November 2024

I think we can say without a doubt that the start of the official camping season has kicked off in South Africa – and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Our choice of camp site in this post should come as no surprise to most of you. Yellow Sands (also known as ‘Camping Paradise’) is only 25km/15 miles from East London and we camped twice here earlier this year – in March (read here) and April (read here).

The reason for our visit now was twofold:

  • Of course, we couldn’t wait to pitch our tent again, and
  • Yellow Sands will be our home for 3 weeks during our December holiday. Having already booked our camp site in May this year (yes, that’s how popular Yellow Sands is), we wanted to check on our booked camp site before our holiday started.

Our beloved tent pitched at Yellow Sands

During December, our camp site will look very different from the photo above. Berto bought a plane ticket for my mum to join us here on the southeastern coast of South Africa for our holiday so that we can celebrate Christmas and New Year together.

Besides our own tent, there will be an extra tent for my mum to sleep in. We will also have a diner tent where we can prepare and enjoy our meals (in case of the famous summer thunderstorms).

*In December, we will show you how one can camp comfortably for three weeks – hopefully without missing all the luxuries back home. (See the links at the end of this post).

It may not be a hotel bed, but when we camp, there is always a special treat

Our camp site is close to the ablution facilities. This has its pros and cons (depending on how you look at it). However, I would say that this is a big plus – especially if you have to get up in the middle of the night. And the shower may not be everyone’s idea of ​​fun either, but when it’s hot (and it will be in December), this shower is a winner.

The toilets on the left and the unique shower on the right

In today’s post, we’re going to take you for a quick tour of the camp grounds again … just to remind you why we can’t wait to come and unwind here.

Our first night’s sunset was beautiful (as it usually is here at Yellow Sands) and we couldn’t wait to start our campfire.

Sunset over the Kwelera River

View over the river towards the ocean

Berto prepared Chicken Souvlaki on the fire with homemade tzatziki sauce (our Dish of the Week #53). After we finished eating, we sat outside by the fire for a long time and listened to all the different night sounds (which we don’t usually hear when we’re at home), before heading into our tent for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Gotto love this – camp fire & camp food

As usual when we camp, we were up early. Now that we are at the beginning of our summer, the sun rises early again and just after 5:30am we watched the sunrise over the Indian Ocean.

Sunrise at Yellow Sands

We love the calmness of early mornings here at Yellow Sands and it’s always a wonderful time to watch the rising sun cast orange and brown colours over nature.

Early morning colours over the river and our camp site

Road to the river

I took out rusks from our camping box to enjoy with coffee and tea, while Berto made ‘mieliepap’ (maize meal porridge) for breakfast on our camp gas stove – can you think of a better start to any morning?

Rusks and early morning coffee & tea

Mieliepap – my favourite breakfast porridge

As we usually do, we went for a walk after breakfast. It was low tide and we could therefore follow the narrow footpath along the river to the beach at the sea.

With low tide, we can walk on this footpath

Our favourite tree stump in the river

Kwelera River

Low tide reveals a wonderful beach

We really like the beach at Yellow Sands. There are always different activities here, especially early in the morning – parents playing with their young kids in the water or on the beach, the launching of all kinds of boats and kayaks, surfers in the waves and fishermen on the rocks. It’s great to watch these and the pictures are never the same.

Beach at Yellow Sands

A dad with his boys in the shallow waves

Family time on the beach

Boats and kayaks

Surfer and fisherman

And me, enjoying the beach

When we eventually walk back to our camp site, we pass by our favourite tree stump again (and always take another photo of nature’s work of art).

Pretty tree stump

Back at our camp site we noticed a whole lot of weavers’ nests on the other side of the river among the reeds. The opposite bank of the river has high cliffs and at low tide there are always small beaches visible.

Weavers’ nests

The opposite bank of the Kwelera River

At around midday, the temperature had risen quite a bit and we decided to visit Yellow Sands café for ice cream. We saw construction work at the pool and understood they are building a coffee restaurant and pool bar. It sounds like they will be done in early December … hmm, in time for our holiday!

Swimming pool at Yellow Sands

Construction work – can’t wait to see the finished product

Summer time = Ice cream time

Much later in the afternoon we went for a walk along the river again. It was now becoming high tide and it’s interesting to see how the appearance of the river changes with the tides.

Another footpath to the river

Birds at the river

Barge on the river

Road to the river and riverside camp sites

For the last time this weekend we went to cool our feet in the river before preparing dinner. (Lamb Tagine was our Dish of the Week #54).

The cool water of the Kwelera River

Lamb Tagine

As we watched the river rise again with high tide, we began to dream of our December holiday – we seriously can’t wait!

Yellow Sands, we’ll see you in a few weeks

* You can read about our December camp holiday at Yellow Sands, when you click here and here.