December 2024

We are currently camping at Yellow Sands just outside East London for our December holiday. My mum joined us from Langebaan a few days ago and are camping with us.

As promised in a previous post (read here), we are going to show you what our camping setup looks like for a 3-week tent holiday. Because we love camping so much, we try to make it as comfortable as possible – without feeling like we’re at home with all the amenities and in touch with nature.

Yellow Sands welcomed us like old friends back and we were pleasantly surprised with a welcome gift they handed out to all families camping at their facility during the festive season. For Berto and my mum, who are both coffee lovers, the freshly grounded coffee and plunger were a very welcome gift.

Our welcoming gift from Yellow Sands

The day we set up camp was one of the hottest days yet this summer – pitching three tents in 37°C/98°F was quite a challenge.

Our green camp site will soon be converted into our home for the next three weeks

Most of you know that when Berto and I go camping for a weekend, we only take our Canvas Dome tent and sometimes a gazebo with us. With my mum camping with us, we had to re-evaluate our camp setup a bit. There were to be two Canvas Dome tents (one for us and one for mum).

Two Canvas Dome tents

When you camp for three weeks, you need to be able to sleep comfortably. Good camping stretchers and soft comforters and pillows certainly help to make a long camping holiday a good experience. And with Christmas just around the corner, it was nice to also create a Christmas feeling in our tents.

The inside of our tent – with a touch of Christmas

For my mum, a rechargeable mosquito repeller, night light, bottle of water, fluffy blanket and soft bath towel will ensure that she enjoys her camping experience (we hope – *wink).

The inside of my mum’s tent

And then there is the new addition to our camping gear that we are very excited about – a diner tent. In this area we can prepare food on the camping gas stove (when we are not doing it on the camp fire).

This is also a good shelter from the rain. Spoiler alert: We are now at our fourth consecutive day of camping in the rain …

The diner tent

Coffee, rusks and cereal station in the diner tent

On the other table, we have cutlery, glasses and coffee mugs

You can’t be without a fruit bowl

Our camp site is supplied with electricity which make it easy to keep food cold in our two camping fridges. We use our 70-liter National Luna camping fridge, which is divided between a fridge and a freezer. We also have a 20-liter National Luna carry and go fridge to keep vegetables cold.

Our two National Luna camp fridge/freezers

In the event that there is a power outage (which is not at all uncommon in South Africa), we have a battery pack which are connected to the camp fridges. If the power should go out, the fridges automatically switch over to the battery and continue to keep our food cold.

Battery pack – a lifesaver during power outages

And when one is camping during the Christmas season, there must be a Christmas tree, right? I even created my own version of mistletoe in our diner tent.

Our small camping Christmas tree

Yellow Sands camping mistletoe

We set up our camping gazebo in front of our diner tent. It’s a great place to wash dishes while outside, but you’re still in the shade.

Even when you’re camping, the dishes need to be done

On our first evening of our camping holiday, we had a beautiful sunset after a very hot day. The clouds were really lovely – in hindsight, it might have been a sign for the rain we would get for the next couple of days!

Sunset on our first day of camping

Our first camp fire of the holiday

The next morning, we were greeted by soft rain. We had to drive to the airport to pick up my mum who had flown in from Cape Town. When we got back to Yellow Sands, the rain stopped for a while and we were able to show her the beautiful beach.

View of the rain from our camp site

A stroll next to the river

This plant is submerged during high tide

Sand patterns during low tide along the river

Rainy weather doesn’t necessarily mean it’s cold

Berto and my mum

Berto bought us early Christmas presents which will come in very handy while we are camping. He couldn’t wait to test out his kayak in the Kwelere River. We hope to show you the views from our kayaks in future posts.

Christmas came early

This water baby is in his element

As I type this post, the first week of our holiday is almost over. Today is the first sunny day since my mum arrived here five days ago. Berto always says one should be prepared for all types of weather conditions when camping. And I’m happy to say we survived the first week of rain – and we’re still smiling and talking to each other.

Our camp at Yellow Sands

This is our last post for 2024. The WiFi is intermittent and so we are now going to take a blogging break until early in the new year.

Thank you very much to all of you for visiting new and exciting places with us this year. We wish you a Blessed Christmas and will see you again in 2025.

Merry Christmas

To read what we did while camping at Yellow Sands, click here.