The Roundhouse Guesthouse, Gansbaai

There are two categories of Ceteceans, the Mysticetes or Baleen whales and the Odontocetes, including the toothed whale, oceanic and river dolphins and porpoises. In the two categories there are 80 species of cetaceans which are air breathing, warm-blooded mammals that bear live young which nurse their young on milk.

The Mysticetes are named for their feeding tools, which is a series of transverse plates of comb-like baleen which descend from the roof of the mouth. Baleen is made of hard but flexible material, similar to that of human fingernails, rooted in the animal's upper jaw. The baleen act like a sieve, allowing a whale to strain food out of the water which includes small fish and plankton.

During Whale season we have mostly the Southern Right whale in the bay, which is a Mysticetes. These are plankton feeders and they come to Gansbaai to breed, give birth and nurture their young before going back to Antartic. We also have the Humpback and the Bryde’s whale in our waters which are all part of the Mysticetes family. The Bryde’s Whale resides in our waters all year round and the Humpback Whales are mainly seen at the beginning and end of the Whale seasons are they pass through our waters on the way up to the Mozambique channel to give birth in the warm Indian Ocean waters.

We have many dolphins that visit these waters which fall into the Odontocetes family which as we all know are fish and meat eaters.

The owners of The Roundhouse are very passionate about nature and used these names in honor of these beautiful animals.