Saldanha Bay was named for a Portuguese Captain – Antonio de Saldanha. His vessel was part of a fleet led by Portuguese Admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque. They visited South Africa in 1503.

The port was developed for exporting iron ore. Today the local economy is strongly dependent on fishing, mussels, seafood processing and the Navy. The nearby steel mill is now closed.

All the morning shore excursions were hiking, biking and kayaking so I had time to finally finish unpacking.

In the afternoon I opted for the tour to the West Coast Fossil Park.

In the early 1940’s the African Metals Corporation established a mine at Langebaanweg to supply phosphate to the steel mill and fertilizer industries. In 1958, fossils were documented but they kept mining until 1993. Nearly 90% of the fossils were lost. Instead of back filling the mine they preserved the remaining fossils and rehabilitated the landscape making it hospitable to wildlife.

The West Coast Fossil Park at Langebaanweg is a five-million-year-old fossil bed that was found in the phosphate mine. It is now widely regarded as possibly the most important Early Pliocene terrestrial fossil occurrence in the world.

Here are some photos of the park.

Because of how late the last tender came back to the ship Trivia was moved from its usual 4 pm time slot to 9:30 pm. I wanted to go – you get points that you can collect for prizes later. I tried to stay awake but woke up at 11 pm and just went to bed.

The next day is a day at sea so time to relax a bit.