East London

As is the case with most of South Africa’s coastal towns and cities, East London is populated by friendly, down to earth people, who love to swim, surf, fish, and soak up the pleasantly warm sun. It is also often referred to as the Buffalo City, the reason for this being that it is located along the Buffalo River.

East London has a few major claims to fame. It is South Africa’s only river port, its natural history museum has the only known dodo egg in world and the Nahoon Footprints, thought to be about 200 000 years old, are the oldest fossilized human footprints in the world. East London is the northern most city on South Africa’s Sunshine coast, a 300km long stretch of coastline that is famous for its stretches of unpopulated sandy beachfront.

There are not an over abundance of hotels in the city, most people find themselves staying n the cozy little bed & breakfasts that have sprung up over the years to accommodate the increase in the number of tourists. With this increase in tourism, as well as the coming 2010 FIFA World Cup, there will undoubtedly be a drastic increase in the number of hotels and a general improvement of the infrastructure in East London, but for now it is the perfect balance between modern day convenience and the laid back feel of a small beach town.