Noel Ashton and his wife Belinda have written the definitive guide to ‘Watching Whales & Dolphins in Southern Africa’, published by Struik, costing only R130. And we have one to give away!

It’s a beautiful, scientifically accurate, pictorial guide to every species of whale and dolphin seen in the waters from Mozambique to Namibia. This includes 6 whale and 6 dolphin species.

You can also look at our previous blog post to find our Top 5 Whale Tales and another post about Dolphins of the Cape.

Each species in the book is painted by Noel with painstaking accuracy from years of research and his illustrations are artworks in themselves, beautiful enough to grace any space – and they do in homes and public places like the Two Oceans Aquarium and on all the whale watching boards around the Cape coast. Noel also sells his prints and artworks from his website.

Another location closely associated with Noel and Belinda Ashton is Hermanus, and you can’t go far in this town without seeing an Ashton illustration board guiding you in your whale watching activities. The Two Oceans Hermanus Whale Festival is on from 28 September-1 October 2012 and is celebrating its 21st year. It has evolved into being the only Enviro-Arts Festival in the country “putting the creatures of the deep on stage and under the spotlight alongside top performers and musicians.” The whales however, are always the star performers, but specialists like Noel offer personal insights and he will be signing his book after his talk (time/place to be confirmed).

WIN an author-signed copy of this new book; ‘Watching Whales & Dolphins in Southern Africa’, by telling us which species of whale is most commonly seen at the Hermanus Whale Festival. The first person to Email us with the correct answer can collect their prize from Cape Grace (and why not stop for afternoon tea while you are at it).