Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism

Nelson Mandela Bay, an excellent value-for-money-family-fun-in-the-sun-holiday destination, named after Nelson Mandela – humanitarian, freedom fighter and world icon of peace – is located 763 km east of Cape Town, is regarded as the “official” gateway to the scenic Eastern Cape Province and the world renowned Garden Route and is sometimes referred to (by the people who know her best) as the “friendly city” or the “water sport capital of Africa” Nelson Mandela Bay, home to Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch is the only metropolitan area that was allowed by the former president to bear his name. By adopting his name, the metro strives to align itself with the “spirit of freedom” eminent in the life and life-long philosophy of this great man. The estimated population of Nelson Mandela Bay comprises over 1, 5 million, making it South Africa’s fifth largest city in terms of population and the second largest in terms of area. Nelson Mandela Bay represents a large percentage of South Africa’s biological diversity in that it is a meeting point for 5 of the 7 South African Biomes, namely the Thicket, Grassland, Nama-Karoo, Fynbos and Forest Biomes. The area also boast a significant amount of endemic species i.e. species that are only found here and nowhere else in the world. Such a concentration of biomes, particularly within a city, is unparallel in the world and results in an extraordinary diversity of landscapes, plants and animals.