Saldanha Bay Property

General Information

Largest natural bay in South Africa with panoramic views!

Saldanha Bay's location makes it a paradise for the watersport enthusiast, and its local economy being strongly dependent on fishing, mussels, seafood processing, the steel industry and the  natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa, north west of Cape Town. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality in 2000. The current population of the municipality is estimated at 72,000.

Furthermore its sheltered harbour plays an important part in the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore project (connected by the Sishen-Saldanha Railway Line) at which Saldanha Steel takes center stage. With strong historic military links Saldanha is also host to a Naval training base and the South African Military Academy. The SAS Saldanha Nature Reserve offers a display of wildflowers during late winter and spring while Southern Right Whales also visit the waters in and around the nature reserve. The area has a Mediterranean climate but the annual rainfall is quite low; it verges on the desert region of Namaqualand.

Attractions

Saldanha (population about 72,000) is located on the northern shore of Saldanha Bay on the Atlantic Ocean, about 100Km north of Cape Town. Langebaan and the West Coast National Park is south of the Bay.

Vredenburg is north of Saldanha on the R399 route to St Helena Bay. Along the coast to St Helena Bay are Jacobsbaai and Paternoster.

Saldanha Bay is the largest natural bay in South Africa and next to the cold Benguela Current, which is home to a rich variety of seafood: mussels, crayfish, oysters, seaweed, abalone, line fish.

There are five islands in the bay which are home to seals, jackass penguins and cormorants.

The islands are: Jutten (43ha), Malgas (18ha), Schaapen (29ha) and Marcus (17ha).

History

The bay was originally called Houtee Bay, meaning Seal Bay in Khoi-Khoi.

Saldanha is named after the Portuguese Antonio de Saldanha, who served in the fleet of Albuquerque, which departed from Lisbon in 1503 and anchored in a bay that could only be Table Bay as in his log book he describes climbing a flat top mountain he named Table Mountain. He called the bay Aguada de Saldanha (meaning watering-place of Saldanha). Antonio de Saldanha became "governor" of Mozambique in 1509 to 1512.

In 1601 the Dutch cartographer Joris van Spilbergen (probably mistakenly) entered the name Aguada de Saldanha, for a bay much further north - the bay today known as Saldanha Bay - in his maps.

In the early 1900s a fish canning factory was built here. A fishing village developed around the factory. The port was further developed in 1970 as a harbour for exporting minerals.

Economy

Saldanha has a large iron ore quay. One of the longest and heaviest train loads in the world run between Sishen and Saldanha.

The Sishen-Saldanha railway of 861Km transports iron ore from Sishen to Saldanha Bay, this train is one of the longest and heaviest in the world.

Saldanha also harbours fishing vessels.

The port developed into a modern harbour only recently, when it became necessary to facilitate the export of iron ore from the Northern Cape. This required the construction of a railway more than 800 kilometres to the mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape and the construction of a deepwater jetty in Saldanha Bay to accommodate Capesize ore carrier ships.

Nearby destinations

Jacobs Bay (8.1km)

Vredenburg (14.6km)

Paternoster (16.9km)

Paradise Beach (19.2km)

Mykonos (20.0km)

Calypso Beach (20.7km)

Langebaan (22.4km)

Kraalbaai (25.0km)

St Helena Bay (27.3km)

Stompneusbaai (27.5km)

Britannia Bay (28.1km)

Shelley Point (30.3km)

Churchaven (31.1km

West Coast National Park

The West Coast National Park is home to about 300 bird species. Things to do

Watersport: swimming, yachting, skiing, windsurfing.

Fishing: rock lobster, snoek.

Birdwatching: about 300 bird species can be seen in the area.

Whales and dolphins can be seen in the bay.

Flowers: in August daisies are in bloom, and in September vygies.

• Residential Sale Property Ranging from R450,000 to R5,500,000