About East London

East London sits at the mouth of the Buffalo River and is South Africa's only city built around a river port, a legacy of its 19th-century role as a British settler and trading harbour. The East London Museum holds the world-famous coelacanth, the "living fossil" fish first identified here in 1938 after being caught off the coast, one of the twentieth century's great zoological discoveries. Surf beaches like Nahoon and Gonubie draw a strong local surfing and outdoor culture, and the city has long been an industrial centre, anchored by a major Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant. Today it forms part of the Buffalo City Metro, blending Eastern Cape coastal life with township communities such as Mdantsane on its outskirts.

East London's coming weeks blend comedy, music and running. Comedy opens the stretch on 28 August when Positive Strokes - Alfred Adriaan takes the stage at Hemingways Casino, and the very next night Ami Faku headlines One Night Only: Hidden Experience with Ami Faku at The Cove while the East London Spin Festival spins up the dance floor. Dance lovers can also catch JOMBA! Desert Poems - Vincent Mantsoe at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on 29 August. Runners round out the weekend with the Mdantsane Kasi 10km & 1.6km(Academy miler)/4km FunRUN at Masizakhe Children's Home on 30 August.