The West Coast

Increasingly popular with nature lovers and tourists alike, the West Coast is South Africa's most enigmatic coastline - a place of wild seas, windswept beaches, expansive coastal plains and warm, hospitable people. The author begins his journey at Melkbosstrand near Cape Town and ends in the far north where the Orange River drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way he explores the coast's history, its seaside towns and villages, fauna and flora, agriculture, the romance of past mining days, and the eccentricities of its inhabitants.

The book is divided into four sections. Among its features are:
• spectacular floral riches of the West Coast and Namaqualand
• the discovery of 5-million-year-old faunal fossils in the West Coast Fossil Park
• Eve's footprints, early human activity at Elands Bay, and the preservation of San history at !Khwa ttu
• Langebaan Lagoon and offshore islands in Saldanha Bay
• national parks, nature reserves, wetlands and estuaries and their attendant wildlife
• bustling wine farms, famous eateries and cultural attractions, among them Pieter-Dirk Uys's Evita se Perron
• colourful tales of West Coast families
• the allure of the Diamond Coast.

The magic and mystery of the West Coast captured here promise to stir curiosity and awaken the wanderlust of all readers.