My Cape Town South Africa

Langebaan Lagoon | Tourist Information

Langebaan Lagoon is a natural salt water lagoon, 100 km north of Cape Town. The intense blue of the lagoon originates from the fact that no river runs into the lagoon and it is completely open to the sea. The lagoon is one of 3 lagoons in the world that is not fed by fresh water at some point. The lagoon’s maximum depth is approximately 6 metres, and this contributes to the azure colour.

Photo of Langebaan Lagoon. View of Schaapen Eiland

The northern regions of the lagoon are available for watersports including power boating, however further south, the lagoon is restricted to non-power craft, and the southern most reaches are out of bounds completely for water activity.

Langebaan Lagoon is a registered Ramsar site, and is considered a precarious and ecologically sensitive region with great biodiversity. The Ramsar area includes:

• Shallow marine waters
• Mud Flats
• Sand and shingle shores
• Dune systems
• Brackish, saline water and marshes
• Sporadic fresh water pools

Southern Reaches of Langebaan Lagoon, Ramsar Site

The lagoon is home to a vast number of bird species, and wildlife. The West Coast National Park surrounds the southern part of the lagoon.

In spring (August and September), the Postberg Nature Reserve, which is part of the West Coast National Park, comes alive with Namaqualand flowers. Dogs are not permitted in the West Coast National Park.

The best way to see Langebaan Lagoon is to rent a cottage at Langebaan town for a weekend. You will have access to watersports as there are a lot of people running sports hire, sailing schools, kitesurfing schools and more in the town itself.

Then you can do day trips into the West Coast National Park, and visit Geelbek for lunch, go to the bird hides to see if you can photograph the famous Langebaan flamingos. Ideallly you will need more than a 300 mm lens.

You don’t just get to see sea birds at the bird hide. When I paid the hide a visit, an ostrich came strolling past, enjoying the view of the lagoon. It was most bizarre. It casually strolled along, grazing on the wetlands. We stayed in the bird hide and left it completely alone. I put my camera on time delay photos and every time it beeped, the ostrich would look up and look around to see just what the strange sound was.

We also saw three tortoises making their way past the bird hide. Again, they were marching over the Langebaan salt flats and wetlands which was pretty interesting.

Click here for a MAP of Langebaan & the West Coast National Park

Langebaan Lagoon Wetlands near Bird Hide.

Langebaan town on the shore of the lagoon.

Langebaan main beach. Motorboats permitted.

Langebaan Flamingoes from the Bird Hide.

Seagull from Seeberg Bird Hide

Ostrich on Langebaan Lagoon shore.

Tortoises in West Coast National Park at Seeberg Bird Hide

Salt Flats / Wetlands - Langebaan Lagoon. Seeberg Bird Hide

Old ruin on the hill. Lagoon View. Inland at Seeberg View Point

Langebaan Lagoon View of Ramsar Area. Inland at Seeberg View Point

West Coast National Park. Inland at Seeberg View Point

Here is a map of Langebaan Lagoon from the Sanparks Website. Click on the map to be taken to the site and see the map enlarged.

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Map of Langebaan Lagoon