Hermanus

Hermanus (Afrikaans: [ɦærˈmɑːnœs]; originally called Hermanuspietersfontein, but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service), is a town on the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is known for Southern Right whale watching during the southern winter to spring seasons, and is a popular retirement location.

Hermanus Pieters (c. 1778 – 1837) was a Dutch teacher who arrived in Cape Town in 1815. He was recruited by Dutch-speaking farmers who disliked that English was the only language used in all government schools. He settled in Caledon, but taught Dutch to farmers in a wide area around that town, including the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. He often vacationed at the spring ("fontein") in present-day Hermanus, where he fished and grazed his sheep, the place eventually became known as "Hermanus Pieters se Fonteyn". He died before the village Hermanuspietersfontein existed. 65 years after his death the postmaster decided to abbreviate the name to Hermanus.

The parents of Roger Bushell, leader of the "Great Escape" (the escape by Allied airmen from Stalag Luft III in World War II), retired in Hermanus after World War II, and are buried there. Bushell's name is one of those commemorated on the war memorial.^{[citation needed]}

Hermanus lies along Walker Bay on the south coast of the Western Cape. It is located about 115 km southeast of Cape Town and is connected to the Mother City by the R43 highway (or coastal R44 scenic route) and N2 motorway. The R43 continues to Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of Africa. Hermanus is 40 km from Gansbaai, a spot where people can dive amongst the great white sharks.^{[citation needed]} It is also notable that Hermanus still boasts a historic railway station building without a railway line. The founders of the town decided not to lay any tracks as this would have made Hermanus more commercial and felt that Hermanus needed to stay a small fisherman's village. To this day the locals still refer to it as "the village."

The town of Vermont borders Hermanus to its West.

Sandbaai lies on the coast at the entrance to the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Valley. It is the most recently developed and fastest-growing residential area of Greater Hermanus. Zwelihle, designated a "black" area by the apartheid era government, is a residential area that consists mainly of shacks. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the town has emerged as a popular destination for very wealthy South Africans to move to.

Hermanus is classified as having a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen). It receives roughly 520 mm of rain per annum, the majority of which falls during the winter months of June to August in the form of frontal precipitation. Average midday temperatures range from 25 °C in February to 16 °C in July. Extremes above 30 °C and under 10 °C are not uncommon. Summer and Winter months are characterised by strong south-easterly and north-westerly winds respectively.^{[citation needed]}

The Space Science Directorate of the South African National Space Agency, previously the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory (HMO), is a research facility of the National Research Foundation and forms part of the worldwide network which monitors variations of the Earth's magnetic field.^{[citation needed]}