Entering Kommetjie from the east on the M65, turn right down Van Imhoff Road (at the sharp bend opposite the hotel). Continue to a prominent parking area on the left, where a path leads onto the rocky promontory. Stone Age people built rough rock fish-dams here; today, this jumble of lichen-splattered boulders provides a safe roost for a good number of terns, gulls and cormorants. The bird for which Kommetjie is best known is the distinctively stocky, subtly coloured Antarctic Tern, which can reliably be found here in small numbers from April to October. By early spring, shortly before undertaking their return flight across the southern oceans, the birds have often already attained their superb white, grey and deep red breeding dress.

The tern roost also includes Swift and Sandwich Terns all year round; Common Terns dominate during the summer. A handful of the threatened Bank Cormorant can usually be found on the rocks throughout the year, alongside much more common Cape, Crowned and White-breasted Cormorants. An assortment of waders is usually found pottering among the technicolour rock pools, including the resident White-fronted Plover and African Black Oystercatcher, as well as migrant Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Common Sandpiper and Whimbrel. Kommetjie is also a well-known sea-watching vantage point during the winter months (p.39).

Wildevoëlvlei, a largish lake nearby, was once home to several localized waterbird species including White-backed and Maccoa Ducks, and is easily accessible from the Imhoff’s Gift housing development (take the signposted road north from the M65, a few kilometres east of Kommetjie). Great Crested Grebe and Yellow-billed Egret still occur here. In recent years, however, the lake has suffered heavily from blooms of toxic blue-green algae, resulting in a dramatic drop in bird numbers. Nonetheless, it is always worth stopping for a quick scan.