Doringbaai is essentially a little fishing village that used to be known as Thornbay. It’s well known as a bay where the Southern Right whales enter every year to calve between May to November. It’s a charming little village ideal for getting away from it all, but not for those seeking constant entertainment, unless the sounds of crashing waves, water birds and the constant proximity of Doringbaai lighthouse are your kind of thing.

The lighthouse is the prominent feature of staying here, and it’s a pretty lighthouse that has elicited a fair amount of interest lately, and was built in 1963. Walking deserted beaches, hiking trails not only in the surrounding mountains but on the hills close to the beach that grant you a bird’s eye view of the whales, a world-renowned succulent nursery, and access to the Namaqualand flowers during late winter and early spring are all reasons for your heading out here, up the deserted, wind-swept, but utterly gorgeous West Coast region.