A new hospital is on the cards for Gansbaai

A new hospital is on the cards for Gansbaai, a charming coastal village on Walker Bay, renowned for its Southern Right Whales in winter, just 170km from Cape Town en route to the southern tip of Africa. Formerly known as the Great White Shark capital of the world and recently rebranded as the ’Natural Adventure Destination’, Gansbaai is home to two of the top 10 adventure attractions in the Western Cape - Pearly Beach Horse Trails and Fat Bike Tours, both of which showcase the areas natural beauty and resources.

Says Le Roux van der Merwe, Pam Golding Properties area principal: “People from Gauteng, Cape Town and other coastal cities and towns are escaping the noise and traffic to semigrate to Gansbaai, with its relaxed, rural feel, multitude of natural springs, spectacular scenery and plenty of open space to enjoy - which also allows for future development. With a well-run, solvent municipality, the town has experienced robust growth in vacant plot sales in recent years, which suggest strong demand for new homes in the town from a broad cross-section of buyers. Fibre has been rolled out to most suburbs, there are doctors and dentists in town and a variety of restaurants. With construction of the new hospital due to break ground in July 2021, this will change the face of Gansbaai as at present, many people leave the area to be closer to proper medical care in the form of hospitals for chronic conditions. This will reverse the trend, which will ultimately result in higher prices for properties.”

A two-hour scenic drive from Cape Town, and only 50km from Hermanus - with the road from Gansbaai to Hermanus currently being upgraded to a super wide road that will smooth traffic flows, prices of residential property in Gansbaai start from R215 000 up to R3.2 million (seafront plots) for vacant land between 500sqm and 800sqm, while apartments are priced from R765 000 to R995 000 for 62sqm units, and freestanding houses range from 120sqm to 320sqm at prices starting from R1.35 million up to R8.4 million for seafront homes.

Numerous attractions in Gansbaai include the historic Klipgat Caves and Klipgat Trail, hiking trails along the mountains behind Flower Valley, Platbos Forest - the oldest remaining indigenous forest in the Western Cape, beach hikes, quad bike rides in the mountains, fishing on the shoreline or in one of the two Walker Bay Nature Reserves, and Lomond Wine Estate which, apart from wine tasting, also hosts triathlons, mountain bike trails, canoeing events and open water swims. De Kelders, with its high cliffs on the ocean, offers arguably the best land-based whale watching in the Western Cape, while shark cage diving is a popular tourist activity that attracts visitors from around the globe.