We all have these photos … throwback photos!
It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.
Every Thursday we will throw a few photos of ‘way back when’ on our blog. Why on a Thursday? Because it’s just a day away from the weekend … and we love weekends!
You are welcome to join in or just enjoy the photos (#TB Thursday).
May/June 2016 – West Coast of South Africa
In today’s TB Thursday post, we continue our first road trip in our Suzuki Jimny.
We were woken early by the light breaking of waves. It was actually such a beautiful morning – no wind and sunny weather. With excitement we folded our tent up to continue our journey along the coastline of the West Coast.
Beautiful morning on the West Coast
Sometimes the road was sandy and other times it turned into a corrugated road
We stopped often to admire the sea
We soon reached the Groenrivier Lighthouse located at the mouth of the Groen River. This lighthouse dates from the 1980s, is 17.2m high and serves as a navigational aid along the West Coast. It is unfortunately not open to visitors and is fenced and locked.
Groenrivier Lighthouse
During this trip we stayed in two different national parks. On this day we entered the Namaqua National Park where we booked two nights.
Entering the Namaqua National Park
Facilities on the coastal section of this park is very rustic. There are about 10-12 camp sites, literally on the sea. At each campsite is a stone wall that provides shelter from the infamous West Coast southerly wind, as well as an environmental loo. If you want to camp here, you have to bring everything with you – enough fuel, water, food, wood, etc.
Our campsite with toilet
The view from our tent
We got to our campsite quite late in the afternoon because we stopped several times along the way to take photos. After setting up our tent, we took a short walk on the beach. Back at our campsite, we started to prepare dinner. For a change we didn’t put meat on the fire. But we still made a fire to prepare our bully beef pot (known to many of you as corned beef).
Bully beef ingredients
Berto cutting the potatoes for our dinner
While the food was cooking on the fire, we had the opportunity to watch another beautiful sunset. We began to enjoy our road trip more and more.
Dinner time
Another beautiful sunset
In next week’s TB Thursday post, we travel just a few kilometers north to our next campsite. But this time we saw more than just the wild ocean.
Wet and Dusty Roads 
The corrugated road sounds like a teeth shattering, spine splintering experience! I love the rustic campsite with the protective wall and stunning views; seems like the perfect place to rest and recharge. Lovely memories Corna!
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You are 100% right about that corrugated road Tricia. It’s a really weird road to drive – you can’t go too slow and you can’t go too fast … it’s terribly uncomfortable! But the beautiful campsite was a great reward 😉.
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Fabulous coastline!
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The coastline is so beautiful and pristine. I can get lost in that beauty 😉.
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🤗🩵
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That’s a wonderful spot to camp, Corna 🙂 I find that camping on the beach is an amazing and unforgettable experience, especially if the weather is good, the bugs are at bay, and you’ve taken the time to properly plan your trip. Thanks for sharing and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx
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There are so many great options for camping along the West Coast – I think it’s impossible not to find a good spot! I agree, bugs should definitely not be around while camping (I always make sure 😉). Thanks Aiva, hope you have a great day too.
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Question – can you wild camp in Africa? xx
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I suppose the short answer is yes 🙂. But then you have to be sure it’s safe (from wild animals and not in a high crime area) and make sure you’re not camping on someone else’s land/farm. Even if we wild camp here in South Africa, we will always make sure in advance that it is permissible and safe. If one does not know the area, it is better to camp in parks or in approved campsites.
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Lyk so lekker! Ek hou van die speserye en kosmakgoed so op die muur
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Ag, ek het skoon heimwee na die Weskus terwyl ons foto’s kies vir die post. Dankie Christa, ek neem soms die bestanddele af op ons kamp trips om te onthou wat ons bymekaar gegooi het (sodat ons dit weer by die huis kan maak) 🙂.
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Slim plan daardie!
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I love the opening image.
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Thank you Rupali 😀. The sunlight on the beach and sea was particularly beautiful that morning.
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How special to be all alone like that, just the two of you in total peace. Moments to remember forever. And a pretty sunset too. I’m enjoying your road trip.
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If I remember correctly we only saw one car on our trip down the West Coast – it was definitely a good time to hit the road! I’m glad you enjoy our road trip … we do too (for the second time 😉).
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The coastline is absolutely stunning Corna and worth the journey on the bumpy and uncomfortable corrugated roac
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This is, in my opinion, the most beautiful unspoiled coastline in South Africa. Yes, one soon forgets how uncomfortable that corrugated road was – we stopped a few times just to catch our breath, it was quite bad!
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What a great national park! Rustic is good, and what beautiful ocean views you had! Sounds like a wonderful trip.
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This is a beautiful national park indeed … I can’t wait to show you the next one too (it’s really unique … and rustig too 😉). It is definitely among our top 5 favourite road trips – there are so many great memories! Thanks for your lovely comments, have a great day 🌸.
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So good looking back at great trips, you have plenty of great memories. Great sunset shot by the way.
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It’s true, we have many fond memories of our travels, especially locally … and there’s still so much we haven’t seen yet! Thank you, we are such suckers for a sunset.
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What an epic campsite!
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I think this was our favourite wild camping spot along the sea on this trip! But, in my opinion, the best one comes when we enter the second national park … 😉
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The adventure continues! It looks so peaceful and quiet along the rugged coastline and the scenery is spectacular. I think we’re both in agreement about how food just tastes so much better when it’s cooked over the fire!
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As you can probably tell, it was such a fun adventure! This coastline is beautiful, unspoiled and ideal for wild camping. Yes, I know you also like to prepare food on the fire. I have to admit, sometimes it’s more about just sitting next to the fire than preparing food on it …but either way, I like both!
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Another beautiful trip through the West Coast and beautiful sunset and view from your tent. I like the yellow olive oil tin too (I just love tins). Thanks for sharing🤗
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I could probably write a book about our wonderful visits to the rugged West Coast! I also love old tins (and if you’re driving on corrugated dirt roads, it’s much better to transport olive oil in a tin than in a glass bottle 🙂).
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