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City Guide · ZA
East London's new name: an Indian Ocean city between the Buffalo and Nahoon rivers, with surf breaks, the coelacanth and fossil footprints
History & Heritage
Updated 12 October 2026
KuGompo City is the new name of East London, the coastal city in South Africa's Eastern Cape and the seat of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. The change was signed by Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie in late January 2026 and gazetted on 6 February 2026. Its airport, King Phalo Airport (ELS), lies about 9 km west of the city centre.
The coast between the Buffalo and Nahoon rivers was Xhosa land long before any port was built. People walked here far earlier still: a slab of rock that broke away at Nahoon Point in 1964 revealed human fossil footprints. A 2008 study dates them to the Last Interglacial, about 120,000 years ago, and South African History Online gives 124,000 years. In 1836 John Bailie, one of the 1820 Settlers, surveyed the Buffalo River mouth and founded a settlement first called Port Rex and later renamed London, hence East London. In 1847, during the frontier wars between British settlers and the Xhosa, Fort Glamorgan was built on the West Bank, and the area was annexed to the Cape Colony that year.
Settlers followed the port, among them Germans whose influence survives in nearby place names such as Stutterheim and Berlin. The harbour in the mouth of the Buffalo River began operating in 1870, and it remains South Africa's only remaining river port. In 1873 East London, East London East and Panmure were merged into one municipality, and railway construction began on the east bank in 1876. The double-decker bridge over the Buffalo River was completed in 1935. In December 1938 the trawler Nerine landed a strange fish caught off the Chalumna River. Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer recognised it as unusual, and it proved to be a coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct.
Segregation shaped the city long before formal apartheid. In 1941 the municipality moved East Bank residents to the new township of Duncan Village, and after 1950 the Group Areas Act divided the city by race. Mdantsane was formally established in 1963, about 15 km from the city, and roughly 112,000 people were moved there from Duncan Village from 1964. On 4 August 1983 security forces fired on commuters during the Egerton bus boycott, killing 11 people. Mdantsane is now known as a boxing stronghold that has produced more than 50 national champions.
After 1994 the city became part of the Eastern Cape, and in 2000 it joined Qonce, Bhisho and Mdantsane in Buffalo City, which became a metropolitan municipality on 18 May 2011. The name KuGompo was first proposed in 2018 but was rejected because the city already had a neighbourhood called Gompo; adding "City" resolved the clash. The name recalls the sound of waves crashing against Gompo Rock, now Cove Rock, a site sacred to the amaXhosa. In isiXhosa the city has long also been called eMonti.
On the Indian Ocean coast of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, between the Buffalo and Nahoon rivers. It is the city formerly called East London, and the seat of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
The Eastern Cape.
The minister signed the change in late January 2026 and it was gazetted on 6 February 2026, according to BusinessTech. You may also see it spelled Kugombo or KuGompo stad.
It refers to the sound of waves crashing against Gompo Rock (Cove Rock), a site sacred to the amaXhosa.
Last checked 12 October 2026.
Key Historical Places
The sandstone rock on the coast that gives KuGompo City its name. The name comes from the sound of waves crashing against it, and it is a sacred site for the amaXhosa.
Art gallery whose facades were declared a national monument on 7 October 1983. They are now a Provincial Heritage Site.
Quayside on the Buffalo River in the port, named after coelacanth discoverer Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer. Transnet National Ports Authority is redeveloping it for R147 million into a waterfront with restaurants, leisure outlets and tourism centres, due for completion in April 2027 (SAnews, 21 October 2025).
Township established in 1963, about 15 km from the city, where about 112,000 people were moved from Duncan Village from 1964. It was the scene of the 1983 Egerton bus boycott massacre and is a boxing stronghold with more than 50 national champions.
Completed in 1935. Wikipedia calls it the only bridge of its type in South Africa.
Timeline
Must-See Attractions
A long swimming and surfing beach. Nahoon Reef next to it is a right-hand, deep-water reef break that has hosted national surfing championships and World Surf League qualifying events. The Nahoon River mouth offers calmer water.
Free; daylight hours (SA-Venues, checked 12 October 2026)
A coastal reserve with 10 walking trails, boardwalks, lookout points, a small museum and a restaurant at the education centre. The 3 km Bats Cave Trail passes the site where human fossil footprints, dated at 124,000 years old by South African History Online, were found in 1964.
Open daily; free (Buffalo City Metro, checked 12 October 2026). Ranger escort: 082 608 2668
An estuary reserve with five walking trails along the Nahoon River.
Mon–Fri 08:30–16:00; closed weekends and public holidays; free (Buffalo City Metro, checked 12 October 2026)
A natural and cultural history museum founded in 1921 at 319 Oxford Street. It holds the type specimen of the coelacanth, caught off the Chalumna River in 1938, and what SA-Venues calls 'the world's only surviving Dodo egg'.
A family beach at the south end of the Esplanade in Quigney, on the east side of the Buffalo River mouth. The harbour breakwaters usually keep the surf gentle, and there is a filtered children's pool, the Water Tube, a pier, lawns and changing rooms. It is named after the SS Orient, which ran aground here in 1907.
Free; daylight hours (SA-Venues, checked 12 October 2026)
A beach at the mouth of the Gonubie River with a long boardwalk, man-made tidal pools and beachcombing at the river mouth. The Gonubie Mouth Bird Sanctuary is about 1 km away.
Free (SA-Venues, checked 12 October 2026)
Gompo Rock, the rock that gave the city its new name: a sandstone formation used by breeding seabirds and a vantage point for whale watching and fishing. It is about a 45-minute beach walk from Lagoon Valley.
A malaria-free private reserve near Chintsa West, a short drive from King Phalo Airport. It has four of the Big Five, five biomes and a tidal estuary, and offers guided game drives, guided hikes, canoeing and quad biking.
Accommodation
A 103-room hotel and conference centre in Blue Bend, Beacon Bay, KuGompo (East London), overlooking the Nahoon River mouth and the sea
Seven self-catering suites with kitchenettes in leafy Nahoon, KuGompo (East London), with a continental breakfast included
An owner-run guest house on the Beacon Bay slopes of KuGompo (East London), with Nahoon River views, breakfast included and a pool
A single beachfront self-catering unit for two on the owners' property at Kidd's Beach, about 30 km from KuGompo (East London)
A studio apartment and a two-bedroom cottage in residential Gonubie, KuGompo (East London), five minutes from Gonubie Beach
Three guest rooms, each with a private entrance, in a hosted home on Marlin Drive in Chintsa East, Cintsa, 300 m from the beach
A two-bedroom house and three self-catering flats above the Mcantsi River at Kidd's Beach, 500 m from the coast and 25 km from KuGompo (East London)
A guest house with seven en-suite rooms and a family flatlet in tropical gardens on Bunkers Hill, KuGompo (East London), with full English breakfast
Self-catering units and king rooms around a pool in Beacon Bay, KuGompo (East London), 2.5 km from the beach, with daily cleaning
Three self-catering units with river and farm views in Dorchester Heights, KuGompo (East London), between Vincent and Beacon Bay
Four self-catering units with private entrances in a quiet Beacon Bay cul-de-sac, KuGompo (East London), 400 m from Beacon Bay Retail Park
A family-run beach lodge with rooms and family suites in tropical gardens on Chintsa Bay, Cintsa, about 42 km from KuGompo (East London)
Sea-view studios and a two-bedroom cottage on the crest of Bunkers Hill, KuGompo (East London), looking over the beachfront and golf course
A 260-room hotel on the Quigney beachfront Esplanade in KuGompo (East London), next to the East London International Convention Centre
Restaurants & Dining
A Berea favourite for gourmet burgers and craft beer on tap, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Beacon Bay sister of Sanook Cafe, serving thin-crust pizza and homemade pasta.
Tacos, tapas, plant-based options and craft cocktails.
Open to non-guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bar looks over the Nahoon River mouth and is a sunset spot.
Activities & Experiences
A 3 km trail through Nahoon Point Nature Reserve along the beach, past sandstone coves with rock hyraxes and giant kingfishers and over recycled-plastic walkways, to the footprint excavation site and Bats Cave. Watch for dolphins from the wave-cut platform.
Nahoon Reef's right-hand reef break is one of South Africa's best-known waves and hosts the Nahoon Pro, a World Surf League qualifying event.
Gentle surf behind the harbour breakwaters, a filtered children's pool, the Water Tube and lawns make this the city's easiest beach for children.
Walk the boardwalk at the Gonubie River mouth, try the tidal pools, then look for waterbirds at the Gonubie Mouth Bird Sanctuary about 1 km away.
A five-day, roughly 60 km coastal hike from the Kei River mouth to Gonubie, with basic shelters, or hotels with luggage transfer on the Sundowner version.
Morning or afternoon game drives in open 4x4s, plus guided hikes, canoeing and quad-bike tours, on a malaria-free reserve near Chintsa.
Events & Entertainment
A World Surf League Qualifying Series contest at Nahoon Reef, presented by Buffalo City municipality. The 2023 edition had R98,000 in prize money.
A 42.2 km marathon organised by the Buffalo Road Running Club.
A rowing regatta on the Buffalo River, held since 1881 and described as South Africa's largest. In 2018 it had about 1,000 competitors in 200 events over three days.
Described as South Africa's oldest 160 km ultramarathon, run along the coast from Port Alfred to the city.
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