Love Wild Africa: SA spots to suite your camping style

[The Ga[M]er.]

Cape Town - The best kind of camping is the simple kind. A wood fire surrounded by a couple of tents, a night sky full of stars and an immense silence.

In South Africa’s national parks and nature reserves, our diverse campsites have got spectacular views of mountains, oceans, bushveld and thick forests.

Then, hopefully there are a few wild animals to keep you company while you turn your wors on the grid. Our country is blessed with plenty of remarkable campsites that tick most or all of these boxes. After spending several years exploring the country’s national parks and nature reserves, here are some which you should visit at least once.

To get away from the crowd

Kokerboomkloof in the Richtersveld National Park - www.sanparks.org

Kokerboomkloof in the Richtersveld National Park is hidden away in a desert valley surrounded by granite boulders the size of intergalactic meteors. Several quiver trees stand on the desert plain nearby like extraterrestrial statues. This is the wildest campsite in the most remote national park in the country, so it’s got some of the best stargazing.

There are only showers and toilets at each of the 8 campsite but anything more would detract from the intense sense of wilderness. Because it’s set in a rocky valley away from the Orange River, it can get very hot in summer, so it’s best visited during winter.

Kwas se Baai in the Namaqua National Park - www.sanparks.org

On the Atlantic Ocean coastline further south is Kwas se Baai, one of ten seaside campsites spread across 35 kilometres of shoreline of Namaqua National Park. The chilly ocean – chilled by Antarctic waters of the Benguela Current - is usually wild and frothy, but on windless days, it’s as flat as a pannekoek. There is oodles of space across the strandveld…so you’ll see very few other people. A sandy track can only be negotiated with a serious 4x4.

The only facilities are longdrop toilets. No showers, no fresh water, so you’ll need to be fully self-sufficient. And if you need a bath, jump in the ocean for serious refreshment, and catch some a fish or two for the braai while you're at it.

Cape Vidal campsite in iSimangaliso Wetland Park can get very busy during holiday season but somehow it still seems peaceful. It’s ensconced in the thick forests on the sub-tropical shoreline of northern KwaZulu-Natal, and the crashing ocean is an omnipresent soundtrack. Out of holidays, it’s one of the best seaside spots in the country.

Situated within South Africa’s first World Heritage Site, you’ll share the forest and beaches with vervet monkey, chacma baboons, purple-crested turacos and the odd leatherback turtle which you may even encounter on the long beaches during the summer nesting season. And watch out for leopards which can be seen wandering the forest roads in the early mornings.

Algeria Campsite in the Cederberg alongside the Rondegat River is close to the main gravel road that winds up the Uitkyk Pass, so its easy to get to from Cape Town. Like Mahai, the views of the mountains above are reason enough to spend the weekend camping here.

Large trees provide ample shade during the searing summers, and the river is dammed with a small weir, providing a safe, shallow pool in which to swim.

While Nossob is fenced, the smaller Mazhou campsite in Mapungbwe National Park on the border of Botswana has only a few strands of flimsy electrified wire to stop an elephant bull from wandering past your tent.

There’s plenty of shade from the riverine trees. Keep an eye out for Pel’s Fishing owls in the high branches. Lions are less common than in Kruger, but they are still there, along with the spotted hyenas who will approach your braai begging for a piece of meat. Because there are only ten campsites, Mazhou has an authentic feel.