Hondeklip Bay Accommodation

Hondeklip Bay is a tiny village on the north-west coast of South Africa. It is a village set aside from the cities and crowds. Walking along its misty beach feels like you have arrived at a distant frontier with the vast Atlantic Ocean before you, and a tiny settlement at your back. Fishing boats and diamond diving vessels bob in the waters near the jetty.

The little village has had many purposes over the years, from being a humble trading store to a copper port, a crayfishing centre to a diamond diving hub. But today it is happy to host long distance tourists who love distant adventures and a plate of seafood on a far away beach. Hondeklip, which is Afrikaans for Dog Stone, Bay was first a small trading centre until copper was discovered and mining began north of here in the mid-1800s. For a while, it was a rather loud and wild seaport, as the copper was transported from places like Springbok to be shipped south from here. An interesting fact though was that there was no pub in Hondeklip Bay, but the hardened copper transporters made their own plans. It is said that they would buy a huge cask of Cape Smoke brandy roll it down to the beach and settle in for a long and loud party.

The most impressive act of local construction was Die Messelpad (Masonry Road) inland from Hondeklip Bay. Construction began in 1867 but ceased four years later when it was decided to move the copper operations up to the more accessible Port Nolloth. Needless to say with this move Hondeklip Bay went into a slump. About 50 years later, the village briefly revived itself with a stab into the crayfish industry. Shortly after that fizzled out, diamonds were discovered offshore and the adventurers returned.

Today, Hondeklip Bay is still a frontier town, but tourism is the new buzzword, alongside a kelp harvesting industry. Tourists from near and far usually have one repeated question, where did the town get its name from? The answer to this sounds more like a tall tale rather than fact, but they say that there was once a big rock here shaped like the head of a dog. A piece that resembled one of its ears was stolen and a lightning strike severed its nose.