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Graaf's Pool

5. Graaf's Pool

The first pool from the north along the Atlantic coastline of Cape Town is a derelict site known as Graaf's Pool. 

Graaf's pool has a unique place in the story of the South African tidal pool for all the fuss it has caused. The pool was built in 1910 to accommodate the needs of a paralysed woman who lived in a mansion right behind the pool. It featured a tunnel for access under the beach road, and a wall to shield the users from view. After her, the mansion and the pool were owned by a politician named Graaff, after whom the pool was named, and who later bequeathed the pool to the City of Cape Town.

It soon became a popular hangout spot for gay men, who congregated behind the wall and swam in the nude. After a number of years, some of the locals objected to this practice, and the wall was demolished in 2005. The pool was demolished in 2005, although some features have survived in 2026. 

Graaff's Pool cut down to size

2005-06-09 21:59

Cape Town - Nudie landmark Graaff's Pool - labelled by a city councillor as a venue where sex was for sale, drugs were peddled and the area used as a toilet - is almost gone.

A huge bulldozer started on Thursday with the destruction of the concrete wall around the well-known pool on the Sea Point promenade.

For councillor J P Smith, representing Sea Point and Green Point and who was there to monitor the proceedings, it was the end of a three-year campaign.

He said: "We can now make an end to the abuse of Graaff's Pool."

Smith approached the council three years ago with a deposition to do away with the concrete wall protecting the historic Graaff's Pool from prying eyes on land.

He was supported by the Sea Point Ratepayers' Association, as well as the area's community policing forum.

Tunnel under the street

Smith said: "It took us a long time to weigh up the pros and cons of this move and we eventually decided the demolition of the wall was justified.

"It no longer serves any useful purpose for the community."

The pool dates from the period when the former politician and leader of the opposition, Sir de Villiers Graaff and his family had a home across the street in Beach Road.

It was even possible for them to walk along a tunnel underneath the street to the pool where bathing was strictly in the nude.

The tunnel entrance can still be seen today.

In later years the family donated the pool to the city council.

Initially, only men were allowed to use it and it was only much later that women were allowed to use it.

'A hotspot for crime'

According to Smith, the sea took its toll through the years and storm damage caused cracks in the wall and even took away sections of concrete.

Smith said: "In time, it became a hotspot for crime.

"Condoms and stolen property were found there regularly and rent boys also used the place as a hangout."

The Western Cape heritage watchdog initially gave permission for the demolition of the wall to a height of one metre.

However, Smith is presenting a further deposition to break the wall down to the rock surface and have the area restored to its original state.

https://www.news24.com/graaffs-pool-cut-down-to-size-20050609 


Extracts from a Master's Thesis, by Andre Malan. Read the full Thesis here.


BELOW BORDEAUX
Hidden Histories in Sea Point design research project APG5058S

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

Master of Architecture (Professional)

by Andre Malan

Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author.


1

RAIL!

While railways were being built in and around the
city as far back as 1862, it was not until 1905 that a
passenger line to Sea Point was opened. The line ran
at a loss for many years. In 1927, it was electrified, 
but soon after, in 1929, the line was closed.
"When the line was lifted, the railway property
became public land, which could not be built upon.
So the wide green lawns along the sea front, of which
Sea Point is so proud, are the only memorial to the
vanished Sea Point railway." (Burman: 1984) 

DARWIN'S DISCOVERY

Rocks along the Sea Point coast are world famous in
the field of geology. A site known as the
Sea Point Contact, was visited and documented by Charles
Darwin during a geological voyage from 1832 to
1836. His observations here would later help him to
suggest that the world had been around long enough
for his natural selection hypothesis to be true.
Some 540 million years ago, at the Contact, molten
granite magma was injected into black sedimentary
rocks of the Malmesbury Group. Today Cape
Granite and the Malmesbury Group are two of the
most prolific rock type in the country. The extreme
heat of the molten granite softened, stretched and
delaminated the rocks of the Malmesbury Group. This
left a complex mixed zone stretching over 150m
along the coast.
This contact event, however, is not responsible
for the distinctly recognisable appearance of the
dark angular rocks (of the Malmesbury group)
surrounding Graaffs Pool. These are a result of
a geological process called orogeny. The orogeny
in this case, caused by pressure from a collision
between the South American, Antarctic and African
continental plates slowly colliding resulted in
dramatic deformation of the upper layer of the
earth's crust. Thus, the dark sedimentary rock
was split and folded in along a North West axis.
Today, these sedimentary layers can still be observed
as in most rocks, only in this case, they are not
parallel to the horizon but protrude diagonally
outward. 

TECHNIQUE AND TOOLING

Drilling and Blasting, the dominant method of quarrying, has
changed little since its ancient inception. While manually boring
devices have been swapped out for machines and chemical
advances made in the composition of explosives, the basic
principles have endured.

The process of Blasting Rocks consists, after
selecting the most suitable position, in boring a hole
with a hammer and drill; the latter is a straight
bar or iron an inch or more in thickness, with a
steel point, widened out to the size of the required
hole; it is formed like a very blunt chisel.

Around the perimeter of the pool, many of these blasted faces can be seen

TIDE & POOL

The objective of the experimental measurements of the inflow due to wave action
was to optimize the height of the seawall so as to achieve a satisfactory fresh water
replenishment rate without the occurrence of unduly rough conditions within the
pool.
The lowering of the crest level by 200mm revealed in the experimental analysis
virtually no change to the conditions of no-inflow but did affect quite appreciably
the total inflow and bathing conditions.
A final crest level for construction purposes of 1,40m (above) M.S.L was adopted.

In his paper, 'Design of Coastal Structures for
Recreational Purposes', engineer, G H O'Connell,
tests the wall heights at 200mm intervals before
reaching the perfect measurement. Adhering to
this sort of model, nearby, Milton's Pool uses man
made walls to retain water and a manually operated
valve (or plug) to drain the pool at spring low
tides. Unfortunately, the unique rock formations
dissipate wave energy unusually fast and waves
seldom break into the pool. Consequently, the
warm water is swamped with algae, and due to
poor management is seldom emptied.

Compared to typical tidal pools, Graaffs Pool sits
dramatically lower in the tidal range.  Perimeter
rocks range in height from about 1,20m - 0.40m
above mean sea level. At low tide, it is full enough
to bathe in. At high tide, waves regularly crash into
the pool and drain over large portions of the brim.
The turbulent in-flow and dangerous suction areas
make the pool treacherous at high tides.


1. G.H.O'Connell, Design of Coastal Structures for
Recreational Purposes, Proceedings of 18th Conference on
Coastal Engineering: Cape Town (1982).

2. D.E.Bosman & D.J.P. Scholtz, A Survery of Man-made Tidal
Swimming Pools Along the South Mrican Coast, Proceedings of
18th Conference on Coastal Engineering: Cape Town (1982).


With this in mind, when designing a new pool,
a system of waves and valves used for water
circulation is out of the question. Instead, the
proposed pool works on the same principle as
Graaffs Pool, but on the other end of the tidal
range. Set in a podium further inland and higher
than Milton's Pool, the new pool is protected from
most wave action. At high tide, when Graaffs Pool
is inaccessible, a gulley in the podium fills the
new pool with water. As the tide ebbs, the water
is drained completely, exposing the rocks below.

WATER. [tunnel]
The quarrymen left a pool that filled up with the natural
rhythms of the tide. Across from the pool in a winemaker's
mansion, the lady of the house was confined to a wheelchair.
A wall was erected on the rocks to hide her while she bathed.
A path connected the hidden pool to the shore, and a tunnel
continued underground to her home. The pool became an
intimate, private place- an extension of the bedroom.

RETURNING GAZE

Out of the tall, slender top windows of the Villa Bordeaux,
the Lady of the House could see out of her room. From
this vantage point, she could survey the street and the
public passersby in concealment. In her practice of
voyeurism she established a gaze from the house, over
the outside world, terminating the pool.
As an audience member in a theatre looks out
from a dark concealed position to the open stage (of
infinite possibility and expanse), Lady Wheelchair
would've looked out upon the pool from her dark
house. Hence, if only in her own mind, she would have
established something akin to the relationship between
the stage actor and the audience. With this in mind, it
is easy to imagine the anxiety that might arise upon
visiting the pool. By crossing over the proscenium, an
invisible screen, and arriving on the stage as a reluctant
actor - forced into the gaze of an unknown voyeurl.
In the 1920's, stigmas and misunderstandings about
disability would have been far more pronounced
than today. Whether from prejudice against her or a
personally constructed self-image, it is assumed that
Lady Wheelchair was self-conscious of her physical
embodiment.
The voyeur, of course, was herself. The gaze came
from a private place, one where she was exposed in her
most intimate and vulnerable ways.


In an essay ''The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism", theorist Beatriz Colomina
embarks on a rigorous analysis of interior spaces created by Adolf Loos and
Le Corbusier, respectively. Through strictly spatial and experiential terms
Ms Colomina explores notions of voyeurism, the body, the eye, and the skin in
conjunction with interior domestic spaces.

The reading offered above of the relationship between Graaff's Pool,
the Villa Bordeaux, and the Lady in the Wheelchair, is rooted in this mode
of investigation.

LADY WHEELCHAIR
The story of a lady in wheelchair has been attached
to the mysterious, inaccessible tunnel for years.
Inherited as folklore in the area, it has been retold,
and reshaped countless times.

Exactly how much is truth and how much is fantasy
is not as important as the existence of the story
itself, so tightly bound to these hidden and strange
spaces.

The tunnel and pool is often thought to have been
built by Mr Jacobus Graaff, after whom the pool
now take its name. And it is described so in a
Lawrence G. Green's I Heard the Old Man Say, a
key source of histories written about the Sea Point
area. It was built, the story goes, so that the wealthy
Graaff family could walk down, in silks, from their
palatial villa to bathe in the ocean without having
to interact with common members of society. No
doubt at one point this could have been the case
but pool is recorded as being in existence as far
back as 1910.

Bordeaux, a seafront mansion, was
built in 1903 for Mr. Pieter Marais,
a wine merchant. Sir Jacobus
Graaff bought it some years later.
Thousands knew Bordeaux as an
hotel with panelled rooms, a wide
stairway, Edwardian chandeliers,
mosaic floors, many stained-glass
windows, marble fireplaces and
other signs of wealth. Some of the
less bizarre furnishings were built
into the entrance of the millionpound block of flats which replaced
Bordeaux. Graaff’s Pool, originally a stone
quarry, gained its world famous
name when Sir Jacobus provided
most of the money for blasting a
channel in the rocks and building a
wall. Other bathers subscribed one
pound a head. According to legend,
Sir Jacobus had a secret passage
built so that he could walk
unobserved in bathing costume
from Bordeaux to the beach.
Demolition men found evidence of
a bricked-up tunnel when Bordeaux
was pulled down. However, the
truth is different. Sir Jacobus was
afraid that his children would be
run over while crossing the railway
line. He asked for a subway, and
when his request was turned down
he started building the tunnel. Then the subway was built, and the
tunnel was abandoned.

A more plausible account denies that the tunnel
ever reached the villa Bordeaux. Cape Argus
journalist John De Nobrega wrote an attempted
debunking of the tunnel story in 1966. The Tunnel
that Never Was, claims that the partially covered
archway served as a subway for the old rail line
and terminated on the other side of the tracks.

The Lady, however, almost certainly did exist,
and was certainly the wife of Mr Pieter Marais.
Marais, a prominent member of the Round Church
in Sea Point was a wealthy man with ties to the
wine industry. He is credited with building the
mansion at Villa Bordeaux in 1903 and naming it
after a popular wine farming region in France.

Lady Marais fell into poor health following the
death of her only child shortly after childbirth.
Marischal Murray in Under Lion's Head writes
the following:
"Mrs Marais, for some years remained in poor
health. Her husband now arranged for an approach to be
made, from the front gates ofBordeaux, leading down to
the small pool in the rocks below Bordeaux. Such stones
as could be removed were carted away, and during the
hot weather the invalid was periodically wheeled down
to have sea-water bath."

In conclusion, the accompanying photograph shows
Mr and Mrs Marais, seated. A black object, perhaps
handlebars, appears from between the Lady's
knees. A curious shadow to Pieter's left seems, too
to have handles extending in front of the standing
lady's waist. Lastly, while one mystery is solved
three others arrive - whose are these children?
One can only declare that the value of this story is
housed in the power of this unknown.

2

3

PARTI
There is a sense of ambition and determination
against nature pervading the design of Graaffs
Pool. Jacobus Graaff served in the 1920's as a
Minister of Public Works, Posts and Telegraphs.
Here, he would have overseen and maintained
vast developments in the Province. His old brother,
Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, previously in
the same Cabinet position, had been involved in
realizing Cape Town's first electric power station
at Molteno Reservoir; the Sea Point Sea WaIP;
and with haunting similarity, Cape Town's pier
extending from Adderly Street into the bay.
Although physically smaller, Graaffs Pool was
conceived and built in the same era as these large
scale public amenities. And consequently imbued
with a similar sense of boldness.

Aspiring to transform Graaff's Pool into a more
public place, initial urban responses reached out
to the site's dimensional limits through a series of
sketches. Building on a satellite location was out
of the question; so was building upward, above
the promenade or further out to sea. Venturing
over the rocks, however, would resonate with the
previous building techniques. By digging into the
earth, one could begin to modify the preexisting,
creating new meaning and value in the same way
the rock void bore the original pool.
The first sketch suggested a sort of endless copying
of the pool-platform-path assemblage which would
cover the coastline in a mat of accessibility. A
move away from one singular object seemed
more democratic, but unbridled openness would
obliterate the special isolation and intimacy that
were so significant here.

BORDEAUX AND BELOW
The Villa Bordeaux was built in 1903 by Pieter
Marais, who lived there with his wife and
bachelor brother, Arnoldus Marais.

Later, after falling on hard times financially, the mansion was
sold to Mr Graaff. Who added a second story and
extended the tower at the entrance.
Graaff, known affectionately as Koos or most
formally as Sir Jacobus Arnoldus Combrinck
Graaff was born in Villiersdorp in 1863. He later
moved to Cape Town and made his fortune in the
Cold Storage industry along with his older, better
known brother, David Pieter de Villiers Graaff.
Graaff later took an interest in politics and worked
in various positions until becoming the minister of
Public Works, Posts and Telegraphs.
At Bordeaux, he is described as being graciously
hospitable and unostentatiously philanthropic?
Around 1929 the pool opposite the mansion was
given over to the public, and from then on it became
known as Graaffs Pool, but for many years prior it
had been named Below Bordeaux.
From then on, the old manor house was converted
and used as a hotel. It remained this way for 30
years until, in 1959, the structure was demolished
to make way for what is still today the largest
block of flats in Sea Point.
As buildings usually seems to be named after
the thing they destroy, this one is no exception.
Bordeaux, the immense block of flats that looks
over Graaff's Pool would later re-shape the way
the pool is inhabited and experienced.


1. Green claims the mansion was built in 1903 by P. Marais but
Murray claims the Marais estate was sub·divided and portions sold
following the Cape Bank failures of the 18805 and 18905. Also that
Marais died in 1901 on a nearby property named Marseilles.


COAST

4
Before the sea wall, Sea Point's coastline was very different. Beach Road sat on a mound
of sandy soil which dipped down to the 'bleak rockscape'l and into the sea. The wall was
conceived to provide a neat edge to the coast, help kelp return to the water and provide a
dumping ground near the city. After the wall was built, refuse and rubble filled up behind it
it. For some time, it was an eyesore

SUN
A new owner gave the pool to the public. But the space's
exclusivity continued. Obscured from sight, wealthy men
sunbathed nude. Liberated from their confines, the group grew
larger and expanded the pool, too.
For those outside, it was a sign that forbidden practices
were concealed here. The excluded were forced to imagine
what happened behind the clean white walls. Projections of
their forbidden desires overflowed into conversations, novels
and newspapers.
The tension from not seeing became unbearable.

After Graaff's Pool had been opened to the public, it witnessed
a large influx of visitors. Around this time it became desirable
to expand the pool. Having undergone previous expansions,
this was not unthinkable, but now the onus was on the City
Council. Or rather, it was the duty ofthe public to insic:;t on these
expansions. Below are excerpts from two letters to the Town
Clerk. They offer a window into two, or more fundamental
ways in which architecture is framed in discourse.


I take the liberty of addressing you in regard to the above
mentioned resort at Sea Point. Your Council may not be aware
of it, but Graafl's pool, owing to its sunbathing facilities, has
become exceedingly popular, and is the resort of men drawn
from all ranks of life. Daily you can see the members of
Parliament, advocates, medical practitioners, attorneys, civil
servants of high standing, architects and councilmen. 1 might
add that a certain Minister of the Crown is a regular visitor.
1 know too that last year there was a gentleman from
abroad who told us that he had heard of Graaff's Pool in
England, and during his visit to the city, he spent a great deal
of time there. Doubtless too, he has spread its fame abroad.
Then recently, the representative in Cape Town of a
gigantic American tourist concern, was himself a visitor.
The place is therefore worth some consideration ...
...1 trust the council will read my letter in the spirit in which
it is written. 1 merely wish to bring to your notice the fact that
Graaff's Pool is a far more important bathing resort that is
generally recognised...
1 am prepared at any time to meet a representative of
the Council on the spot and explain the position there.
- Daniel F. Bosman (28th February 1929)


In the 1927 petition to expand the pool, the ratepayers'
position is that the pool must be expanded to accommodate
more sunbathers since sunbathing has been medically proven
to improve one's health.

Daniel F. Bosman's dream is articulated less through
practical considerations and more through a description of
how much he, and others, like it. They all really like it. He
doesn't are argue for the pool's usefulness, rather he simply
derives pleasure from the space.

In 1930, extensions were approved, and the Pool expanded along with its history.
Of the three drawings, two from 1929 and one from 1961, the
latter is the most interesting. This document was drafted to
recorded repair works done on the pool following a massive
storm in 1961. The rear wall suffered the most damage in
the storm (Interestingly, it was the 1929 height extensions
that failed rather than the preceding construction. And still
today, after most of the walls were demolished, the surviving
uprights are those from before 1929.)

5

BUILDING UPON
Moulded, poured and set concrete is the dominant material of Graaff's Pool.
And the only operation that involved creating space was adding to the site. In
this sense, it constitutes the key act of building upon datums.
Besides the engineer's drawings and archived letters, this photo is the only
visual record of the construction process. It was taken at Mouille Point as the 
progress of the sea wall neared the lighthouse. This is the very beginning of
the sea wall, which was built soon before Graaffs Pool. It relies on a similar
mass gravity approach to overcoming wave forces. At the base of the form
work, the thicker part shows the extent of the foundations, which rest directly
upon exposed rock. To the left of the picture frame, a buttress has begun to be
cast.

6

 


Many stories told about the nude bathing in Graaff's Pool have
captured the public's imagination over the years. One of the favourite
fables manages to frame a broader moral question.

THE ONE ABOUT THE OLD, PEEPING LADY
started when the city's chief engineer (and strong supporter of the pool, no doubt)
Dr S.S. Morris received a phone call from a disgusted lady complaining about
nude men exhibiting themselves on the Sea Point coast.

Dr Morris sent a man to meet with the old lady and investigate the complaint. He
arrived at the old lady's top-story flat, nearly half a kilometre from the pool, and
looking through the window, could see nothing but a blurred sea. 

Confused, he turned to the little lady who said: "You can't see much now, but wait
until you climb onto the table and focus through the binoculars!"

7

8

MASSIVE ASSEMBLY

Graaff's Pool is almost a hundred years old, 
and curiously, it is the oldest parts which have
weathered most gracefully. Barring the 2005
bulldozing, the main cause of structural failure
is steel reinforcement. The structural efficiency
of steel is impressive, but if compromised by
exposure to the sea air, oxidation begins. The
steel reinforcing expands within its concrete
casing, causing internal fracturing which leads
to dramatic structural failures. The most hardy
parts of Graaff's Pool, which still exist, are, of
course, those without steel reinforcing. Typical
walls translate horizontal loads down to their
foundations by resisting a bending moment. But
here, the mass gravity principle is employed.
The structure is simply so massive that it can't
be moved. This is aided by broad foundations
and a small amount of cantilevering afforded by
buttresses but the key to the old wall's resilience
is in its proportion: roughly as broad as it is high,
tapering to two-fifths of this dimension at its
highest point, with a footing behind that extends
the same distance again. These proportions can be
scaled up or down uniformly in the design of new
members.


Today, remnants of old events exist. Some people swim in
the pool or bath in the sun; romantics occasionally meet on
the spot.

2024 1 Recovered
But these experiences have been stripped of their purpose and
potency. And continue to be washed away by the ceaseless
forces of the sea.

CONCLUSION
Originally, this was a place of respite for those excluded in a social landscape
of prejudices. Paradoxically, after the transition into an ever more accepting
government, this space was destroyed. This derailment can only be set straight
by architectural intervention.
The danger of playing in this field is that one is compelled to resolve
conflict, cut through confusion with a clear voice and fix things to their
proper position. Rather, the design proposal presented here celebrates this
de-centered position by remembering local folk tales and understanding the
injustices. The spaces designed are focused on offering new pleasures to the
city by springboarding off the unique positions of the past. These are pleasures
of nature- the ocean, tides, rock, and pleasures of the body- submersion in
water, tactile textures and intimate interactions.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Betsky. Queer Spcree. William Morrow and Company Inc.: New York. (1997)
C. Blignaut. End of the Road for Happy Campers at Graaffs Pool, in Cape Argus (09/05/1999)

D.E.Bosman & D.J.P. Scholtz. A Survey of Man-made Tidal Swimming Pools Along the South African Coast. 18th Conference on

Coastal Engineering: Cape Town (1982).

A.B.A Brink. Engineering Geology of Southern Africa: Rocks of 2000 to 300 million years in age. Building Publications Pretoria. (1981)
J. Burgoyne. A Treatise on the Blasting and Quarrying ofStone, Weale's Scientific and Technical Series: London (1874)
J. Burman. Early railways at the Cape. Human & Rousseau: Cape Town (1984)
B. Colomina. The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism in Sexuality & Space. Princeton Architectural Press: New York (1992)
G.H.O·Conneli. Design of Coastal Structures for Recreational Purposes. 18th Conference on Coastal Engineering: Cape Town (1982).
C. Darwin. Volcanic Islands: Visited During the Voyage of HMS Beagle. Smith. Elder and Co.: London (1844)
W. J. De Kock. Doctionary ofSouth African Biography, National Council for Social Research: Pretoria (1968)
E. Dommisse. Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff: first Barronet of De Grendel, Tafelberg Press: Cape Town (2011)
R. Evans. Translations from Drawings to Building and Other Essays. Architectural Association Publications: !--ondon (1997)
R. Evans. The Projective Cast: Architecture and its Three Geometries, MIT Press: Cambridge. Mass. (1995)
A. R. Fairweather. Sea Wall, Sea Point, from the South African Society of Civil Engineering Journal. Vol. 1. (1936)
1. Green. Poetical Dictionary (abridged), Atelos: Berkley. California (2003)
1. G. Green,I Heard the Old Men Say. Howard Timmins: Cape Town (1964)

Government publication. Report of the Railways and Harbours Board, [U.G. 141- 291. Cape Times: Cape Town (1929)

J. S. Hemming, A Short Account of Blasting Rocks at the Quarries in the Neighbourhood of Cape Town, G. J. Pike: Cape Town(1885)
M. de Landa. A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History. Zone Books: New York (1997)

M. Murray. Under Lion's Head: Earlier Days at Green Point and Sea Point, AA Balkema: Cape Town (1964)

K Nesbit ed.• Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architecture Theory 1965-1995. Princeton Architectural

Press: New York (1996) which contains the following essays:

B. Tschumi. Pleasures of Architecture, (1977)
B. Tschumi.Architecture and Limits I, (1980)
B. Tschumi. Architecture and Limits II, (1981)
B. Tschurni. Architecture and Limits III, (1981)
B. Tschumi. Introduction: Notes Towards a Theory of Architectural Disjunction. (1987)
J. D. Nobrega. The Tunnel that Never Was, in Cape Argus (09/041 1966)
G. Owens, ed. • Fundamentals of Concrete, Second Edition. Cement and Concrete Institute: Midrand. South Africa (2012)
J. Rahn. Music Inside Out: Going Too Far in Musical Essays. G+B Arts International: Amsterdam (2000)
P. B. Smons. Ice Cold in Africa: the history of the Imperial Cold Storage & Supply Company Ltd., Fernwood Press: Cape Town (2000)
B. Tschumi. Architectural Manifestoes, Architectural Association: London (1979)
interview with Bob Smith. Structural Engineer. Ingerop Engineering
interview with Gerrit Strydom. Landscape Architect. City Council
Interview with Dr. Hans-Dieter Beushausen. Engineer. Concrete Specialist
interview with Brian Rihcardson. Structural Engineer
National Archives of South Africa (NASA) documents (syntax: source; volume number; reference code)
3/CT; 4111111770; G65/6/26717;
3/CT; 412/111/185; A72;
3ICT; 411/5/91; B370/5; - closing of the subways. Rocklands •.... Graaff's Pool
3ICT; 411/5/144; B763/5;
3IeT; 412/1141226; 61125; -*contains drawings
3ICT; 411/1/41; A413/1; - Foreshore improvements•.... interview with Sir Dawid Graaff. 17/2/1911
3ICT; 411/2/18; A29412; - Suggested disposal of city refuse etc. on the property of Sir Dawid Graaff
T; 1070; 4003; - Cape.... building of sea wall and erection of a refuse destructor... Sea Point
(all images, unless otherwise stated, are the author's own; GIS data courtesy of Cape Town City Council)

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Cape Town to Cape Point

Tidal Pools in Cape Town

Click here to see the whole map.

Cape Town is now touted as one of the best cities in the world to visit. In the summer, the temperature in the city can reach 42 degrees Celcius, driving locals and tourists to the beaches and tidal pools to cool down. The pools around Cape Town have become tourist attractions, featured on numerous websites. 

The city developed after 1652 when the Dutch East India Company (the VOC) decided to develop  a waystation for ships travelling to the East Indies. In 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire invaded the Cape Peninsula due to its strategic location on the sea route to the East.

There is no evidence that pre-colonial inhabitants (Khoi, Strandlopers, or San) in the area swam in the sea. The VOC left extensive records of its activities at the Cape, but made no mention of any recreational sea swimming by its employees. There is, however, a mention in a footnote in a VOC document, 28 Januarie 1690 Dagregister. It records that a convict named Johannes Rijkman van Weij escaped by swimming to shore! So, swimming was not unknown to the Dutch settlers at that time, and perhaps they did swim, but left no record of it. 

The British introduced sea swimming and tidal pools in the Cape. For context, the first English Church service of which we know was held in Cape Town by a naval chaplain of the fleet returning from India on April 20, 1749. The British military, which invaded the Cape in 1795, brought with them their love for water sports (and gambling). The British swam in the rivers, vleis, the ocean, the harbour and the graving dock. and also in indoor swimming pools, like  A 1869 British newspaper article mentions a floating pool in Table Bay, which survived a big storm. Such floating structures were (and still are) popular in Europe.  Elaborate water festivals, which included swimming races, water polo, diving and other entertainments, were popular in England since the middle-1700's. In Cape Town, these festivals were held in the dry dock or one of the indoor swimming pools, like the Long Street Bath

In the late 1700's, a concrete wall was built across a gully in the rocks in Sea Point. This became part of a thriving social scene before it washed away in a storm, as the northwesterly winds can create enormous waves in Table Bay. Today, the location is known as Broken Bath Beach. See number 7 below.

5. Graaf's Pool

Graaf's pool, the furthest north along the coastline, has a unique place in the story of the South African tidal pool for all the fuss it has caused. The pool was built in 1910 to accommodate the needs of a paralysed woman who lived in a mansion right behind the pool. It featured a tunnel for access under the beach road and a wall to shield the user from view.

After her, the mansion and the pool were owned by a politician named Graaff, after whom the pool was named, and who later bequeathed the pool to the City of Cape Town.

It soon became a popular hangout spot for gay men, who congregated behind the wall and swam in the nude. After a number of years, some of the locals objected to this practice, and the wall was demolished in 2005. The pool is now mostly abandoned.

Below is an aerial view of the site.

Read more about Graaf's Pool →

6. Milton Road beach pool

Milton Road 1

Located a short distance west of the Graaff pool, the Milton Road tidal pool is a family favourite. The tidal pool was constructed in 1910 and appears largely unchanged.  In his 1982  paper 'Design of Coastal Structures for Recreational Purposes', engineer G H O'Connell, tests wall heights at 200mm intervals before reaching the perfect measurement. Adhering to this sort of model, Milton's Pool uses man-made walls to retain water and a manually operated valve (or plug) to drain the pool at spring low tides. Unfortunately, the unique rock formations dissipate wave energy unusually fast, and waves seldom break into the pool. Consequently, the warm water is swamped with algae and, due to poor management, is seldom emptied.

milton-beach-sea-point.png

 

7. Brokenbath Beach tidal pool

One of the earliest tidal pools built along the Sea Point coast was located here, in what is now known as Broken Bath Beach. It housed the first bathing pools in Sea Point in the late 18th century, which were eventually destroyed by storms, giving the beach its name.

Broken Bath

Brokenbath beach

broken baths beach 750x375 1

 

8. Sea Point Pavilion

The jewel in the crown of Cape Town's tidal pools is undoubtedly the Sea Point Pavilion. 

Read more about the Pavilion here.

1930 Sea Point Baths salt water

Sea Point 2104

Read more about the Sea Point Pavilion →

9. Saunders' Rocks 

While some tidal pools heat up in the summer sunshine, Saunders tends always to be chilly - expect "bracing" temperatures between 10°C and 15°C.

Bantry Bay saunders rock

saunders rock bantry bay

10 + 11.Maiden's Cove Tidal Pools

The tidal pools at Maiden’s Cove sit between Clifton and Glen Beach, offering a sheltered place to swim with views of Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles. The water is calm enough for a relaxed dip, while the Atlantic swells crash just beyond the rocks. Families often gather on the grassy banks, and children explore the surrounding boulders. The pools are only a short walk from Camps Bay’s restaurants, cafés, and bars, making it easy to combine a swim with a meal or coffee. It’s a spot where everyday Cape Town life meets the simple pleasure of the sea.


11. The second Maiden's Cove Tidal Pool

12. Camps Bay Children's Pool

In 1884 Thomas Bain was commissioned to build a road from Sea Point to Camps Bay using convict labor. The road was completed in 1887 and named Victoria Road to honour Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1888. Camps Bay by now was a popular picnic spot.

In 1901, the Camps Bay tramway was built to bring people out for the day, and with it, the development of the tidal pools

13. Camps Bay Tidal Pool

The primary catalyst for the development of tidal pools in Camps Bay was the introduction of the Camps Bay Tramway in 1901. While early versions of pools existed from the tramway era, the Camps Bay Tidal Pool in its modern form is often cited as being constructed around 1938. The town also enjoyed an indoor swimming pool, which was heated from the excess energy released by the tramway. 

Night swimming at the tidal pool in the Camps Bay Tidal Pool.

14. Camps Bay Indoor Pool

Little is known about this pool.  It was located opposite the existing Police Station. The pool was probably filled with pumped seawater, which was common practice. The nearby tramway power station provided energy to heat the pool. 

By 1935, Camps Bay remained largely a tourist attraction with only a few private properties.

When George Hedges, the father of Camps Bay swimming coach Wendy Way, founded the club in 1946, it operated from the Camps Bay municipal pool. After a storm damaged the facility, the club relocated to Long Street swimming baths.

15. de Kom, Kommetjie

Although there is no seawall to capture high tide waters, the Kom (basin, in Afrikaans) in Kommetjie is a natural tidal pool.

Greater flamingos flock to the area, and when the tide is out, the pool can’t be used, but when the tide is in, this pool is amazing for swimming. The pool lies on the edge of the catwalk, a bit away from the lighthouse. There are steps and a handrail to make it easy to get in and out of the pool. There’s also grass around the pool and a picnic space under some trees.

16 + 17. Soetwater Resort Kommetjie

There are two tidal pools at the Soetwater Resort in Kommetjie. It is a popular coastal getaway run by the City of Cape Town, located on a narrow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Slangkop Lighthouse.


17. located slightly further south

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Natal North Coast

Tidal Pools of the Natal North Coast

The Natal South Coast features a narrow, rocky coastal plain with steep hinterlands and dramatic river gorges, while the North Coast transitions into a wide, flat coastal plain with expansive sandy beaches and vast wetlands. The sandy beaches are often quite steep, causing dangerous dumper waves.

The area north of Durban, from the Umgeni River to the Tugela River, is referred to as the Sugar Coast, where large sugar plantations still dominate the landscape. This land usage limited the space available for towns to develop. Unlike the south coast, where the railway line was built right next to the shoreline, the northern lines were far away from the coast. 

North of the Tugela River was Zululand, where few European settlers lived. It was officially annexed by Britain in 1887, after the Anglo-Zulu War.

Click here to see the whole map of pools in southern Africa, including the new 2026 Club Med resort near Tinley Manor.


Since the 1994 elections, Durban, like Johannesburg, has experienced "white flight" from Durban to the North Coast - a shift of businesses, investments, and affluent residents—predominantly white—moving from central Durban to the coastal towns of KwaZulu-Natal's North Coast. The North Coast experienced a massive real estate boom driven by the construction of secure, lifestyle-oriented gated communities and luxury residential estates (e.g., Zimbali, Simbithi, and the Sibaya Coastal Precinct). In 2026, Club Med opened a new resort just north of Tinley Manor, where the last tidal pool can be found. 

None of the new high-security gated estates has built a new tidal pool. 

117. Durban Beach Bath

Renamed for famous local swimming coach Rachael Finlayson, the iconic Beach Bath was a 100-yard-long saltwater swimming. It was the venue for a number of world record swims by Karen Muir, Ann Fairlie, and Penny Heyns. Over the years, it has evolved into a freshwater pool. 

Rachael Finlayson pool from Tricia

Read more about the Rachael Finlayson Pool →

118. Durban Swimming Enclosure

Tidal pools are built to provide a safe swimming space. Besides the dangers created by rip currents and waves, swimmers in the sea have always been exposed to the risk of shark attack. In Durban, the chosen solution was using nets to create a large enclosure in the surf where sharks could not enter. A similar solution was used in Portuguese Mozambique at the Polana Hotel → 

"In 1906 Fletcher proposed a high level esplanade stretching from Bell St (Point) through to a point near the Umgeni mouth (now Marine and Snell Parades), secondly a 1500 foot lower marine promenade, reclamation of the beaches and provision of bathing areas and public gardens. His plan included four enclosed bathing options, of which only one was adopted. This was a semi-circular steel netted enclosure combining a promenade and a safe bathing area. The enclosure was a safe guard against shark attacks and dangerous currents. As an interim measure public access to the beach was made by clearing an opening at the bottom of West St. The Ocean Beach project was commenced in 1907. The bathing enclosure had a radius of 300 feet and its depth was 6 to 8 feet at low spring tide. The project commenced with the installation of the bathing enclosure and levelling and developing that part of the lower esplanade roughly from the Model Dairy (now demolished) to South Beach. Paddling ponds and retaining walls and rockeries were also put in."

Whaling started off Durban about 1907, and that drew sharks into Durban Bay mouth where the whaling slipway was. Whaling boats dragging bleeding, harpooned whales from out at sea, sometimes two or three at a time, would surly have led sharks to the Durban beach area. But the reason for the enclosure was that Durban's "Main" beach was previously along the Esplanade in the harbour. It was closed in 1905 because of harbour development. The enclosure was eventually removed in 1928 after a particularly heavy storm and high seas

Read more about the Polona Hotel enclosure→

119. Umdloti Tidal Pool

The first tidal pool along the Dolphin Coast lies some 27 km north of Durban at Umdloti. The tidal pool at Umdloti Beach opened in 1957. It was constructed as an artificial concrete seawall augmentation of the existing natural offshore rocky reef, helping to create a safe, protected swimming area for visitors.

The first 16 coastal holiday plots were created in 1895, and the township was established in 1932. 

120 - 125  Balito

Balito was established in 1954, and by 1964, town planning incorporated residential zones, hotels, and a caravan park stretching from Willard Beach to Salmon Bay. There are six tidal pools along the coast in Ballito, which were described in a marketing brochure with the slogan "Buy, Build & Play at Ballito Bay, The Caribbean of the North Coast – Natal".

Shaka's Rock and Salt Rock are two smaller towns north of Balito that have grown and merged into the greater Balito township. Each has a tidal pool. Basil Hullett (grandson of sugar pioneer Liege Hulett) and Gwen Hulett developed Salt Rock in the 1930's.

North of Salt Rock are two more resort towns with tidal pools - Tinley Manor and Blythdale.

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120. Rock Pool, Ballito

Rock Pool in Ballito. 

121. Granny's Pool, Ballito

Granny's Tidal Pool is a safe, shallow, rock gulley. It forms a natural swimming pool protected from the waves. (note: some other local tidal pools are also sometimes online named as Granny's Pool - I'm sure the locals will know which is which)

122. Willard Tidal Pool

A small tidal pool at the northern end of Willard Beach.

The Dolphin Coast (or “North Coast”) refers to a section of scenic coastline just north of Durban, in KwaZulu Natal. It boasts dozens of beautiful “tidal pools”, small rocky pools at the coast that are filled with seawater.

https://www.snorkeling-report.com/spot/snorkeling-tidal-pools-south-africa/ 

123. Thompsons's Bay Rock Pool

The Thompson’s Bay Rock Pool (officially known as Charlie’s Pool) is an iconic, Olympic-sized tidal pool located in Shaka's Rock. Built in 1962, the pool was a monumental community effort spearheaded by Charles "Charlie" de Charmoy, a successful French-Mauritian sugarcane farmer.

The 1940s brought a wave of French-Mauritian families to the region from Mauritius. Many of them established sugar cane farms along the north coast. Among these settlers was Charles (Charlie) de Charmoy, who arrived from Mauritius at the age of 15. He would go on to become a highly successful sugar cane farmer. In the 1940s, he constructed the Chaka’s Rock Hotel, situated across the road from where Salt Café now stands.

Charlie wanted a safe, wave-free environment where families could swim in the ocean without dealing with dangerous riptides. In 1962, Charlie, his sons (Roland and Cyril), and his sons-in-law (Maxime and Michel Robert) took it upon themselves to engineer and construct the pool. Working alongside their farm labourers, the family spent seven weeks manually mixing and laying approximately 2,000 bags of cement right into the natural rock face. The final product was an engineering marvel for its time, measuring a massive 106 metres long and 30 metres wide.

Today, Charlie's Pool is celebrated as a pristine marine sanctuary. Because the high tide naturally flushes and cleans the pool twice a day, it has developed a thriving ecosystem. It is a premier destination for safe snorkelling, where visitors regularly swim alongside lionfish, parrotfish, trumpet fish, and live branching coral reefs. 

The first image predates the 1964 tidal pool.

124. Chaka's Rock Tidal Pool

To create safe, shark-free swimming zones amidst the wild Indian Ocean currents, developers began building concrete walls across natural rocky gullies.

The pool is classified as the local Marine Protected Area. Following a rise in illegal poaching of marine species like parrotfish, the local Ballito Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) and community groups stepped in to actively monitor and preserve the pool's biodiversity. 

A group of Chaka’s Rock residents have banded together to protect their tidal pool after the poaching of the much-admired school of parrot fish at Chaka’s Rock tidal pool on Saturday afternoon. A Chaka’s Rock resident said she saw four men helping themselves to the almost tame fish, but as a woman living alone with her grandchildren, she was afraid to approach the poachers.She alerted other residents but they did not arrive in time. The entire school has been removed from the pool.

https://www.coastkzn.co.za/2020/06/chakas-rock-locals-band-together-as-more-parrot-fish-poached-from-thompsons-bay-tidal-pool/

ParrotFish

125. Salt Rock Tidal Pool

The Salt Rock tidal pool was built in the 1940s by sugar cane farmer and township developer Basil Hulett. It was developed alongside the Salt Rock Hotel and surrounding infrastructure to serve hotel guests and residents, offering safe, shark-protected swimming, and it remains a popular, large tidal pool. There is still a popular caravan park next to the pool.

126. Tinley Manor Tidal Pool

The last functioning tidal pool along the South African North Natal coast is at Tinley Manor. The pool was concrete-engineered directly onto the rocky intertidal shoreline. This design uses the daily high tide to naturally flush out, clean, and replenish the pool with fresh seawater twice a day. 

The beach and its immediate facilities have achieved Blue Flag status, cementing strict modern standards for water quality, safety, and environmental management around the pool zone. South Africa has 50 beaches with Blue Flag staus in 2025.

127. Blythdale

Blythedale Beach is widely known for its unspoilt shoreline and warm Indian Ocean waters, but its specific tidal pool facilities have recently been described as "broken down" and poorly maintained. While the beach remains popular for long walks, birdwatching near the Umvoti River mouth, and swimming in the surf under the watch of lifeguards, those specifically seeking a functional tidal pool experience often visit nearby alternatives.

While the main beach is protected by shark nets and monitored by lifeguards, the strong waves and steep shoreline can make deep swimming in the open ocean challenging.

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Natal South Coast

Tidal Pools of the Natal South Coast

The northern border of the Transkei is at the Umtamvuna River, which today also serves as the border between the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Across the river lies Port Edward, where on the 8th of June 1552, the Portuguese galleon São João ran aground at what is now Port Edward. This is noted as the first recorded encounter between Europeans and southern Africans

The Natal South Coast has been a popular holiday destination since colonial times. This is reflected in the large number of small towns and tidal pools found between Durban and Port Edward. The Natal South Coast Railway brought holidaymakers to the tidal pools and beaches. The remains of the rails are still visible, as it was built close to the shoreline. 

Click here to see the whole map

79. Palm Beach Tidal Pool

Located just north of Port Edward, Palm Beach is known for its wide sandy stretches, tidal pools, and rocky outcrops. The tidal pool is a large, natural swimming spot, ideal for safe swimming and snorkelling. 

80. Trafalgar Beach Tidal Pool

Unfortunately, the tidal pool is silted up. But the beach promises a lot! There is no more perfect beach than Trafalgar's Blue Flag Beach to get away from the massive crowds.

Trafalgar Beach has unbelievably warm waters and makes for the perfect swim if you aren't a fan of those cold ones! You'll practically be swimming in a warm, oversized hot tub! Lifeguards are on duty at this blue flag beach throughout the year. Although other facilities are limited, the beach is super wide and sandy!

81. Marina Beach Tidal Pool

Marina Beach in San Lameer is a Blue Flag beach that is perfect for families.

Known for its cleanliness and safety, you can expect warm swimming waters year-round, along with a tidal pool and lifeguards on duty.

82.  Granny Tidal Pool, Southbroom

The name "Southbroom" was first mentioned in 1908 when the Swedish Zulu Mission took over the mission from the Eyles family. The Eyles family renamed their home "Soutbroom" as a reminder of one of their family homes in England. Frank and Gilbert Eyles, Alfred's two youngest sons proclaimed the village in 1933.

It is a historic tidal pool built in 1937 specifically for the guests of the Southbroom Hotel. While often associated with the hotel, local historical accounts credit Jack Jones (the grandson-in-law of Southbroom pioneer Alfred Eyles) with building the tidal pools at both Southbroom and Marina Beach. The pool is located near the site of the Fascadale shipwreck, a steel barque that ran aground on the rocks seaward of the pool in 1895. The Southbroom Hotel was a landmark until 1984, when it was demolished amidst significant controversy.

Now known as Granny’s Pools because of how safe the pools are for children. There are rocks surrounding the pools that children love to climb and explore. At high tide, the waves come right in!

83. Southbroom Main Beach Tidal Pool

The tidal pool on Southbroom beach was given a facelift in 2014. See the video below. 

84. Noel Tidal Pool, Ramsgate

The pool was built in 1973 by local resident Noel Quarry. She was a pioneer in the town and the owner of the famous Crayfish Inn hotel, restaurant, and pub. Built on the rocky inter-tidal shore, the pool was designed to provide a safe, calm swimming environment. It is naturally refreshed by the changing tides, often bringing in small fish for swimmers to see. It is positioned on the right-hand side of Ramsgate's main beach, near the parking area for the whale watching deck.

85. Margate Tidal Pool

The town of Margate was laid out in 1908 and later developed as a recreational area in the 1920s. The construction of swimming facilities, including tidal pools along the Natal South Coast, occurred to provide safe bathing areas free from sharks and strong rip currents, which are common in the Indian Ocean. 

The tidal pool was used for school swimming and school activities. Residents have described it as a "school pool" during the late 1960s, with memories of it being used for school-related activities.

Swam many kilometers in that pool Had Galas there before Margate Primary had a pool

2026 - For two decades, the once popular tidal pool in Margate on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast was non-functional but, thanks to the Margate Urban Renewal Project, it has now been restored to its former glory.

86. Margate Olympic Pool

The facility is a 50m x 25m, 10-lane outdoor pool that attracts swimmers year-round. It is the only Olympic-sized swimming pool South of Durban. Historically, the pool was filled with seawater, similar to other coastal pools in South Africa built during that era. These include Orient in East London, Camps Bay, Beach Bath in Durban, and Macarthurs Bath in PE. At some point in its history, the pool was converted to freshwater/chlorinated water. 

It is generally believed to have been constructed in the late 1970s, following the addition of a kiddies' pool in the late 1950s. A major upgrade occurred on the beachfront, including the construction of the new Margate Lifesaving Club and lifeguard house adjacent to the pool.

87. Lucien Tidal Pool, Margate

Founded around 1919, the town is situated roughly 127 km south-west of Durban, and it serves as the vibrant "holiday capital" of the South Coast. 

Lucien Beach, which was named after the Lucien Hotel. The hotel was built by the Van Dongen family, specifically the grandfather of the current descendants, in the Manaba area. It was named in memory of his great aunt, who tragically died in a bombing in Europe during World War

88. Uvongo Tidal Pool

Uvongo has developed from a seaside destination into the largest upmarket residential area on the Lower South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

Most tidal pools along the Natal South Coast were constructed in the early 1950s. This was driven by a surge in shark attacks during that era, which led authorities to build protected enclosures for safe sea bathing. The town of Uvongo itself was laid out as a "garden village" by surveyor T.C. Lilliecrona. 

The design of these pools is rooted in British coastal culture, which introduced the concept of "taming" the ocean for leisure and health benefits during the interwar and post-war periods.

89. St Michael's-on-Sea Tidal Pool

The town was established as a quiet holiday resort destination, famous for surfing, fishing, and a 9-hole golf course. It is widely recognised for its Blue Flag status, highlighting the beach's pristine nature. 

90. Shelly Beach Tidal Pool

There are two tidal pools on Shelly Beach. The largest is the Metropole Beach pool, which is the historical name for what is today known as the Shelly Beach Tidal Pool. In decades past, the beach was often called "Metropole" after the Metropole Hotel that once overlooked the shore before being demolished in the late 1960s

Safe swimming (with shark nets), beachcombing (shell collecting), and lifeguards on duty make this beach ideal for families.

The second pool is further east, at the other end of the beach. 


91. Shelley Beach

92. Port Shepstone Tidal Pool

The tidal pool is simply put, huge!  Have a look at the right hand corner of the pool where the life guard is paddling to get a better understanding of how big it really is.  The pool is divided into three sections; the big pool with two smaller pools at the end of it.

The Port Shepstone Tidal Pool is one of the oldest and largest man-made tidal pools in South Africa, with its origins dating back more than a century. The pool is divided into three distinct areas: a large main section for distance swimming and two smaller, shallower sections specifically designed for children.

  • Early Construction: Records indicate that a tidal rock pool existed at Port Shepstone as early as 1923. The pool was part of a broader movement in South Africa to create "tame" swimming spots for holidaymakers.
  • Expansion & Safety: Many South Coast tidal pools were significantly upgraded or built in the early 1950s following a series of shark attacks along the Natal coast, which heightened the demand for protected bathing areas.
  • Town Growth: The development of the pool mirrored Port Shepstone's rise as a premier holiday destination, often compared to Blackpool in England. Its popularity grew alongside the town's maritime history, including the arrival of Norwegian settlers in 1882 and the construction of the iconic black-and-white checkered lighthouse in 1906. 

93. Umtentwini Tidal Pool

Known locally as the Granny Pool (a common name for South African tidal pools!), it has served generations of families.

94. Southport Tidal Pool

The Southport Tidal Pool at high tide. 

95. Anerley Tidal Pool

The pool was constructed in the early 1950s as part of a regional beach-improvement initiative, providing a safe, sheltered swimming spot, often used by local scouts for badge testing

96. Sunwich Port Tidal Pool

The tidal pool was filled to the edge with sand after a very energetic spring tide, turning it into a shallow pool that is ideal for smaller children.  Over time, some of the sand was washed away as the tides came and went and it is around hip height at the deeper side now.

97. Banana Beach Tidal Pool

98. Pumela Beach Tidal Pool

The tidal pool seems to have been abandoned.

99. Umzumbe Tidal Pool

The tidal pool has served as a centre for family holidays for generations at the Pumula Hotel. It is situated on what was once part of the "Ararat" farm, owned by Lady Charlotte St Claire Moor in the 1920s. 

100. Hibberdene Beach Tidal Pool

The tidal pool is at the Mercury Hibberdene Children's Holiday Home, which provides free holidays and life-skills programmes for underprivileged and destitute children. Established in 1930 by The Mercury newspaper during the Great Depression, it was designed to bring joy to children from impoverished families across KwaZulu-Natal

101. Mtwlune Tidal Pool

Mtwalume itself evokes an era of "simpler coastal retreats". The village was once a stop on the "Banana Express," a narrow-gauge steam train that historically transported local produce and holidaymakers along the South Coast.

102. Ifafa Beach Tidal Pool

Modern development began in the mid-1800s with the Goldstone family. Samuel Goldstone, a stonemason and Byrne settler from England, established himself in the area in 1851 after an unsuccessful farming venture near Richmond.

103. Botha House Tidal Pool

Botha House Overview

Botha House, located in Pennington, Natal, was built in 1920 by Sir Frank Reynolds as a "beach cottage" for South Africa's first Prime Minister, General Louis Botha, and his wife Annie. It included a nearby tidal pool created by blasting rocks in 1920.

The entries dated June 1918, November 1918 and January 1920 are extracts from Sir Frank Reynolds' diary: 
June 1918 “Before June ended, a surveyor named Hall was at work on the new project (Umdoni Park), and helped Sir Frank select a good place in the rocks at the sea’s edge for a swimming pool. Carl Hall was a civil engineer and surveyor of great ability. He was son-in-law to Bishop Bousfield, first Bishop of Pretoria.”
November 1918 - “Hall came again in November to lay out the swimming pool.”
January 1920: “Down at the swimming pool the ladies’ dressing room had been in hand for some two weeks, and the last rocks blasted away to allow high tide to fill the pool.”
9 January 1937 - An extract from a letter written by Annie Frances Bland (Emmett) Botha about the tidal pool: - "I hear you have had nice rain - & here we are almost crying for rain - only the sea is happy, it makes such a noise! The pool has been cleaned out & now it has become quite deep – but the crabs & fishes & all kinds of goggas have disappeared - so when Louis comes again, he will have to fish in the sea - but you can both bathe in the pool."
And so the Umdoni Point tidal pool came about long before the Royal proposed visit in 1952!

104. Pennington Tidal Pool

The town boasts a rich history dating back to the late 1800s when the Pennington family pioneered farming in the area. Later, Sir Frank Reynolds, a prominent sugar magnate, transformed part of the land into Umdoni Park, named after native water myrtle trees. This park gained fame for hosting South African prime ministers in a seaside mansion, originally intended for a visit by British King George VI in 1952.

105-107. Park Rynie Tidal Pools

There are three tidal pools on the beach at Park Rynie, which was established in 1857. The town was named by John Phillip Hoffman, a partner in the firm Nosworthy & Co., which purchased the original farm in 1858. He named it after his wife, Catherine Renatta Hoets, whose nickname was "Rynie".

During World War I, Park Rynie became a significant maritime hub with the establishment of a whaling station at Rocky Bay, operated by Park Rynie Whales Ltd. Remnants of this era, such as a stone pier and breakwater used by whaling and fishing craft, are still visible today.

During the apartheid era, specific tidal pools at Park Rynie Beach were indeed reserved for different racial groups, with some designated specifically for Indian South Africans. Under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953 (and its 1960 amendment extending to the "sea and seashore"), South African beaches and their facilities were legally partitioned by race. In Park Rynie, this resulted in a geographic divide of its tidal pools: 

  • 105 - Park Rynie Main Beach Pool: A third pool existed on the main beach between the northern and southern locations.
  • 106 - Southern Pool: Located near the area historically known as Preston (a traditionally white neighbourhood), this pool was reserved for white bathers.
  • 107 - Northern Pool: This was located in the traditionally Indian part of Park Rynie and was the primary tidal pool for that community.

Park Ryne 1


106. Park Rynie South Tidal Pool

Park Ryne 2


107 - Park Rynie Northern Tidal Pool

Park Ryne 3

108. Scottburgh Tidal Pool

In 1860, Scottburgh became the first substantial township laid out south of Durban and named after Sir John Scott, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Natal. It initially served as a port for sugar exports and a base for fishing fleets near the Aliwal Shoal.

109. Umkomaas Tidal Pool

As early as 1905, Umkomaas was described as the "gem of the South Coast". It was then, given ideal conditions, a drive of about two hours from Durban on the old main road, crossing the river at the punt at the Drift. 

The tidal pool at the former Umkomaas Hotel, which is now known as the Lodge.

110. Winkelspruit Tidal Pool

On 10 May 1875, the schooner Tonga was wrecked off the coast while carrying goods to Durban. To avoid losing the cargo, sailors set up a makeshift shop on the riverbank to sell the water-damaged wares. In Afrikaans, "winkel" means shop and "spruit" means stream, leading to the name Winklespruit.

As of May 2026, the Winklespruit Tidal Pool is currently closed due to long-standing infrastructure damage.

111. Baggies Beach Tidal Pool

Formally located at Warner Beach, it is primarily a natural tidal rock pool. Unlike many of South Africa's man-made concrete tidal pools built for safety in the 1930s or 1950s, this pool is naturally formed. It is a popular site for exploring marine life, including sea urchins and inquisitive fish.

Warner Beach has a deep-rooted surfing culture, having produced world-class surfers and serving as the host site for the Baggies Surf Pro. Historically, the beach and its tidal pool area have been major viewing spots for the annual Sardine Run in June and July, attracting thousands of visitors to the shoreline.

112. Chain Rocks, Amanzimtoti

The name comes from a heavy chain that was once stretched across a gully between two rocks to provide a safety handhold for bathers in the early 20th century. Posts made from old railway lines were concreted into holes drilled into the rocks to anchor these chains.

This particular spot became a favoured local bathing area, with the rocks providing a suitable gully sheltered on either side. With the increase in beachgoers, the need for a safety mechanism to prevent drowning arose.

The anchoring of the chains in the water posed a rather tricky task. Corrugated water tanks were cut in half and floated out to the desired position, then filled with concrete and the chains were set in these. The aim of the chain was to prevent bathers from being washed out to sea, as it could be held onto.

However, the chains did not stop local residents from being called upon to rescue holidaymakers.

The two Reinbach brothers and a Mr Grainger were often called upon to rescue the stragglers. No one knows the exact date when the chains were fixed into the rocks. The Reinbachs were involved in the project, as well as several other locals. The chains, however, were there when Noel Wright arrived in Amanzimtoti in 1926.

https://www.citizen.co.za/south-coast-sun/news-headlines/2019/08/11/how-amanzimtotis-chain-rocks-beach-came-by-its-name/ 

113. Inyoni Rocks Tidal Pool

The Goodwill Hotel on the Amanzimtoti beach was particularly active from the 1930s through the early 1970s, before it was demolished, like many other similar establishments along the coast. 

It had a swimming pool on the Inyoni Rocks.

amanzimtoti 1941 Goodwill Hotel

That tidal pool was upgraded to the current facility, as shown in a hotel marketing brochure.

amanzimtoti 1941 Goodwill Hotel 2

The most recent upgrade, before its demise.

amanzimtoti 2

Unfortunately, the tidal pool is now derelict. 

amanzimtoti 1

amanzimtoti 4

 

114. Isipingo Swimming Pool

The historic town of Isipingo, home of the renowned Natal soldier named Dick King, who died there in 1871, was a small British village with a church, a mission school, two inns and two shops. The Isipingo Beach Golf Club opened in March, 1916. There was a 25m swimming pool on the beachfront, as well as a tidal pool known as the Tiger Rock pool.  Local legend suggests the beach and its rocks were named after a shipwreck off the coast; rumour has it the ship was carrying exotic animals, and a tiger managed to swim ashore. 

The Dakota Beach swimming pool is a historic landmark that dates back to the early 1920s. Originally built as a recreational facility for the small British seaside settlement, it has evolved through decades of significant social and structural changes. In 1973, a Boeing DC-3 Dakota aircraft crashlanded on the beach, giving it the name. 

115. Tiger Rocks Tidal Pool

: Built in the 1920s, the pool was originally shallow. In an attempt to deepen it, a visitor from Johannesburg used dynamite at the bottom. This cracked the structure, causing it to leak and making it difficult to hold water afterwards.

116. Brighton Beach Tidal Pool

The Brighton Beach Tidal Pool is the last south of Durban. It was completed and officially opened in 1938. The pool was commissioned by the Durban City Council as part of a development to enhance the local area for recreation. At the time of its opening, it was considered a grand project and was notably floodlit to allow for evening use. 

Bluff brighton beach

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East London

East London Tidal Pools

John Bailie, one of the 1820 Settlers, surveyed the Buffalo River mouth and founded the town of East London there in 1836. The city formed around the only river port in South Africa. The existing port, in the mouth of the Buffalo River, began operating in 1870.

Note: The FAST southward-flowing Agulhas Current, when combined with the prevailing strong south-westerly winds, creates rogue waves in the deep sea near East London. In 1909, the SS Waratah disappeared here, with 211 people on board, leaving no trace. 

East London is the largest town in the Border Province, although it is home to two world-champion swimmers. Local girl from Clarendon GHS, Joan Harrison, won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and in 1976 Jonty Skinner, who graduated from Selbourne College, set a world record for the 100m freestyle. Both swimmers would have spent hours in the Orient Bath Tidal Pool. 

70. Kidd's Beach Tidal Pool

Kidd’s Beach, a small coastal resort town (about 28km west of East London), originated in the 1860s as a small coastal holiday retreat for farming families from the interior, named after Charles Kidd, a former mayor of King William’s Town.  

By 1870, the area was under the control of the Forestry Department. Farmers were granted permission to congregate there at Christmas, living in tents and "skerms".

In 1960, Escom arrived, and street lights were installed, and many houses were lit by it. A watch scheme was considered, but it was too expensive. Under the jurisdiction of the Divisional Council, each year has seen some notable improvements.

In 1963, a fine tidal pool was opened by Mr Edgar Glass, Chairman of the Council, within a stone’s throw of the car park and in full view of the Tearoom. This pool greatly enhances the appeal as a holiday resort. Read more about the history of Kidd's Bewach here →

71. Leach Bay Tidal Pool

Leach Bay is likely named after a member of the Leach family, who were prominent early settlers and landowners in the East London area. The tidal pool is close to the Grand Prix race track, where the South African event was held between 1934 and 1939, and the F1 Grand Prix from 1962 to 1965. These events made East London and Leach Bay an international stage. No doubt the tidal pool provided safe swimming for the many spectators to the motor racing events held there. 

Alas, today it is an abandoned facility. 

72. Water World Tidal Pool

The Water World facility was a municipal project that failed. 

73. Orient Bach Tidal Pools

The municipal pools were built on the rocks next to Orient Beach. The bottom image is today. 

This beach boasts two exceptional pools with thrilling slides – the Quanza pool, a little further east, is perfect for older kids as it is deeper, while the Orient Beach pool provides equal enjoyment in a safer environment.

74. Orient Beach Bath

In 1904, the municipality constructed a pair of bathing pools on the rocks at the spot where the MV Quanza had run aground in 1872. The pools would be known as the Quanza Pools. They were constructed as a result of an initial accident. The Town Engineer was experimenting with explosives and had blasted a great hole in the rocks at that point. Water immediately rushed in, and the resulting pool became a popular place for women and children. 

The pool was twice used to host the South African swimming Championships.

Read more →

75. Beach Hotel - Aquarium

The Beach Hotel was the first to open along East London's Esplanade in 1894, including its own Beach Pool. The Beach was replaced by the Kennaway Hotel in 1964, and today the East London aquarium uses the former beach pool.

76. Gonubie Tidal Pool

There is also the lavish riverside area, which is a popular tourist destination. Gonubie main beach is a beautiful sandy beach with an international-standard boardwalk. In 2010/11 Gonubie Beach was awarded the prestigious Blue Flag beach award. The river is a great spot for activities like canoeing and kayaking.

77. Chintsa West Beach Tidal Pool

Another small coastal resort town. 

78. Haga Haga Tidal Pool

This is the last tidal pool before the start of the Transkei coast and Port Edward. 

Haga Haga’s history dates back to the early 20th century. In the early 1920s farmers from inland areas like Stutterheim would trek their livestock to the coast for winter grazing, often staying in ox wagons or tents. 

Read more about the Haga Haga Hotel and also here →

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