Bartolomeu Dias (Bartholomew Diaz) Museum

The Dias Museum Complex is one of the highlights of Mossel Bay, commemorating the spot where the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias first set foot on South African soil and incorporating several museums, monuments and historical sites. Visitors can see the Post Office Tree, a now 500-year-old milkwood tree that served as South Africa’s first post office, the Shell Museum and Aquarium, showcasing hundreds of beautiful sea shells as well as living marine creatures, the Granary Museum, with its displays documenting old wagon trails and indigenous flora, the Maritime Museum, with its exhibits of nautical artefacts and a life-size replica of the caravel on which Dias arrived.