Easter Weekend – April 2022

When a long weekend approaches, it’s usually a cue for us to pack up our camping gear and go camping somewhere on the West Coast (and if it’s wild camping, that’s even better).

Some of our regular readers may remember that we went on a wild camping trip at Groenrivier on the West Coast in December 2020 (you can read about it here), and we couldn’t think of any better place than to go there again.

Groenrivier is approximately 490km (304 miles) north of Cape Town and located on the West Coast of South Africa. The two most popular routes to Groenrivier are:

  • You can either drive on the convenient N7 highway (tarred road to Garies and the nearest town to Groenrivier). And then you just follow the dirt road towards the sea for about 70km (43 miles) to reach Groenrivier.
  • Or you can travel along the coast (like we did). Some roads are tarred and others are dirt roads. In our opinion the scenery is much better on this road than the one on the highway – you can drive slow and see the ocean most of the time.
View from our camp site at Groenrivier

Paid camp sites:

Some camp sites at Groenrivier are free, while there are others where you have to pay a small fee. The camp sites you pay for either belong to the Namaqua National Park or to a private farm. Some may have ablution facilities, but otherwise it is quite rustic.

Free camp sites:

When you stand on the free camp sites, there are no facilities. You have to bring everything with you: Tent, food, water, wood, gas, loo and shower facilities. We chose a wild camp site for this weekend.

Our tent and shower tent
Our friends’ camping options – some came with their caravans

We were a group of 17 friends … well, one of them was a baby of only 4 months! I think it’s brave parents who go wild camping with their first baby – hats off to them!

Our camping village along the Atlantic Ocean
Wild camping is about boiling water over the fire
And with gas we were able to prepare some of the meals

The crayfish (lobster) season was open during Easter weekend. Every morning the men (and one very brave girl) put on their diving suits to catch crayfish in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This is then cooked right there at our camp site on the beach – it’s probably the best way to enjoy crayfish.

One must be in possession of a legal permit to catch crayfish (and then the quota is only 4 per permit holder). Luckily we were a big group and everyone was able to enjoy at least one or two crayfish. The leftover was used for salads and in a seafood paella.

The catch of the day
Berto with two of the crayfish he caught
We were lucky that there were poles on our site (for unknown reasons) and it became the line for wetsuits

On the free camp sites, pets are welcome to enjoy a camping weekend with their owners. There were four dogs at our campsite and they enjoyed running around on the beach.

Two of the four dogs – Mollie (left) and puppy Woester (right)

While enjoying a walk with the dogs on the beach, I had the opportunity to take some photos of this pristine coast. I suppose not much has changed here over the past few hundred years.

The rugged coast at Groenrivier – just a few meters from our camp site
A pretty star-like beach succulent

As always, the sunsets on the West Coast are picture perfect! And we were lucky that our camping weekend fell on a full moon cycle.

Sunset at Groenrivier
Full moon over our camp site

On the Saturday of our long weekend, Berto and I offered to drive to the nearest town, Garies. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is a 70km dirt road ride (140km round trip). We took some of the garbage bags with us to throw away in town – the rule here is: what you bring in, you must take out. We also bought more wood, fresh water, ice (and cold beers).

On the way we drove past the Groenrivier Lighthouse – it dates from the 1980s and is a rather derelict 17.2m concrete structure used as a navigational aid along the West Coast.

Groenrivier Lighthouse

By now most of you know that no camping post on our blog would be complete without posting some food photos. One must eat! There were quite a few skilled chefs in our group and almost everyone got an opportunity to prepare something during the weekend.

Brunch – a mixture of sausages, onions, tomatoes and leftover meat from the previous night’s braai
‘Potjie’ over the fire (lamb, green beans and pasta)
Fresh mussels and periwinkles from the ocean
Mussels, periwinkles and crayfish for the seafood paella
Seafood paella
Bread rolls on the fire
A proper camping fire

As I mentioned earlier, we enjoyed a full moon long weekend. It was with wonder that we could see the moon rising over the hills. This prompted the younger ones in our group to take “moon catching” photos.

Full moon makes its majestic appearance
Catching the moon
Full moon
Nature provides stunning scenes
Our camp fire burned late into the night

The morning we all had to leave again, we woke up early. As we enjoyed one last cup of coffee by the fire, we watched the world wake up. Beautiful cloud formations decorated the sky, while the moon hung low over the sea. It was time to say goodbye until next time.

Beautiful early morning clouds
Silhouette of our tent and car in the early morning light
A new morning dawns over the sea
The full moon hanging over the Atlantic Ocean early in the morning

We had a great time with our friends while wild camping. Being able to be in nature was good for us. Oh yeah, and as for our little 4 month old fellow camper … he was the sweetest baby – definitely a wild camper in the making!