Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth is a city in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province. The city, often shortened to "PE", and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", is located on Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa.

Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the warlike Xhosa tribe. It now has a population of 1.1 million and forms part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

The 3 languages most used in the area are Xhosa, English and Afrikaans. Xhosa, the ‘clicking’ language, is the most common. PE is fondly called "Ibhayi" by Xhosa speakers, "Die Baai" by Afrikaners and "The Bay" by English speakers. But as in most parts of South Africa, English is the business language.

The area around what is now called Algoa Bay was first settled by the San and Khoisan people and the Xhosa tribe came later. Bartolomeus Dias landed on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay in 1488 and Vasco da Gama who noted the nearby Bird Island in 1497. For centuries, the area was simply marked on navigation charts as "a landing place with fresh water" The area was part of the Cape Colony, which had a turbulent history between its founding by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 and the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.

In 1820 a party of 4000 British settlers arrived by sea. At this time the seaport town was founded by Sir Donkin the Acting Governor of the Cape Colony, who named it after his late wife, Elizabeth. The town expanded, building a diverse community comprising European, Cape Malay and other immigrants.

In 2001, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, was formed as an administrative area covering Port Elizabeth, the neighbouring towns of Uitenhage and Despatch and the surrounding agricultural areas. This metropolitan area - also known as the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality - has a population of 1.5 million.

Home of South Africa's motor vehicle industry, Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage host General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, Continental Tyres and many more automotive companies. Most other industries are geared towards the motor vehicle industry, providing parts such as wiring harnesses, catalytic converters and tyres to the vehicle manufacturers.

Transport
Port Elizabeth Airport PLZ, serves the city, but is not an international airport. International visitors to the city, one of South Africa's major tourist venues, must fly to either Johannesburg or Cape Town and then take a domestic flight to Port Elizabeth. In preparation for the World cup 2010 the runway is being extended with a view to accommodating international flights. The flights will mainly come from Johannesburg and Cape Town. Competition will assure cheap flights.

Port Elizabeth lies on the N2 road which runs from Cape Town to Durban roughly following the coast. The Garden Route is part of the N2 highway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth and stretches about 300 km along the Southern Cape coast between Slang River near Heidelberg and Storms River in the Tsitsikamma Forest. Popular towns along the Garden Route include Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, Wilderness, Sedgefield, Tsitsikamma, George/Herold's Bay and Mossel Bay/Hartenbos.

Accommodation
Good quality and excellent value for money hotels are readily available. The informal accommodation sector of B&B’s and Guest Houses has really taken off as tourists want to experience the true hospitality of the Rainbow Nation. Tap water is drinkable.

Entertainment
Most people start at the beach. PE is one of South Africa's best beach holiday destinations, with 40km of unspoiled coastline — mostly golden sandy beaches renowned across the world. PE gets more sunshine hours than any other city in this part of South Africa. . Its coastal location also makes it a base for many watersports.

The Indian Ocean gives the city magnificent weather — PE’s weather ranks in the world’s Top Five for coastal cities. Summer stretches from October to April, with an average temperature maximum of 25°C throughout January to March.

The combination of calm waters and fair breezes are perfect conditions for sailing, and the safe beaches allow for swimming, surfing, body boarding and any kind of water sport.

After the beach, get out on the water! Algoa Bay is Africa’s water sport capital. There’s yachting and boat cruises, windsurfing, jet skiing and diving. The Bay is one of the best sailing waters in the world. Scuba diving is of world-class quality with great reefs, plenty of shipwrecks, fish and colourful coral. Scuba diving enthusiasts can choose form a number of great spots with lots to see, such as ship wrecks, coral reefs and beautifully coloured fish in the warm waters with up 30 metres visibility.

Go further out to sea on deep-sea fishing trips, or at-sea photo safaris — Algoa Bay has whales, dolphins, seals, great white sharks, penguins and plenty of sea birds.

If you want to see the sea life without getting wet, then visit the oceanarium and dolphin show at Bayworld.

Go golfing on some of the best courses in South Africa. Or..if you enjoy horseracing PE has it all. For the gambler, the Boardwalk Casino is a must.

The city’s fine sporting facilities, cater for association football (soccer), rugby union, cricket, hockey and many other sports. Port Elizabeth is the location of the St George’s Park cricket ground, the oldest cricket ground in South Africa.

Sightseeing Excursions within 1-2 hours drive
- Just 73 km from the city is the exclusive, private Shamwari Game Reserve which is home to the "Big Five" of Africa.
- Visit Jeffreys Bay ,the place of the ultimate wave .
- Visit Addo National Elephant Park
- The Tsitsikamma National Coastal Park
- Seaview’s Lion park
- Drive-in Cinema in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage

Dining

Evening entertainment in Port Elizabeth includes beachfront pubs, nightclubs and late-night music spots .Port Elizabeth’s diverse cultures and the early influx of Indians and Malaysians guarantees spectacular fusion of tastes and aromas! French Huguenots brought the art of winemaking.

And the climate provides superb meat, fish and produce. Today there’s a wide choice of excellent South African white wines to wash down fresh oysters at the coastal eateries, red wines to accompany the perfect “grilled’ (barbecued) rump steak from local beef farms, and Cape classic 'champagne' to go with the lobster directly from the grill. All this while gazing at another beautiful Indian Ocean sunset .

For the ultimate family and child orientated restaurants visit the Spur or Saddles.

Places of Interest

The Port Elizabeth Coastline