Klipkrans

For a while I have been looking at going to Klipkrans on the Breede River just outside Worcester. Their website looked good as well as very positive comments on their facebook page and other pages on facebook dedicated to camping. I got a newsletter from the Trekkers Outdoor Recreation Club, laarger 8, to which we belong saying that they were booking a section of the campsite over a long weekend at the end of April. Now as I have mentioned before, I usually try to avoid camping over the weekends to avoid the crowds but the Trekkers are a really lovely bunch of people and at least you would have people you know all around you. In fact as it turned out, the campsite at Klipkrans is divided into 3 sections and we were allocated almost all of the one section with one other party on 3 of the sites, who also turned out to be great people.

We arrived quite early on the Friday, after phoning them to confirm that this was o.k. as after packing the trailer at home we were ready to go. We found the place easily enough as there are good directions on their website. After entering the access gate with the supplied code, we had to negotiate 3km of fairly rough and narrow gravel road to the campsite but took this slowly. There was a list posted on the entrance kiosk door indicating our allocated section and we moved on to a nice grassed site on the waters edge. After seeting up we relaxed under our gazebo as it was a lovely warm day and waited for the others to arrive.

Here is a view over the river from our site.

During the rest of the day several others arrived but most arrived after dark, towing some quite large caravans over the rough dirt access road. I had read a few comments on various facebook pages from people saying that they would not tow a large van along this road but this photo proves that it can be done.

Saturday dawned with stunning weather and we went for a long paddle on our SUP's. There is around a 2.5km long stretch of water on the river that is great for this. However in the afternoon a strong North Westerly came up and we battened down the hatches and sat it out. However it calmed down in the evening and we were treated to a lovely sunset.

Sunday dawned to another stunning day, warming up quite quickly after a farily cold night and we spent most of the day on the river on our SUP's with a few of the other Trekker members also having a go. There are also a couple of kayak's at the campsite available as well. A lot of other campers were also fishing in the river and we saw a couple of nice size carp coming out.

Another photo of the campsite and some sunset shots.

On Monday we awoke to yet another stunning day and this was a repeat of the previous day except that we had a braai at lunchtime. After lunch most of the others packed up and departed for home but we had opted to stay another night.

Tuesday morning dawned again with lovely weather and once our tent and gazebo had dried out from the early morning dew, we packed up and took a leisurely drive home.

This was one of the nicest campsites that we have been to and a repeat visit is definitely on the cards. The ablutions are very good with lots of hot water and there were another two toilets with hand basins situated at the section on which we were camping.

Skurwekop - Robertson

With a break of not camping due to the Easter long weekend and school holidays, which are times when we prefer not to camp as the local campsites get extremely crowded and noisy, I was looking for somewhere to go for a few days and decided to find somewhre new.

With a lot of research on the internet I finally decided on Skurwekop, near Robertson which is about 150 kilometers away from us. It is situated on a farm along a wide stretch of the Breede river and looked very well suited to Standup paddling with nice lawned sites. After checking the weather forecast, which looked good I booked to stay there for 4 nights from Monday to Friday.

We arrived there on the Monday with gorgeous warm weather. We had a great choice of sites as we were the only people there and chose a nice spacious site on the waters edge. We are getting pretty good with setting our trailer up and shortly after we arrived were relaxing with a cold beer. Setting up is thirsty work!

Skipper Navigator

That night we got the braai going in our mini weber braai with a nice salad from home and were priviliged to also have a lovely sunset.

The next morning we woke up to another lovely day, quite cloudy but fairly warm and calm. After breakfast we decided to explore the river a bit while we doing this and went for a nice long paddle. The wind came up a bit so we did not go too far downstream as it meant coming back against the breeze. The owner of the farm, Nico told us however that the river is just as wide and deep for another two ans a half kilometers downstream towards Robertson. Going upstream one can only go about 300 meters before reaching some rapids.

 One of the reasons why we chose to go to the Robertson area was also because of all the attractions in the area. We had a very nice lunch at the restaurant at Rooiberg Winery, just up the road from the campsite. Of course we did a winetasting while there and bought some wine as well. On another day we took a drive, stopping at Arabella wine estate to buy some wine and went on to check out another campsite the other side of Montagu, called Doringlaagte. We will definitely be going there sometime in the future as it is stuated on a large dam, also good for Standup paddling.   

I also took a few photo's of the campsite and ablutions for easy reference to see what to expect if you go there. The ablutions, by the way, are immaculate and very upmarket. On the first night we had the place to ourselves and on the second day, one other couple arrived and thoughtfully chose a spot a few sites away from us.

On our 2nd  last day we awoke to some light rain, which continued most of the day, so we just relaxed in our tent with our ereaders. The rain is just a part of camping. When we awoke on the Friday, it had stopped raining which made packing up much easier.

The campsite is extremely well run and very well maintained. An absolute gem. 

You can click on any of the photo's above to see a larger version.
 

Karoo National Park.

Again I have not updated this blog for a while. The reason being that we had not been anywhere new. Since the last update we have been to Leentjieskip, Langebaan once and back to Dwarsberg Trout Haven twice. We also do not camp while school holidays are on as it is just too crowded.

Anyway, we were invited to get together with friends from our motorcycling days to their annual rally which was held in Nieu Bethesda this year and because of the distance, we decided to make a camping trip of it and stay at the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West for a couple of days on the way up and then again at Ebb and Flow in the Wilderness on the way back.

Anyway, we arrived there around Noon on a Wednesday, after a 450km drive from home. Just about the maximum distance I like to do in one day when towing the Skipper. It was hot but after choosing a nice site, we set up camp in a short space of time. We are getting pretty good at it now and Colleen is pretty amazing in action.

Skipper Navigator

The campsite at the park is lovely and very well maintained, which is the norm for Sanparks. It is very popular with the 4x4 community as there are many 4x4 trails in the park. Many of the other campers had 4x4 vehicles with rooftop tents. The sites are a bit small but we did see one large caravan which managed to fit in.

The next morning we decided to go on an early morning game drive. The game viewing area's gate open at 6.00am and we were there just as it opened. We decided to do the 45km circular route in a clockwise direction, thinking that we would stand a better chance of seeing game in the flat open area's at the start of the drive than in the mountainous area's towards the end. It turned out just the opposite. The majority of the animals that we saw were in the mountainous last part of the drive. I had forgotten to pack my camera so all we had was Colleen's little point and shoot camera. However I was pleased with the quality of the images that it produced (with a little Photoshop Lightroom tweaking).

Towards the end of the drive we descended the Klipspringer Pass, an absolutely awesome drive and a lovely end to our adventure.

Klipspringer pass

The rest of the day was spent chilling out at the campsite. We also visited the swimming pool at the Bulkraal picnic area and also the main pool near the reception and self catering chalets. Both lovely.

Definitely worth a visit and highly recommended.

Dwarsberg Trout Haven

O.K. we had planned to go for a week to Plettenberg Bay and stay in the Keurbooms Lagoon Caravan Park for a week. This has pleasant memories for me and Colleen as we spent a week there camping in a tent when we first knew each other in the late 1970's. It is right on the waters edge at the Keurbooms Lagoon and part of the plan this time was to take our kayak's and do some fishing. (O.K. a LOT of fishing). But a few days before our departure, I checked the weather forecast out and things changed rapidly. There was torrential rain and possible flooding forecast. Even after the rain, fishing would not have been any good with the lagoon in flood after the rain, so we decided to put this off till a later date.

I then started to do a bit of research, mostly via google, to look for an alternative. I had seen Dwarsberg's site before and decided to give it a try. They have a totally different concept of a campsite to the norm. They have 9 sites and you book the whole site, each of which can accommodate 20 people. It does not matter if there are only 2 of you, the site is yours and yours alone. Each site has its own ablutions. Of course, this is pricey but I saw that they have adjusted their prices for weekday visitors to make it feasable if there only 2 of you. Anyway I booked for a couple of nights, mainly to try it out and see what it was like. Mirna, at reception gave us site No 6 and said it had plenty of shade and, as all the sites, right on the river.

We arrived there just before lunch time. The last 5km of the access road was gravel and the last 1km of this was quite exciting. Very narrow as it cut into the mountain and quite high up off the valley floor. It was however, in very good condition, having recently been scraped. We suddenly came across this oasis on the river with high mountains all around. Very much like being in the Cederberg, but only 100km from Cape Town. We set up our trailer right next to the river on a level piece of lush green grass with plenty of shade nearby.  Absolutley stunning location. Mirna mentioned that they are completely booked over weekends for the next 6 months.

It would be quite a mission to travel back to the nearest shop, so advisable to take everything you may need with you. I had seen on their website, a few nice pics of the river, so I threw in our inflatable standup paddleboards at the last minute. This was just in case the river was suitable for these. Anyway after setting up our tent, I immeadiatley inflated the boards as it was a paradise for this pastime. Right in front of where we were camping, there was a 500 meter stretch of crystal clear and calm water.

Many hours were spent paddling up and down. Absolute bliss and great exercise.

6.15am cruise

Early morning paddle

We had two friends come down and join us for our last night. We will be back again soon as this place is definitely on our list of favourite campsites.


A few more pics.

Click on any pic to see the larger version.

Ebb and Flow - Wilderness

I have not updated this blog for a few months now. The reason for that is not because we have not been doing any camping but simply that we have been re-visiting some of the places we have been to in previous blog posts.

However we recently attended a blues music festival weekend at the Far Hills hotel between George and the Wilderness and decided to haul our trailer with us and find a campsite in the area to stay on an extra few days to camp afterwards. On the Saturday we investigated a few camp sites in the area and chose to go to the Ebb and Flow campsite, which is part of the Wilderness National Park on Sunday when our festival was over. It is sitauted on the banks of the Touw River, which is one of the reasons that we chose it as we had taken our Standup Paddle Boards with us.

Skipper Tenttrailer

As far as campsites go, this was one of the nicest we have visited, A newly paved access road off the N2, friendly reception staff, nice level grassed sites with stainless steel braais with grids, most with some shade, new electrical points and very clean and upmarket ablutions. There are double canoes for hire. The braai's and dustbins are cleaned daily.

A few negatives are the sparse number of water taps and dustbins. As I said, the ablutions are great but the location of the main ablution block is definitely not. It is miles away from the main campsite, on the far side of the self catering "Forest Cabin" cottages. Thank heavens we have a Porta Potti for No 1 or otherwise with the amount of beer and wine I consume, it would have been equivalent to running a half marathon by the end of the day! There is another very small and cramped ablution block (2 showers and 2 toilets per side) at the far end of the campsite and I showered there on the first day. It was such a traumatic experience that I opted to do the Groot Trek to the main block after that.

A few more pics of the campsite.

As far as leisure activites go, there are several hiking trails, the most popular being the waterfall trail which can be hiked from the start just oustide the campsite or partly by canoe on the river. The latter option seems very popular. We had our SUP's and also paddled up the river as far as we could. If you take your own canoe, kayak, SUP etc it does need a permit but this is issued free of charge at either the reception or Rangers office.

There is no shop on site, but it is only 3km to Wilderness village where there is a very good Kwikspar for your daily needs. There are several excellent restaurants in the area. Try Joplins at Pirates Creek for steaks!

We will definitely return sometime, despite the trek to the showers and toilets.