The port and holiday resort of Mossel Bay lies at the west end of the beautiful Garden Route along the coast of the Indian Ocean. It owes its name to the shells (mosseln) which the first Europeans found here in such quantity. Until a few years ago Mossel Bay was one of the most charming places on the Garden Route, with a variety of accommodation
for visitors, beautiful beaches within easy reach and a wide range of sports and leisure facilities: now the scene is spoiled by industrial development and the offshore rigs processing the oil and natural gas that were discovered here in the 1980s. But that is only one side of Mossel Bay, which still has its trim villas and holiday houses.
Many of the seafarers who sailed round the Cape anchored in Mossel Bay. The first of them was Bartolomeu Diaz, who set foot on South African soil here in 1488. He was followed in 1497 by Vasco da Gama and in 1501 by the Portuguese Admiral João da Nova, who built a chapel (not preserved) which is believed to have been the first European-style building in South Africa. There was no permanent settlement in the bay until 1787, but thereafter Mossel Bay developed into an important port serving the southern Cape region and the Little Karoo.
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