The Indian Ocean and Africa at sea: the back story

About The Indian Ocean and Africa at sea: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the world’s cruise lines Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The coasts of southern and eastern Africa and the islands of the western Indian Ocean make one of the most varied voyages at sea. Ships sail from Cape Town and Durban up the Namibian coast, out to Mauritius and the Seychelles, and north to Zanzibar and Mombasa.

Where two oceans meet

Cape Town has always been a sailor’s city. Ships have rounded the Cape for more than five centuries, and today they tie up at the Cape Town Cruise Terminal, run by the V&A Waterfront, a few minutes’ walk from the shops, restaurants and the old grain silo that now houses Zeitz MOCAA. Table Mountain fills the view from the deck, and the mountain itself belongs to the Cape Floral Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the richest places for plants on earth.

Up the Atlantic to the desert

Head north and the coast turns to sand. At Walvis Bay, Namibia’s main seaport, ships berth at a dedicated passenger liner terminal that opened in 2019, and the lagoon, the seal colony at Pelican Point and the resort town of Swakopmund are all close at hand. Inland lies the Namib Sand Sea, the only coastal desert in the world with great dune fields shaped by fog, inscribed by UNESCO in 2013. Further south, at Lüderitz, the abandoned diamond town of Kolmanskop slowly fills with sand a few kilometres inland.

Few voyages change scenery so completely: from fynbos and fog-fed dunes to coral, granite and coco de mer.

Round the Cape to the islands

On the Indian Ocean side, Durban shares MSC’s South African season with Cape Town, and from there the voyages fan out into the islands. Port Louis in Mauritius has a cruise terminal building, opened in 2023, beside its jetty at La Saline, and within walking distance of the Caudan Waterfront lies the Aapravasi Ghat, the UNESCO-listed depot where the modern indentured labour diaspora began.

Granite and coco de mer

The Seychelles are the jewel of the route. Ships berth at Mahé Quay in Port Victoria, and small ships and yachts carry on to Praslin and La Digue. On Praslin, the Vallée de Mai protects a palm forest left almost as it was in prehistoric times, home to the coco de mer and its record-breaking seed; on La Digue, the granite boulders of Anse Source d’Argent are a photographer’s dream.

The Swahili coast

Further north the story turns to trade. The Stone Town of Zanzibar, a UNESCO site since 2000, is one of the finest Swahili trading towns on the East African coast, its houses built of coral stone and mangrove timber. In Mombasa, Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese between 1593 and 1596, stands a short drive from the cruise terminal at Berth 1, and off Madagascar’s north-west coast, Nosy Be smells of ylang-ylang and vanilla.

Our advice: pick your side of the continent first. The Atlantic coast, from Cape Town to Walvis Bay, is for wildlife, dunes and big skies; the Indian Ocean islands are for beaches, reefs and the Seychelles’ granite. A small ship reaches Praslin and La Digue more easily, and Aldabra only with the Seychelles Islands Foundation’s clearance.

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