Bayworld Oceanarium, Museum and Snake Park

One of the leading tourist attractions in Port Elizabeth, Bayworld is unique in Southern Africa, embracing a natural and cultural history Museum combined with an Oceanarium and a Snake Park. It is located in the heart of the Nelson Mandela Bay beachfront and serves up a feast of educational entertainment to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

The main activities of the Complex are research and education aimed at stimulating a greater awareness of the need for conservation of South Africa’s natural and cultural heritage. Research and education programmes focus on marine life, reptiles, maritime and local history.

Bayworld is facing an exciting future with a modern upgrade in the pipeline. The proposed facelift will ensure a world class visitor attraction with a totally unique experience of the “World in the Bay, and the Bay in the World”.

Bayworld consists of an Oceanarium, a Snake Park, The Port Elizabeth Museum and no. 7 Castle Hill Museum.

Oceanarium

A small colony of Cape fur and Subantarctic seals became resident at Bayworld following stranding due to separation from their mothers in high seas, illness or injury.  They provide a unique, up-close experience, allowing visitors to view age and gender variations as well as swimming and feeding behaviours.

African penguins also provide entertaining moments as they demonstrate their exceptional agility in the water. This is an endangered species.  The hand-raised rockhopper penguins loudly greet visitors expecting fishy rewards.

The two fully grown (2,6m / 2,8m) raggedtooth sharks the shy leopard and tiger cat sharks display their less threatening and more peaceful style of life.

Probably one of the most intriguing aquatic animals at the aquarium is the large octopus who, at times, flashes out its full size and extent of its eight sucker lined legs and does a form of dance across the length and breadth of the tank.

The Tropical tank holds a kaleidoscope of colourful fish representing more than 60 species. The aquarists pride in this tank is the large shoal of Moorish Idols with their striking colour and long trailing filamentous fins.

Port Elizabeth Museum

The Port Elizabeth Museum blends cultural with natural history and is the third oldest in South Africa. The museum consists of a Dinosaur, Marine, Bird, Maritime History, Costume and Local History Halls, as well as a Curiosity Corner, Xhosa Beadwork Gallery andthe First People of the Bay exhibit.

Particularly interesting exhibits are the 15m skeleton of the last Southern right whale harpooned in Nelson Mandela Bay, a life-sized reconstruction of the giant local prehistoric dinosaur known as Algoasaurus, a replica of the Dias Cross and a 5m bronze cannon dated 1640, recovered from a Portuguese galleon wrecked near Port Elizabeth.

Snake Park

A number of snakes and other reptiles, as well as interesting informational material in a more compact fashion, are on display.

The park was closed in July 2005 in anticipation of the start of the first phase of the proposed redevelopment project. A section of the Snake Park is closed off to accommodate future construction. Reptiles on display include snakes, geckos, lizards, juvenile crocodiles, tortoises and terrapins.

No 7 Castle Hill

Situated in the city centre, No 7 Castle Hill is a Victorian house museum dating back to 1827. The house is a declared National Monument.

This picturesque cottage is one of the oldest remaining dwelling houses in Port Elizabeth and is furnished as a family home of the mid-Victorian period, depicting the early Settler way of life.