Although Diego Cao (1450-1486) landed at Cape Cross on the Namibian coast in 1484, three hundred years passed before Europeans journeyed into Great Namaland and Damara land, as Namibia was then called, and then they did so from Namaqualand in the northern Cape.

Cape Cross is not only home to the largest Cape fur seal colony along the Namibian coast, but is also of historic interest. It marks the spot where the first European, the Portuguese navigator Diego Cão, set foot on the coast of south-western Africa in 1486.

The Cape Cross Seal Reserve can be visited every day. The reserve is well known because it is a site of the largest breeding colony of Cape fur seals on the Southern African coast. At the peak of the breeding season in November and December as many as 200 000 seals can be seen there.

It is at Cape Cross that the Portuguese explorer and navigator, Diego Cao, planted his first stone cross in 1486, over 500 years ago. While the original padrao is currently in Portugal, a replica can be seen at Cape Cross.

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