Witsand

Witsand
A beach near Witsand.
Witsand Witsand Witsand
Coordinates: 34.395°S 20.841°E / -34.395; 20.841
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Garden Route
Municipality	Hessequa
Area
• Total	2.71 km2 (1.05 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	321
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	9.7%
• Coloured	2.2%
• White	87.2%
• Other	0.9%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	72.3%
• English	26.0%
• Other	1.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
PO box	6666
Area code	028

Witsand, Western Cape, South Africa, is a small coastal town, situated on the banks of the Breede River estuary. Witsand (Western Cape) is home to 4 kilometers of clean, sandy beaches, surrounded by a magnificent variety of Cape Fynbos species and the Breede River. The town is known as the Whale Nursery of South Africa due to the high concentration of whales in the bay between June and November. Witsand is an authentic water-sport and adventure destination with kite-surfing, surfing, standup paddle boarding and fishing as top visitor experiences. The town is located in the Hessequa region, which is branded as the Explorer's Garden Route.

Witsand has seen some of the largest bull sharks caught in the Breede River, although no shark attacks on people have been recorded to date.

The town serves as the finish line for the annual Vlakte Marathon, which is hosted in November.

Witsand has also become a hub for Bitcoin adoption in Africa with most merchants in the town accepting the currency.

History

The British colonial government granted the farm Westfield, where Witsand now stands, to Captain Benjamin Moodie on 10 October 1831. In the late 1800s, the Moodies permitted residents of Heidelberg, including farmers and townspeople, to vacation in Witsand, known for its good fishing and its white sandy beach that inspired its name. Documents show that this name was in use as early as 1867. The first structure constructed in Witsand was a small stone house named the Ou Pastorie, owned by the Reverend Alexander Daneel, the first pastor of the Heidelberg Dutch Reformed Church. Holidaying in the Witsand region about 1880 involved camping in reed huts and tents as the town was not yet developed. Subsequently, Benjamin and Donald Moodie, sons of Benjamin Moodie, allowed fishermen to build cottages in Witsand. As more people sought permission to build beach cottages, the Moodies partitioned sixty-five morgen of the farm into multiple erven. They officially recorded as Witsand in a different title deed in the year 1908. Seventeen individuals shared the first 118 plots of Witsand among themselves. Over the following years, additional plots of land were sold to individual owners. The new village consisted of twenty to thirty houses. Witsand was declared a local region in the year 1951.

Water supply

A solar-powered desalination plant is under development in Witsand, owned and funded by the government of France and the government of Western Cape Province, on a 50/50 basis. Witsand Solar Desalination Plant was budgeted at approximately ZAR:9 million (about US$700,000) and was expected to produce 100,000 liters of potable water daily.