The welcome sight of a campsite rainbow

At the end of each thunderstorm in the Drakensberg there is a rainbow.  Something campers look forward to when the first drops come down.

Swimming at Cascades - Royal Natal National Park

When you arrive at Mahai campsite in the Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg, one of the first things you notice is that there is no swimming pool.  "What! No swimming pool? How is one supposed to cool down on those hot barmy summers days while camping?" you ask.  Mahai doesn't have a swimming pool for a purpose.  The campsite sits on the banks of the Mahai River and 15 minutes upstream along the Queen's Causeway is where you head to the Cascades if you want to cool down.  The Cascades is a series of cascading waterfalls and shallow areas offering bathers a safe spot to enjoy the crisp clean mountain water that flows out of the Berg.  You may not be able to dive into deep pools or swim lengths but I didn't hear one person complain during the ten days we were there.  How often do us city folk get to swim in a mountain stream? 

The little bridge at the end of the Queen's Causeway.  The Queen's Causeway was built to allow the Royal family to comfortably walk up along the Mahai River during their visit in 1947.  The visit is also the reason why the park is allowed to be called the Royal Natal National Park.

The last stretch to the Cascades 

Campers and day visitors enjoying the Cascades

Yours truly playing ball with Miggie in the bottom pool

The Cascading waterfalls above the swimming area

Miggie having a waterfall shower

Chaos Boy warming up after a swim in the fresh mountain water

Miggie enjoying the view of the Cascades looking downstream 

Campsite Cricket

Having a budding young cricket player on our hands, it wasn't difficult finding Miggie around the campsite at Mahai in the Drakensberg during December when we were looking for her.  Just find the nearest cricket game and she will be there.  Preferably one with adults playing as "they bowl better", to quote her.

Mahai Campsite - heaven in the Drakensberg

Nestled in a beautiful valley in the Royal Natal National Park of the Northern Drakensberg is a campsite that regularly makes lists of top campsites in South Africa. Six years ago we discovered Mahai Campsite for the first time and spend an unfortunate holiday there during major floods that hit the area that summer.  Even with all that it still counts as one of our favorite holidays and when we left that year we vowed to be back some time.  After making a few other summer holiday turns over the last few years we decided to head back to the Berg this past December and topped our previous visit by a country mile.    

Mahai lies along the Mahai River in the shadow of the Dooley Mountain with the world famous Amphitheatre looking on over its shoulder.  What does this mean? The campsite is IN the mountains.  It's definitely not one of those campsites that sell itself as a Drakensberg campsite yet the mountains are only visible on the horizon.  Here the sun disappears behind the mountain in the late afternoon, summer thunderstorms roll straight off the mountains and the mountain streams and hiking trails run right through your backyard.  It truly is a mountain campsite. In the mountains.  With mountains all around.

Mahai has about 120 campsites equally split between electric and non electric sites with more than enough ablution facilities, washing up areas and space.  Lots and lots of space.  It's definitely not one of those campsites where you are squashed in like sardines in summer like you often see along the coast.  The campsites are huge and the space between even bigger.  Facilities are well looked after, ablutions kept clean and security is tight keeping day visitors to the park as well as passing baboon troops out. 

If you want to know anything while at Mahai you just ask Lucky.  Lucky is supposed to be the day security guy but he literally is Mr Mahai.  In addition to being day security he makes sure everything in the camp runs smoothly, he points out empty spots to arriving campers, is always available to give you a helping hand and chases off any baboons coming too close.  Lucky is always smiling and returning campers come over to greet him with a hearty handshake and a "How are you Lucky? Great to see you again."  Lucky is also teaching himself to be a birder and always have his binocs and bird book handy.  Most importantly, the kids just love him.  Probably because he's always friendly.

One of the best parts of Mahai is the fact that I can just sit in front of my tent and watch the mountains, listen to the nearby stream and just chill.  Relax heaven and one huge adapter to plug one's soul into for a major recharge.  Also because it's a back to nature campsite people really respect the environment so nobody spoils the atmosphere with load music and parties.  It's about listening to the wind in the trees, the stream flowing over the rocks and the Piet-my-Vrou calling rather than your neighbour's doef doef music.  Absolute heaven. 

Mahai is like a free range reserve for kids.  The whole campsite is enclosed with only two gates so you know the kids won't go very far.  They tend to disappear in the mornings and only reappear when they get hungry or thirsty.  If there was a cricket game somewhere we knew exactly where to find Miggie while Chaos Boy kept on searching out a quiet spot somewhere to read a book or let his imagination run wild with him without being disturbed.  The kids were like herds of animals the way they grouped up and kept on moving from one place to another. 

The campsite may not have a swimming pool but there is no shortage of spots to go for a swim.  The main swimming area is about 700 meters up the Mahai River from the campsite at the Cascades, a safe swimming spot where the river cascades over a series of little waterfalls and through shallow pools.  If you're looking for something a little quieter then there are more than enough options along the path upstream.  A couple of times the herd of kids (under the watchful eye of one or two parents) would just go for a swim in the river right outside the campsite.  You may not be able to dive in and swim laps in the river, but what is better than being able to swim in a fresh clean mountain stream like this?  Definitely not something us city folk get to do very often.

The biggest advantage of staying at Mahai is the fact that you don't have to get in the car to drive somewhere to be able to go for a walk in the mountain.  The trails all start right outside the gate and vary in length and difficulty.  We did a couple of easy 6 km morning trails during our stay while I headed off on a longer 13 km walk the one day to find some Geocaches.  Did I mention there are about 50 Geocaches in the park? No? Well now I did.  As we opted to just do nothing on a couple of days we didn't get to do all the trails in the area and some of the longer and more challenging ones we left for a future visit.     

The trails don't just offer beautiful mountain and valley views.  Most of them cross various streams along the way and end up at a waterfall at some stage or another.  Lot's of opportunities to fill water bottles, cool down feet and bodies or just sit and watch the water flow by.  

Deciding to return to the Drakensberg this summer was the best decision we could make and you can't go wrong by choosing Mahai as your Drakensberg campsite of choice.  It's may not be a "resort type" campsite with holiday programs and organised activities to keep everybody busy, or have a pool with slides and a putt putt course next to it.  But who needs all of that when you have the mountains all around you to admire, lots of space to set your head straight in again, hiking trails to get out on, streams to cool off in, waterfalls and the chance to really immerse yourself in nature?  

Everything has a bit of a downside though and it can't always be moonshine and roses, so I don't want to pretend that Mahai is any different.  The first of the two biggest ones for us was the fact that the nearest town is a good 50km away and unless you carry absolutely everything with you and have a proper fridge along you will have to make the trip at least once, especially seeing that the little shop in the park has a very limited variety of things.  The other is the fact that you are in the mountains in a summer rainfall area and its nothing strange to have a thunderstorm suddenly appearing over the mountain mid or late afternoon that comes to mess around with your braai fire.  Just make sure your tent is properly waterproof and there there is enough firelighters around to get the fire going again and Bob's your uncle.  We did have one spectacular midnight thunderstorm with Miggie not being very impressed with the thunder and lightning, but seeing that we're not used to thunderstorms I really enjoyed listening (and watching) to it pass over.  Ok, so these are minor downsides compared to all the advantages of camping at Mahai but I just wanted to mention them. 

If Mahai and the Drakensberg wasn't so far from Port Elizabeth we would probably head out that way a lot more often than once every few years.  At about 1 100 km the trek is just a bit on the long side.  Next time we'll probably try and visit in winter to see what these mountains look like covered in snow but regardless of when, we will definitely be back.

Disclosure: This camping holiday at Mahai in the Drakensberg was our annual summer holiday and was done at our own cost 

Camping in the Drakensberg

The general holiday question is always, BEACH or BUSH?  I will probably choose bush over beach 7 out of 10 times but that's because I live on the coast.  It's also because I love getting away to a forest, the bush, a game reserve or the wide open spaces of the Karoo.  Although I feel you can group all these things into the BUSH category, something is definitely missing from that question though.  MOUNTAINS, definitely mountains.  The question should be BEACH, BUSH or MOUNTAINS.  This past December holiday we chose mountains and went camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park in the Northern Drakensberg.  The year has started out a wee bit busy so my posts featuring Mahai and the Drakensberg has been a bit on the slow side to flow out the keyboard, but watch this space...

Camping at Vloedbos in the Overberg - a winning option all around

Every year we go on a camping over the summer school holiday.  We're not the "return to the same place year after year" type of campers as we want to explore and discover new places.  As we live in Port Elizabeth and by the sea, we're also not bothered by coastal holidays which tends to be windy in summer and effects us badly as we camp in tents.  After a lot of searching and researching, we settled on Vloedbos in the Overberg as our destination for December 2015.  And there, just off the cross roads between Riviersonderend, Caledon, Hermanus and Napier, we discovered a true camping oasis between all the brown summer fields of the Overberg.

Vloedbos, with its 46 caravan and camping sites (all on lush green grass) and a number of self catering accommodation options, belongs to the Du Toit family and is truly a family run resort aimed at families.  We were made to feel very welcome from day one and I barely started pitching the tents when the KidZ disappeared to go and explore everything Vloedbos had to offer.  While the KidZ checked out the activities, the Damselfly headed over to the ablution facilities as that is generally her first "tongtippietoets" to see if she's going to be happy at a campsite.  She actually came back to interrupt my solo pitching effort and made me go and check out the excellent bathroom facilities before I could get back to setting up camp.

One of my most important tests of any campsite, especially if it is some distance from the nearest shop - like this one is - is the resort's shop.  The Vloedbos Tuck Shop did not disappoint.  It was well stocked with just about everything one needs with the only thing we suddenly needed and couldn't find there being cinnamon for pancakes.  Demichelle offered to get it for us by the next day which was excellent, although we decided to make a quick trip to Napier (and sommer do a couple of Geocaches while we were there).  The other very notable thing about the shop is that the prices isn't a ripoff like I have so often seen in campsite shops.  I wonder how much we spent on ice creams while we were there for our 10 days?

The biiiiiiig attraction for young - and old - is the super tube and speed slide. The slide is open daily from 10 am to 12 pm, 2 pm to 4 pm and a final hour between 5 pm and 6.  They use a siren to announce the super tube opening and you can be sure that every time that siren went off it was a case of towels being grabbed (and sometimes forgotten) and kids scattering and racing to make the most of their time on the tube.  I have to be honest here though and say that perhaps my biggest complaint during our stay was the cost of the super tube.  At R5 per ride or R100 per day it does work out a very expensive exercise to have two KidZ and one dad who wanted to ride every day.  I tried to explain to the KidZ though that they had to keep in mind that most of the other campers came from Cape Town and only had to drive 2 hours to get there while we had an eight hour drive each way which costs a lot more in petrol. This meant that they had more money available for their kids to ride more often.  At least my KidZ understand things like that and I am proud of them for doing so.

We made a deal with the KidZ that they could each get a full day ticket and that we would buy them a couple of loose riding bands for the other days.  They also used some of their own money to fill in some blanks.  This meant that there were on the super tube every day.  Some days more than others.  I had my full day as well and believe me, I got my money's worth.  I did realise though that I'm not 25 anymore and my body really knew I was on there for most of the day.  In actual fact, I out-rode most of the children that day.

The speed slide isn't for everybody although I really enjoyed it.  I think the strangest thing of our whole stay was the fact that the Damselfly preferred the speed slide over the super tube.  Yes, that's her in the top three pictures and bottom left.  The best of all was her first ride.  She got to the top and stopped, allowing a few kids to pass her while she gathered her courage.  I heard a comment from a boy standing next to me that this aunty is going to scream when she goes down.  Well, he was slightly disappointed as she didn't utter a peep.  Even I was surprised at that.

Vloedbos' brand new 13 hole mini golf course also saw a lot of action from us while we were there.  We used to play putt putt a lot more when we were young than what today's children get to so the KidZ made sure they utilised the course every opportunity they got.  Pssst, let me tell you a little secret.  Hire your clubs and balls during the last one hour before the shop closes and they allow you to keep it till they open at ten the next day.  You can play all evening under the floodlights and perhaps have a quick round the next morning as well. You can thank me later.

A big highlight for the littlies every day is Carlo and the quad train.  Ten bucks and the train takes them on snaking route through the whole campsite with bicycles and runners following behind.

One afternoon the campers two tents down from us ambushed the train with water guns.  After the ambush the train stayed away for a long time before suddenly appearing again.  I immediately spotted that something was up.  The kids all had big smiles and at closer inspection noticed hidden water guns and water balloons.  They were ready for a second possible ambush.  I ran to grab the camera as I knew the ambush was indeed on again. There were lots of screams and laughs from both sides as the first water balloons started flying.  Now this is the kind of campsite fun non-campers will never get.

The holiday program, although very limited, was a lot of fun for the kids as well.  We unfortunately only stayed till just after Christmas so ended up missing out on a lot of the activities they offered.   

If Drama Princess was a member of the Spice Girls she would have been Sporty Spice.  And that showed at the holiday program.  She was in with a shot in each item she participated in, nearly out throw and catching the boys in the water balloon challenge.  Even Chaos Boy participated in the activities for a change.  During our stay he didn't really make a bunch of friends like Drama Princess did, but he was never bored.

As for the Damselfly and myself, we just used the holiday to chill.  I promised myself that I would try not to thing of work during my holiday for a change and I didn't.  I binge read under my gazebo, went for walks, swam when I wanted, visited with other campers, played with the KidZ and just did nothing. In fact, I grabbed a second book just before we left home in case I finished my first one.  I was done with both in five days. 'Nuff said.  We also spent a day exploring the Overberg coast between Gansbaai and Agulhas, something we really needed more time for.  But relaxing was the first priority.

My impressions of Vloedbos?  Well, if you haven't been able to gather that we were suitably impressed from everything above, here it is again.  It is a great campsite.  Beautiful grassy sites even if there isn't that much shade yet.  Excellent facilities.  Well looked after with hands on management. Strict rules about noise.  Very child friendly with lots to do for the whole family.  Would perhaps liked the wifi to have worked better. Yes, I wanted to see what the world was up to on social media.  Vloedbos is the ideal campsite for a weekend camping getaway from Cape Town and perfect for a longer holiday.  It really is a shame that we are so far otherwise we would have visited more often.  Although most of the visitors were from the Western Cape, I'm sure they will get more and more popular with visitors from further off as word about them gets out more.  Will we be back?  I sure would like to return some time, but for December 2016 the Drakensburg is a calling.

Camping at Sitrusoewer

We are so fortunate that there are so many excellent camp sites all over South Africa where one can go and pitch a tent (or park your caravan) for a couple of days.  Not just are there many in numbers but also many destinations.  On the coast, in the mountains, in game reserves, along rivers, in small towns, next to dams and in desert areas just to name a few.  Our last camping trip was at Sitrusoewer just outside Kirkwood in the Sundays River Valley.  The campsite is situated on the banks of the Sundays River with campers fishing, swimming and canoeing all day long.

Camping and canoeing at sunset

You know your kids are enjoying a camping trip and perfect weather when they're still out on the water after sunset.  The picture is from a recent camping trip to Sitrusoewer on the banks of the Sundays River outside Kirkwood. 

Campsite after dark

Everybody likes to stay in hotels and guesthouses if they could and I'm no different, but when we go away on family holidays we like to camp.  It brings us closer to nature and gives the kids a lot more freedom to roam.  I love sitting in my camp chair by the fire with chops sizzling over the coals, a drink in my hand and chatting with my neighbour. Once its gets quiet you hear the night sounds all around and it feels like you've been transported to a whole different world.  Its not a world where everybody feels comfortable, sleeping on blow-up mattresses in a tent, but its a world I love to experience a couple of times a year. 

Chapmans Peak Caravan Farm

We really enjoy camping and usually try to camp at two different places for our summer camping holiday.  Last year (2011) we planned to start out in Montagu and then head down to Cape Town for the second part.  It was a bit of a struggle to find a family friendly, sheltered and nicely situated caravan park, but finally decided on Chapmans Peak Caravan Farm in Noordhoek and we weren't disappointed.  Not just was it a fantastic caravan park but also very well situated to explore the Peninsula and close enough to go into the city for the day. 

Chapmans Peak Caravan Farm has 46 caravan and camp sites very nicely spaced on the 2 hectare property.  The sites are big enough for a large caravan and us with our 3 tents had more than enough space to play with.  My biggest worry before the holiday was the notorious Cape winds, but as soon as I we pulled into the caravan park my fears were snuffed out.  There were more than enough trees as well as grass hedges to stop any wind from reaching our tents and during the ten days that we were there the wind didn't bother us once.

Chapmans Peak Caravan Farm isn't called a farm for nothing as they have a whole host of farm animals roaming the park.  We had daily visits from the geese as well as the ducks while the kids all tagged along with owner Chris every evening when he went to feed the horses, cows and pigs.  The geese and ducks were normally the first once to visit a site after people packed up as they probably find lots of bugs and goggatjies when the ground sheets are lifted up.

The elaborate play park is situated in the cow camp and as long as the kids watched where they stepped they could spend hours climbing, swinging and playing in the park.  We had to go looking for them a couple of times after dark as they just wouldn't return to camp on their own.

The adventurous Chaos Boy even tried out the foofy slide.  Next time we decide to go to Cape Town on a camping holiday again I will definitively stay at Chapmans Peak Caravan Farm again.

What did we like? 

Location, shelter from wind, lots of shade, activities to keep the kids busy

What didn't we like?

The noisy caravan club camping behind us and perhaps the ablutions could do with an extra sweep a day (not that I'm complaining about it)



Camp site Bushbuck

Camping at Mahai in the Drakenberg we noticed a couple of Bushbuck roaming through the campsite.  They weren't tame, but quite clearly used to and comfortable around the campers.  The honorary rangers told us that its a female with her young that often spend time around the campsite and when the young one was a baby she sometimes left here close to the ranger's building while going off on her own.  We spotted the male outside the camp area next to the road one day and apparently he doesn't venture in between the tents like the female does.

The one afternoon I was sitting on the grass with Drama Princess eating apples when the female slowly came closer.  Although she was very careful, she came right up to us and even ate apple from our hands.  At first Drama Princess was very nervous and unsure, but after seeing that there was no danger she actually fed the antelope as well.