Port Nolloth is a town and seaport in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, situated along the R382 Regional Route in the Namaqualand region on the northwestern coast of South Africa, 144 km north-west of Springbok.
Port Nolloth falls within the Richtersveld Local Municipality and the Namakwa District Municipality. It is the administrative centre/seat of the Richtersveld Local Municipality.
The port was previously a transshipment point for copper from the Okiep mines and diamonds from the Namaqua coast.
Since the 1970s, the main seagoing activities have been fishing and small-vessel tourism.
Today, the town is a commercial hub with several holiday homes and a caravan park at the adjacent McDougalls Bay.
Port Nolloth is also a gateway to the Richtersveld National Park, located 160 km to the north along the Orange River.
History
The bay where the port is located was known by the indigenous Nama people as Aukwatowa (‘Where the water took away the old man’). Its location was marked by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias on his voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. It was the last landfall he sighted before a wild storm blew his ship off course and out to sea for 30 days.
The land surrounding the bay remained virtually uninhabited until James Alexander’s discovery in 1852 of copper at Okiep, 160 km inland from the bay.
The Cape Colony administration immediately commenced a survey of the coastline to locate a suitable harbour from which to ship the copper ore. Aukwatowa Bay was surveyed in 1854, and selected for a future port based largely on its sheltered aspect from offshore winds.
