Travel to Mossel Bay

sea caves with evidence of truly ancient humans

Mossel Bay is located on the Garden Route, some 350 km east of Cape Town.

The most easterly of the Garden Route towns, Mossel Bay is relatively little-visited, mainly because of the large area of industry and urban sprawl that lies between the old town centre and the main N2 highway.

In fact the old town itself is reasonably attractive, set up on a peninsula overlooking the old harbour, with a decent sandy strand and safe swimming. The biggest attractions are the Bartolomeu Dias Museum and the lighthouse on Cape St Blaize.

To the west of the town along the coast are the sea caves which contain what are thought to be the oldest Homo Erectus remains ever found, possibly as old as 170,000 years. It’s possible that all of us are descendants from the people who lived here.

There’s also some snorkelling and diving, plus a couple shark cage-diving operations which are much lesser known than those in Gansbaai.

We do appreciate the honest simplicity of Mossel Bay, which stands in stark contrast with its more showy and commercial neighbours of Knysna and Plettenberg Bay.

The Garden Route is considerably less seasonal than most other parts of Africa.
Most notably it experiences a good deal more consistent levels of cloud and rain year round, in contrast to the Cape which has a much more pronounced dry summer Nov-Mar.

The climate is still very pleasant, but you can expect a little bit more weather out here. For this you are compensated by the wonderful verdant landscapes and rich forests for which the area is named.

Summer : Nov-Apr

This period is generally considered to be the preferred time to visit, with pleasantly warm temperatures, longer days and marginally higher average sunshine hours.

Winter : May/Oct

This period is notionally winter, but temperatures are only a few degrees below their summer levels, average sunshine hours about the same and rainfall just as unpredictable. But the days are definitely shorter.

Where to stay

Decent accommodation is a bit thin on the ground in Mossel Bay, so we very rarely end up including the area in trips, other than for guests who are particularly interested in palaeontology.

Inland lies the Gondwana Game Reserve, which offers the best ‘big five’ safari experience on the Garden Route, so might be worth considering, especially if you have small children in tow.

surprisingly few people are sufficiently interested