Watch: A whale of a time in Table Bay Harbour
A whale and her calf drew crowds and cameras after an uncommon appearance in one of Cape Town’s busiest harbours.
Video footage of two whales swimming inside the Table Bay Harbour has gone viral on social media, with clips uploaded across multiple platforms racking up millions of views.
Caxton Network News spoke to Christiaan Crous, who owns Aspoestertjie Adventures with Tanja Maier, after videos were posted on their Facebook page on Sunday (June 7).
Their company was born from their idea of renovating boats and putting a new shiny slipper on them, hence the name Aspoestertjie – Afrikaans for Cinderella.
Sunday’s whale encounter was just like a fairy tale. Crous says it is unusual to see whales in that place in the harbour.
“A lot of dolphins were also present in the bay. What was weird was that they went crazy and turned. Usually, they just travel, but this time they made a massive noise.”
He explains that the animals appeared to be a mother and calf, and he thinks they were trapped in a corner of the harbour for about 15 minutes. They swam from left to right before safely finding their way back out to sea, he says.
Several videos of the encounter have been posted on their Facebook page and, in one of them, freelance instructor Christo Franken is heard saying ‘hello mamma’ as the whale surfaces.