DWT: permission for every outing has to be obtained from the military, which owns the land.
In October 2019, the World Cetacean Alliance announced that the Bluff had become the world’s first certified whale heritage site. Announcing upcoming tours to the Bluff Whaling Station, DWT says in its newsletter that, during its years of operation, it was one of the largest land-based whaling stations in the world.
Established in 1907, it continued operations until 1975. “At its peak in 1965 it processed over 3,640 whales killed by its fleet. In the early 1900s it became common knowledge that more whales passed closer to Durban’s shores than any other coastal city in the world.”
Enthusiasm for going out on the boats was ensured — until SA outlawed whaling in 1979 — by the huge incentives offered by the Union Whaling Company (UWC), founded by Norwegian-born businessman Abraham Larsen. “In a year a worker could make enough to buy a car and pay for a year’s study at university,” Hagen explained.
In his book on the whaling company, called A Whale of a Time, former GM Peter Froude notes that in 1952, a gunner earned £25,000 for three months’ work, while senior personnel on the factory ship were accommodated in some comfort. In an interview with Tanya Waterworth for IOL, he tells how as a teenager he would visit the whaling stations and watch the whale catchers coming into the Durban harbour. He went to work for the company, starting in the UWC laboratory as a university student during holidays and working his way up.
During the 1960s, conservationists justifiably raised alarm over the huge reduction in whale populations, bringing to an end the bloody trade, at least in the Western world.
Providing abundant evidence that we live in an entirely new era of conservation, the DWT’s whaling station tour begins with a meet-up at the stylish Maha Café at 5 Mahatma Gandhi Road on the Point Waterfront. It serves dishes like seared hand-cut carpaccio and pulled-pork taco washed down with a Babylonstoren red blend that will dispel any old associations you may have of Point Road.
I had no time to appreciate the delicious offerings of the Maha Café, however, as we tore up at 7.30am just as the group — a large one of about 16 — was leaving.
A word of advice: get there with at least 10 minutes to spare; you need time for orientation. The first stop is a 30-minute uphill and downhill slog through an underwater tunnel that is not usually open to the public. The tunnel goes under the harbour entrance channel, which is 222m wide at its narrowest point. It’s dark, dingy and dank, and you’ll need a torch.
On the other side, however, was our reward: sunshine and endless views of the clear blue Indian Ocean.
We gathered at a small heritage site where the World War 2 gun emplacements had been, where Hagen gave us some background on the tour. We walked along the defunct railway line to where a security man showed us onto the beach and we began the glorious hike around the coast surrounding the Bluff. Some other residents had found the spot favourable — there were a few shacks with pot plants dangling at the entrance and washing hanging out to dry. There is also another entrance to the area, via a steep walkway on the other side of the Bluff.
The coastal walk is magnificent but one is always aware this is just the means to an end: the final reveal of the whaling station itself. But we passed some interesting sites such as the remains of Cave Rock, which was reportedly dynamited in the 1940s by the SA War Department. It was a large sandstone formation that once stood proudly at the Bluff headland, according to Durban writer and illustrator Graham Leslie McCallum.
The coastal walk is magnificent but one is always aware this is just the means to an end: the final reveal of the whaling station itself.
We spotted a commemorative plaque with an amusing inscription, dedicated to a deceased army colonel who liked to fish there. “Die kolonel se gat,” it says. “In loving memory of Colonel JCJ Louw. 07/03/1959-25/01/2019.”
This is a long trek for those who are not used to hiking, and the tour organisers do stipulate that participants should wear good walking shoes, have a fair level of fitness, and bring a hat and a good supply of water. To get to the whaling station itself, there’s a bit of a climb onto a steep bank.
We threaded our way through the eerie, derelict buildings, the remains of a trade that has died. The organisers had said we would be visiting the head office and other offices, laboratory, workshop buildings, meat meal store, staff accommodation, boiler house and plants, kitchen and dining room and the cannery, but in some cases it was difficult to make out the purpose of the building. Some low-rise ones were presumably staff quarters. Many of the buildings were covered in graffiti and all appeared to be crumbling. This gives the place a sombre atmosphere, which is emphasised as your mind imagines the activities here.
We were shown the flensing area, where the animals were brought ashore and the carcasses stripped (I hope to never see such a place again), as well as the huge storage areas. Here, some of the bricks have been removed, creating portholes with a view on the thrashing sea just outside.
A note: if the intention was to maintain the Bluff Whaling Station as a heritage site, this is not being done. People are living in the buildings, despite many of them missing roofs, there was a lot of rubbish lying around and we could smell fires smouldering.
There was a bit of time allowed for wandering around and taking pictures, just soaking up the history of the place, and we posed for a group picture before starting to make our way back at about 10.30am.
I’m not sure when the wind started up but by the time we got back down to the beach, the waves were barrelling in, leaving a small margin for walking. It became very hard going, excruciating step by step as the wind and sand rushed at us, getting in our eyes and stinging our skin. Hagen said in all the tours she’s conducted, she had never had this before. Just my luck, because my fitness isn’t what it should be.
Shielding our faces from the onslaught, we made our way back to the harbour entrance channel. To add further strain we had to climb back up the steep bank and it became obvious few of our party would be able to sprint up. It would need to be a group effort — some burly types at the bottom giving us a heave up, and some willing types at the top to grasp our hands and pull us over the top. Some others had arranged themselves along the fence as a welcome party, loudly cheering each person as if we’d just run the Comrades. That was a heartwarming end to the tour, as most of us went our own way at our own speed after that.
It seemed another small age but we got back to where we had started at the harbour entrance, where I barely had the energy to schlep back through the dark, uneven tunnel, grabbing onto the rail, my hands becoming steadily blacker.
As we emerged, the wind was imperceptible and the sun was shining.
We fell into the car. Luckily my companion was chauffeuring and I could relax and pat myself on the back.
An addendum: It is not usually this rigorous. Your correspondent is convinced she was sent these elements so she could write a more gripping story.
Festival welcomes the whales
The humpback whale migration is the longest migration route of any mammal
Testament to the new status of the whale as a mammal that should be appreciated alive, the Welcoming of the Whales Festival is held every year in Durban.
The South Durban Community Tourism Association (Sodurba) has been organising the event since June 2017 to celebrate the arrival of the humpback whale migration, the longest migration route of any mammal on earth. This year the festival will be held on June 21.
Sodurba also launched the Maritime Heritage Route in 2017 to showcase the history of whaling in Durban and the shift towards marine conservation, emphasising the protection and appreciation of whales, dolphins and other sea life.
The heritage route includes the following:
- Whale heritage: The route explores the history of whaling and the evolution of conservation efforts;
- Conservation legacy route: This includes trails, beaches, and nature reserves like Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, Bluff Nature Reserve and Bluff Eco Park;
- Multicultural Route: This route explores the diverse cultural heritage of the area; and
- The Port Natal Maritime Museum, Wilson’s Wharf, Bluff viewpoints and the Wildlife & Environment Society of SA Treasure Beach Education Centre are also part of the route.
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