The tiny coastal town where only 20% of its homes are permanently occupied

Nestled between Mossel Bay and Stilbaai, about 34 km off the busy N2 highway, where the Gouritz River meets the sea, is the small town of Gouritsmond.

Within a conservation area, the town is home to 250 different species of birds and 14 endangered plant species. 

The town has a permanent population of only 800 people. It has 411 homes in total, and of these, 80% are not permanently occupied. 

The town real estate agent, Corrie Van Wyk, has taken responsibility for many of these holiday homes, in addition to selling property. She told Newsday that she’s known around town as “the host.”

Van Wyk explained that Gourits has so many unoccupied homes, because the majority are used for holiday homes, holiday rentals or are owned by people who spend months of the year working overseas. 

“Because here, you can still lock up your house and leave it, because there’s no crime,” she said. 

Gouritsmond is off the beaten track, making it the perfect hideaway from the outside world. The coastal gem is lost in time with its pristine Blue Flag beach and small coastal shops. 

The history of the small town dates back thousands of years. Archaeologists have proven that the area was inhabited by man for more than half a million years. 

The town takes its name from the Gourikwa tribe that once lived on the river banks. 

Its more modern history began in the 1700s, when it became a small fishing settlement. The charming fishing village was established in 1915.

The Gouritz River has the second largest population of Cob fish in the country, and is known as the “fisherman’s Mecca.”

The Fisherman’s Mecca

Until 1983, access to the town was limited by 25 gates. The construction of the town’s first tar road in 1983 made the town more accessible. 

The town is, in fact, so hidden that it was once used as the home of South Africa’s main nuclear testing facility, a secret site that was quietly closed down in the late 1900s.

Today, the town’s permanent residents are mostly retirees, according to Van Wyk, although in the last four or five years, more younger people have been moving in, mostly using their homes as lockup-and-go bases. 

Van Wyk says that most of the people she has seen moving to the small town are retirees escaping big city life. 

“It’s very safe here,” said Van Wyk. “Most of the Garden Route has seen lots of people moving down here, and crime is moving with them, but not here. We don’t have crime,” she said. 

Van Wyk says the biggest crimes in the town are reported when fishing rods or a bottle of whisky are stolen from local establishments. 

The town is quaint, with no big shopping malls, no McDonald’s, no well-known brands. The only shops and restaurants in the town are small businesses owned by locals. 

“We’ve got, we call it, Gourits Algemene Handelaar, which is a little supermarket that’s privately owned, not a franchise place, that actually has everything,” Van Wyk said. 

“And we’ve got Koffie Stories, a little novelty coffee shop, and then we’ve got Vis inni Mond, which is a take-away fish and chip shop,” she said. 

The fish and chip shop is owned by a local couple. The husband is a commercial fisherman, and the shop is supplied with fresh fish that he catches after filling his quota. 

There are also two bottle stores, a little restaurant and a beach shop in town, and whatever residents lack, they can get from George or Mossel Bay. 

Coastal living – at a price

There are no schools in the area; the few in the town with small children homeschool their kids, Van Wyk said. 

There are no big pharmacies in town, but the Dis Chem in Mossel Bay delivers any products free of charge to residents of Gourits free of charge on Thursdays. 

On Fridays, the little town can order fresh meat from the closest butcher shop, 34 km away, free of charge as well. 

Van Wyk added that Gouritsmond is not to everybody’s taste. “You either like it or you don’t,” she said. 

“I had a customer the other day, her husband was so excited to buy a house, but I saw the wife’s eyes get bigger and bigger. I said to her, ‘Are you alright?’ and she asked me, ‘Where is the closest Woolworths?’”

“It’s not going to work for you if you’re worried about a Woolies,” she said. 

While the town might be quaint, the price one pays for the safety and laid-back lifestyle of Gourits is not cheap, Van Wyk said. 

According to the agent, an average three-bedroom home costs about R3.5 million. However, for those whom the town calls, the price is worth it. 

Van Wyk is a retiree from the East Rand herself, having moved down to Gourits in 2013. Since then, she said, “You will not believe it, my short-term insurance and my medical aid became a lot cheaper.”

“Because there is a lot less crime, and you’re healthier here,” she said. 

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More photos from Gouritsmond