Cedar Escape - Rivercamp.

We had been getting withdrawal symptoms having not camped since the end of November as we tend to avoid school holidays. With the schools going back to start their new year, I started looking around for somewhere new to go to. This summer the wind in Cape Town has been almost non stop so this also ruled out our usual favourites like Leentjiesklip and Ganzekraal. I have found in the past, that strong South Easters in Cape Town also often bring rain to the Breede River Valley area as well. I then decided to give Rivercamp, one of the campsites administered by Cedar Escape, a try and booked for 4 nights.

On the Monday morning we set off with our packed Skipper, along with a couple of friends with their tent trailer. The weather forecast for the week was good with high temperatures forecast for the Wednesday. A nice change from Cape Town's continuous wind.

After turning right at the 4 way stop in Citrusdal we found the entrance to the campsite exactly 16.9km as per my gps along the road.

After entering the farm, a very friendly and willing farm worker took us along a dusty but good farm road to the campsite. It was also well signposted.

I had seen some photo's of the campsite on their website and was very pleasantly suprised with what I found when we got there. The website photo's do not do it justice. The campsite is huge. Lush green grass and plenty of shade. There are actually two sites but they are not demarcated. Anyway we had the place to ourselves most of the time, other than 2 very pleasant German tourists doing a quick one night stay over on their travels. The ablutions are in a stone building. There are 2 bathrooms with a huge shower, wash basin and toilet, There are also plenty of hooks and a bench for changing. There is also a nice kitchen area with electrical plugs and a double sink and plenty of hot water . There could be better ventilation, however they are going to attend to this.   

    
The campsite is on the banks of the Oliphants river and is quite far upstream, so the quality of the water in the river is very good. The water temperature was a pleasant 22 degrees, so very nice for swimming, which we did plenty of as on Wednesday is was 42 degrees outside.

There are 2 braai area's with a fire pit and an electrical plug point and a light at each. I presume this more or less differentiates the two campsites.

Here are a few photo's. Some taken from the air with my drone to give a different perspective.

Looking South from the campsite

Looking East towards the Cedarberg

Sunset on the Cedarberg

Another sunset shot.

This is now among my top 5 campsites in the Western Cape and we will definitely be back.

Here is a video I shot with my drone of the campsite from different angles.For better quality viewing, click on the YouTube logo on the bottom right and once opened in Youtube, click on the settings button next to the logo, also on the bottom right, and then on "Quality" and select at least 720p or 1080p.

 

Welgegun - Rawsonville.

I have not done any updates to this blog for a long time as I have been involved in a few other projects. However we have still been camping as often as possible, although mostly to the places we have visited before. However about a year ago we went to this hiddem gem, only an hour's drive from Cape Town.

After a bit of research on Facebook, I found a few mentions about Welgegun. It is another of those very special campsites that when you book it, the whole campsite is yours and there will not be any other people there. Now obviously over weekends there is a minimum charge and I think it is around R90.00 per person per night with a minimum charge of R1000.00. Therefore you do need a group of 11+ in order to not have to pay a premium over the R90.00pp charge. However during the week they are happy to waive the minimum charge and you just pay the R90.00 pppn. I could be wrong about the charges as their facebook page states R80.00 pp but this could be outdated.

Welegegun is situated on the Breede river near Rawsonville, Western Cape. It is just off the R101 which is also known as the Old N1. The entrance to the campsite is a bit obscure as there is just a farm gate with no signage whatsoever. However it is quite easy to find. As you go from Rawsonville towards Worcester, about 200 meters before you cross over the bridge over the Breede river, there is a lone Palm Tree on the right hand side of the road and the gate is next to this tree. After entering the gate you turn immeadiately left and follow the road running right next to the R101 with small signs to the campsite. The entrance is quite easy to see on the street view on Google Maps.

The campsite itself is lovely. It has two sections with a communal Braai Lapa in the middle. Nice green grass on the River bank. There is good fishing in the river and although we did not do any fishing, I saw lots of nice photo's of good catches made there when I was doing my research. The are a couple of canoe's that one can use as well. We took our SUP's and you could paddle for about 1km plus downstream quite easily. There is not much shade other than next to the ablutions and at the Braai area. The ablutions are good with 2 separate bathrooms with a shower, basin and toilet inside the block.

The only slight negative is that the campsite is quite near the R101 where it crosses the Breede River and you therefore do get a bit of traffic noise.

Their contact no is 082 871 8745 for bookings. Here is a link to their facebook page. 
Facebook Page. 
Here are a few photo's