Kalk Bay Beach

This guide to Kalk Bay Beach in Cape Town follows the free burghers who burned mussel shell in dawn kilns along this shore, turning it into the quicklime that bound early Cape stone walls. You'll hear Governor Simon van der Stel's 1687 account of the bay's abundant fish, and how the Dutch name Kalkbaai, lime bay, came from generations of lime burners working these mussel beds. Listen for how that same trade turns up again once you reach the modern harbour.