November 21-22, Cape Vidal and the beginning of Eight Days of Camping

Eight days of Camping!
Wow just typing that is kind of crazy...guess we have become hard core.
So we really have been hoping to get some downtime at the beach. We know we have been tired from being on the go every couple of days so we had read that the beaches in the Greater St Lucia Park were phenomenal, so we thought we would go camping there and get some good snorkeling and swimming in. The beaches are nice, miles of white sand, bordered by scrubby brush – it is too far south for coconut trees. Our first stop for the night was Cape Vidal and it was nice...small camping area, and then you walk over a hill and you are on the beach. We did meet a great couple who befriended us, gave us a light as we were cooking in the darkness, fed us some of their food and told us much about their experience here in SA.


Some random South African Camping thoughts and observations:

South Africans do the camping thing big time – no rv's to speak of but elaborate tents, campers, canopies, some even put up tarp fences around their site. There was a three day fishing competition going on while we were there so every morning around five the men would get going with their boats to see what they could catch.

South African campsite facilities are usually great. Great bathrooms with hot/cold water and showers etc. Places to cook, electric outlets – you have to have somewhere to plug your campsite freezers into.

So we are camping in a wetland park – supposedly one of the world's great ecotourist destinations. The town of St. Lucia – also in the park has issues with hippos roaming the streets at night – some 3000 hippos and rhinos and probably just as many crocodile's are in the park. Now technically the camp site is electrically fenced off – although not the part facing the beach – so the fence is sort of shaped like a U – which means any kind of animal – hippo, rhino, (of which we saw many) big cat's etc could wander onto the beach and up into the camp site. Just something to think about! Fortunately or unfortunately however you look at it, the only thing we had to contend with were...

Monkeys! If you camp in the states, you often have to use bear barrels or lock food up in your car because of raccoons. Here Monkeys are the issue- and monkeys are kind of like raccoons except faster – in fact a monkey is a raccoon with spiderman swinging skills which make them a pest. They will navigate any campsite and find any food that is available – and they aren't really scared of people. You can't leave anything unattended and good luck if you are trying to cook with them right there.

Fortunately in Cape Vidal there were other campers around who could beat off the monkeys and generally kept us feeling safe sleeping in our tent – which is really called a bug hut – it's great and keeps the bugs out which is nice but it is basically a mosquito net on a tent frame – we can see out and everyone can see in! Once we got to Sodwana Bay our experience was a little different. I'll let Andrea pick up the story here...oh and I also forgot to mention I saw three different snakes in one day – all poisonous. One small one I even tried to catch in a cup to bring back and show Andrea. Yikes!

Duncan