When you click on this article, we are sure you will visit unique places in South Africa. If you pay attention to our article, you will recognize that we’ve already done writing about things to do in Mabonneng, the complex consisting of unique street arts, restaurants, markets, and so much more. Therefore, today, we will introduce you to things to do in Lamberts Bay, a small fishing town in the Western Cape, a province of South Africa.
We know that you will face difficulties learning and arranging a tour for yourself when visiting a new place. Lamberts Bay is not an exception. There will be many places, many foods for you to go and taste. Therefore, below here, we will provide you some basic knowledge and things to do in Lamberts Bay, so you won’t feel confused and overwhelmed anymore.
Now, let’s jump into the article and see what we’ve got for you.
Firstly, we think it’s best to know basic knowledge about Lamberts Bay, the place you’re about to go visiting.
Basic Information About Lamberts Bay
Location
Before talking about its history, we want you to know where it is on the map. Lamberts Bay locates on the West Coast area of the Western Cape, approximately 280 kilometers counting from Cape Town.
History
The place is named after a British Navy, Admiral Lambert, who did a marine survey on the bay between 1826 and 1840.
There is an interesting fact about Lamberts Bay: this place is utilized as a lay-up for British warships from 1900 to 1902. And in 1887, a commercial building was bought, and a hotel was built one year after that. We think this is the start of this bay development.
In 1918, the first crayfish factory was started. Thanks to this beginning, Lamberts Bay is now famous for the giant crayfish mecca of South Africa. That’s why when you visit the bay, you will see the rapid development of the fish industry and how this industry forms Lamberts Bay’s economy core.
Now, you’ve known about the location and the history of this bay; you may want to visit Lamberts Bay; however, you are still unsure about your decision. Therefore, we want to show you some reasons why you should give this place a visit.
Why Should You Visit Lamberts Bay?
The Climate
For your information, Lamberts Bay is famous for its moderate year-round climate. You should know that this bay is a fishing village; therefore, it will be near the beach. As a result, the weather will be neither too hot nor too cold, the amount of rain and sun is also moderate almost suitable for you to visit the place any time you want during the year.
However, the best time for you to visit is from January to April or October till December. During this time, you can enjoy the warm temperature and limited rainfall, which will support your visit.
White Beach
As we’ve mentioned before, Lamberts Bay is a coastal village; therefore, it is famous for continuous, uninterrupted, beautiful white beaches.
We know this characteristic is the one that everyone will love since most of us have to live in bustling cities, face many problems, stressful situations at work, home, and so much more. Without proper relaxing time, you will soon feel mentally drained.
Therefore, taking a break, soaking up the sun, enjoying some fun, adventurous sea sports like surfing, and riding a boat will help you a lot with your physical and mental health.
Diverse Marine Life
We are confident that it will be a shortcoming, not to mention the various types of wildlife in this bay with white, beautiful beaches.
Visiting Lamberts Bay, you will get the chance to see various sea birds and seals types at Bird island, such as cormorants and gannets, which we bet is a perfect location for ornithologists from around the world.
Moreover, crayfish, dolphins, whales are also attracted many tourists. In here, you can spot dolphins at the beach all year round; not every place will give you these fantastic sceneries. We can say that this is a unique point creating the attractiveness for the land.
Delicious Sea Food
Because of the location in the center of the crayfish country, Lamberts Bay will be the best place for you to get seafood, with fresh catches brought in daily. Of course, Lamberts Bay is a coastal village; therefore, you don’t have to worry that there is no seafood. There are many open-air restaurants serving seafood that we will introduce to you in the next part.
Cultural Richness
Not only famous for its beach, marine creature diversity, Lamberts Bay is also well-known for its culture. Thanks to the Sandveld Museum and various exhibitions, you can learn more about the communities, see many photographs about their culture and have a chance for interaction.
Now, we think you are interested in Lamberts Bay; therefore, we will head to the most crucial part of this article: Things to do in Lamberts Bay. There are many other activities for you to enjoy and understand the true beauty of Lamberts Bay. You may discover them through your visit. However, the activities we’ve mentioned down here is our recommendation of typical activities people join. It’s like a guide to help you to know more about this place.
Things To Do In Lamberts Bay
Tasting Sea Food
When visiting a new place, we are sure that the first concern to some people is finding a great restaurant to enjoy the specialties, the local food. Therefore, we want to put this activity as the first thing to do in Lamberts Bay.
Lamberts Bay is famous for open-air restaurants, and there will be many options for you in the market. However, during our research, we see that two restaurants are recommended by tourists who have been to Lamberts Bay and local people.
Bosduifklip Outdoor Restaurant
We see that there are two unique points of this restaurant. Firstly, it is built based on rock formations. Outside or inside the restaurant, you will be fascinated to see that the furniture, the architecture, resembles the natural and rustic atmosphere.
Secondly, we were pretty amazed when we found out that the restaurant is also a wedding venue. Isn’t that great when you can enjoy a private and cozy wedding party with your families and dance barefoot with your loved ones. The sophisticated yet still simple, relaxing location will make the wedding down-to-earth.
Besides weddings, a restaurant is still a place for you to taste fresh and delicious seafood on any occasion you want, maybe a birthday party, lunch, dinner, Christmas lunch day, and so much more.
Muisbosskerm Outdoor Restaurant
This restaurant has its unique points, including the naming and the available time.
Many of you here see that the name is relatively hard to read, right? Up to this time, sometimes, we still face difficulties when reading the word out loud.
However, this name has meaningful meaning; it deviates from the shelter built from a bush called “Muisbos.”
Just like Bosduifklip restaurant, this restaurant also serves sought-after, fresh seafood dishes, with various food ranging from traditional dishes to homemade bread. We are sure that there will be many unique options for you for a self-help meal.
You need to remember two points; firstly, it is located right on the shore, south of Lamberts Bay. Secondly, the restaurant is not open every day; it only opens when receiving more than 15 reservations. Ensure to call before you visit the restaurant.
Besides some open-air restaurants, we will introduce to you one more restaurant that we consider will surprise any tourist, even the most difficult one.
Isabella Restaurant
The most creative point we see in this restaurant is the coastal village atmosphere it brings to you. From the floor to the wall, you will get the ocean, the sea feeling, to the pot they use. Moreover, you will sense this feeling more at the waterfront because of its location, beautiful harbor, and bird island view.
The unique point of this restaurant is that they serve traditional West Coast dishes to Lamberts Bay residents and offer a complete menu to all taste buds. You don’t have to worry if you are allergic to seafood; this restaurant will have an alternative solution for you.
You may find many restaurants during your visit; therefore, this is only our recommendation of some famous restaurants that most people will say to you.
Now, let’s jump to some activities that will help you get to know more about the culture, the sceneries of Lamberts Bay.
Beach Activities
As we’ve mentioned before, Lamberts Bay is famous for long, uninterrupted white beaches; therefore, joining beach activities should be your top priority when coming to the beach.
Of course, you still can sit down, lie on the beach to watch the sunset, or feel the sun soak up; however, isn’t it greater when you join activities on the beach to fully see the beauty of it?
Some activities we can mention can be surfing, swimming, kite-surfing, ordinary activities you can see on many beaches. However, we know that you do not come here for such activities to give you some recommendations.
Spotting Dolphins
One of the unique things to do in Lamberts Bay is to spot dolphins all year round at a very close distance, at about 150 meters. Cool, right? It will be hard to find a place like this around the world. And the best point is that you can see this mammal creature anywhere along the bay.
Boat Cruise
The boat cruise is also a popular activity for people visiting Lamberts Bay. Getting on the cruise and enjoy your day or night on the beach. However, most tourists will take the cruise between August and November to Southern to see whales close since they come to the bay for mating and calving.
In general, this activity is also fun and surely will bring you many memorable experiences.
Catch Lobster
You may be confused. Is that true that we can catch lobster? The answer is yes! Thanks to the flank of Lamberts Bay and Olifants River, you can simply grab the lobster for yourself. For your information, lobster is among the famous cuisine in this area. Therefore, it will be a particularly unique activity, right?
Other Activities
Some other activities you can enjoy overnight rustic bush camp, where you can enjoy a wild encounter. All you have to do is bring food, beverage, and water for some personal hygiene activities. You will have the chance to pitch your tent near the loops of the Olifants River.
Some seafood dinners and lunches can be arranged for you, sundowner cruises as well.
4×4 Trails
Some of you will ask us, what kind of activity this time? We are happy to say that you can experience real dessert on the West Coast. This trail is not strange to local people and people who research Lamberts Bay.
The 4×4 trails, also known as desert trails, are about 250 hectares outside the bay, for your information. Like other deserts, you should know that the track will consist of a series of dunes that will strain the car wheel as it moves.
Because of this feature, you should bring a person with knowledge on driving on the dunes and support with driving expertise in the passenger seat.
You should not let your vehicle deal with accidentally broken brakes; consequently, it may lead to a problem of sliding down to the steep dune. This will severely damage your vehicle.
With different 4×4 trails types, you will get exceptional emotion and experience. For example, the Boegoeberg 4×4 trail will offer you a breath-taking, astonishing view of Lamberts Bay, Elands Bay, and Graafwater.
Bird Watching
As we’ve mentioned earlier in the article, you will have some opportunities to see a wide variety of birds super close. Some types of birds we can say are Gannets, Cormorants, and sea birds. Cool, right? This bird island natural reserve is like a bird-lover paradise, making you feel relaxed and happy when watching them.
Moreover, you can see penguins and Cape fur seals in this area. An interesting fact about Lamberts Bay’s bird island is that it is among many rare places containing Cape gannet breed. Therefore, you should feel appreciated to have the chance to observe this precious creature.
The reserve will offer you some lookout points, where you can watch the birds and see them perform. Also, there is some valuable information at that point; therefore, you don’t have to be scared that you will not know anything.
In general, the reserve contains an aquarium, auditorium, coffee shop, and so much more.
Visit the Sandveld Museum
We know that you will want to see the place’s history, culture, and nature when visiting any site. Lamberts Bay is not an exception to you! And thanks to the Sandveld museum, you will know everything!
In general, this museum will offer you the chance to see, learn, and interact with the culture. Sounds weird, right? Almost all museums will prohibit you from touching their exhibits. Not with the Sandveld Museum; you can try the clothes on the show.
In particular, we will show you some outcomes, some knowledge you can gain through visiting the museum.
Lambertsbaai Exhibition
Through this exhibition, you can see the past of Lamberts Bay; what did it look like in the past?
You can get to see the fishing industry, books, archaeology, farm stories, clothes, and embroidery. There are many photos, pictures from that period to prove to you the existence of what we’ve listed. It’s meaningful how you will understand more about the communities after seeing this exhibition.
HMS Gunboat Exhibition
As you read the History section, you can see that Lamberts Bay is used as a lay-up to the British warships between 1900 and 1902. And this exhibition is a demonstration of that period.
With this exhibition, you can know more about your boat and how people search the artifacts from the wreckage. In 1999, they found a propeller, and nowadays, it is still on exhibition to mark a glorious period.
Traditional Matjieshuis
This exhibition is also an exciting thing you can find in this museum. It is a traditional shelter type that Nama used when they lived as Nomads of the area back here, for your information.
In this exhibition, you can see a photo of Lamberts Bay’s founder, along with his family, standing next to the matjieshuis.
Other activities
Some activities you can enjoy while visiting Lamberts Bay are sandboarding down the dunes, joining quad bikes trips, driving to look at the scenic landscape, relaxing near the Elands Bay beach, and finally, participating in the Crayfish festival if you have the chance.
Conclusions
There is no surprise that Lamberts Bay is considered as the “Diamond of the West Coast” for amazing white beaches, various marine life, fresh and delicious seafood when looking through the activities.
We hope that after our article, you will be no longer feel confused and overwhelmed when searching for things to do in Lamberts Bay. We’ve concluded for you typical activities that people are most likely to join when visiting this place.
We know that some of you may be creative, adventurous and want to create a unique itinerary just for yourself; however, not all people will like you. Some first-time tourists will want to follow a guide to get to know the place. Later, if they have a chance, they will visit the bay by themselves.
So, it is the end of our article. Stay tuned and read more articles from us about the itineraries for some places. We hope that we are a big help to you in your Lamberts Bay trip.
Thank you for staying with us through the whole article. Goodbye and see you in our next article!
