Mossel Bay Tourism’s Information Centre on the corner of Market and Church Streets (in the Central Business District) offers maps, brochures and general information as well as tourist assistance and assistance with making reservations for accommodation and adventures.

Mossel Bay Tourism

Telephone +27(0)44 691 2202
Fax +27(0)44 690 3077
URL: http://www.visitmosselbay.co.za/
E-mail: admin@visitmosselbay.co.za
GPS Coordinates 34º 10.876 South; 22o 8.578 East

Language

Almost everyone in Mossel Bay speaks English – although our home languages include Xhosa and Afrikaans.

Mossel Bay Tourism can arrange translation services – please call +27(0)44 691 2202 or e-mail admin@visitmosselbay.co.za

Places of Worship

Click here to download a list of places of Christian, Jewish and Moslem worship in or near Mossel Bay.
This is a .pdf 85 kb

Saffas & Seffricanisms

• SAFFAS = South Africans (according to the Americans)
• SEFFRICANS = South Africans (according to us).
• SEFFRICANISMS = The Lekker words we Seffricans drop into our everyday speech.
• MZANSI = South Africa (a term of endearment)
• LEKKER = Nice, good, enjoyable, fun (from the Afrikaans for ‘candy’).
• BILTONG = Dried, salted meat, jerky or pemmican. But much, much lekkerrer than ordinary ol’ jerky.
• BRAAI = Barbecue (but much lekkerrer than an ordinary ol’ barbecue). Seffricans never need an excuse for a braai with friends (new or old) and family.
• BOEREWORS = The lekker farmers’ sausage we enjoy with lamb chops and beef steaks at our braais.
• SNOEK = A delicious South African fish which is often enjoyed off the braai.
• BUTTERNUT = A yellow gourd vegetable which is best eaten – you got it – off the braai.
• BOEREKOS = Traditional Afrikaans cooking.
• DORP = A small platteland town.
• PLATTELAND = Rural areas (literally ‘flat land’ – the word refers to the wide open spaces of the heartlands of South Africa).
• FYNBOS = Cape Macchia. A collective term for all the plants of the Cape Floral Kingdom – the smallest of the world’s six floral kingdoms and the only one that’s contained within the borders of a single country. Fynbos occurs along South Africa’s coast between Vanrhynsdorp in the West and Grahamstown in the East. It’s particularly rich in the area of Mossel Bay.
• KLOOF = A ravine or gorge.
• ROOIBOS = A South African herbal tea. It’s caffeine-free and is said to be very healthy. And it’s lekker, too. Try it with home made beskuit (rusks or dried biscuits).
• SHEBEEN = A tavern.
• SANGOMA = A traditional healer or shaman.
• SAN = The bushmen who in ancient times populated much of the Western Cape.
• TOWNSHIP = In the apartheid era, a dormitory suburb reserved for non-whites. Today the word describes any shanty town or urban area that’s populated by the poor.
• VELD = Literally the grasslands of the high country, but now used to describe almost any wilderness area other than a forest.
• EISH! = An exclamation that can be used to express a thousand emotions. Eish! (that’s nice); Eish! (that’s sore); Eish! (s/he’s lovely); Eish! (that’s lekker), etc.
• YEBO! = Yes!… And, like eish!, yebo! can be used to express a thousand emotions…
• GOOI = Throw.
• RUGBY = You don’t know what rugby is? Ask a Seffrican to gooi a braai and then, when the coals are lekker hot and the beer’s lekker cool, ask him about his favourite rugby team. You won’t have to say another word all afternoon…
• VUVUZELA = The plastic horn we like to blow when we’re watching soccer – the country’s biggest sport.
• SPRINGBOKS = Our national rugby side (named for a fleet-footed indigenous antelope).
* BAFANA BAFANA = Our national soccer side (from the Zulu and Xhosa for ‘young men’).
• PROTEAS = Our national cricket side (named for the most famous flower of the fynbos).
• N’CA! (pronounced nn-tsaaa!) = Nice. Much like ‘lekker.’ Seffricans and Seffricanisms are ncha!

Download a .pdf version of our 100-page information brochure here – or collect a copy from our offices on the corner of Market & Church Streets, Mossel Bay.