Cruises departing from East London, South Africa

As South Africa's only large river and sea port, East London is important for the export of citrus fruit, mineral ores and wool. A considerable amount of goods are imported here as well. The first documented vessel to arrive in these waters was in 1688 while searching for survivors of a shipwreck. In 1848, a proclamation annexed the area to the Cape Colony. Today, East London serves as the area's commercial centre and is a bustling town with a population of approximately 175,000. The town's small museum contains the world's only surviving egg of the extinct dodo bird, as well as a mounted coelacanth caught near East London in 1938, a fish thought to be extinct.