24 Caravan& OutdoorLifeMagazine July^2019
M
y journey started in Port
Elizabeth, where I picked
up a brand new Isuzu
D-Max 3-litre turbo diesel.
This workhorse will be doing a few
months’ duty at Caravan & Outdoor Life,
as it’s our new long-term vehicle.
After getting behind the wheel of
the new ride, I headed literally round
the corner to Eastern Cape Caravans
in Walmer to pick up my home for the
trip. The kindness of the owners of
Eastern Cape Caravans, the Grobler
family, was awesome.
Eben Grobler hadn’t hesitated when
he got the call from our office that we
were coming to his neck of the woods:
“Of course I have a caravan for you! In
fact, Richard can use my own personal
Jurgens Fleetline for the trip.”
That generous offer only increased
when I met Eben, his wife Benita and
their daughter Chantelle at their neat
Campworld and Safari Centre 4x4
complex in Walmer.
They’d informed us about impending
freezing weather expected at Addo, so
I’d somehow managed to cram a warm
sleepingbagintomysuitcase.Notthe
mostcomfortable,asit wasa mummy
bag.Atleastit waswarm.
ButEbentoldme:“Don’tworry!The
doublebedis alreadymadeupwitha
downduvet.Andtherearetwoextra
singleduvetsjustincaseyougetcold!”AddorEstCAMp
I took the more scenic route to Addo via
Despatch and Uitenhage. The first thing
that strikes you is the immensely dense
forest scrub found in this area.
No wonder 18th century travellers
described it as a “hunters hell” and
“impenetrable thorny thicket”.
Setting up camp in the National Park
at the Addo Rest Camp, I discovered
the Grobler family had packed me a
goodie bag filled with snacks, chips,
delicious rusks, Jacobs coffee and long
life milk. But best of all they packed a
whole load of ground coffee in sachets.
It was quite ingenious. Tear of the top
of the sachet, fold out the cardboard
wings that hold the open coffee bag in
place in your cup, and voila you have a
perfect cuppa.Addo has a campsite that will draw
visitors back time and time again. Neat
and mostly shaded there are 21 caravan
sites and 12 dedicated sites for tents.
The caravan sites have a neat gravel
floor, and each site has a power point
(blue plug type), a good braai with an
adjustable grill, and monkey-proof bins.
The monkeys can be a serious
nuisance so don’t leave food outside
or you caravan or tent open. Two
caravanners close to me had their
mosquito mesh ripped open. So make
sure you zip up your canvas vents and
mosquito netting before going out.
Easily accessible to all the caravan
and camping sites is a well-equipped
kitchen with five 2-burner stove tops,
a big double stainless steel island sink
and a chest deep freeze only for meat.
At the main reception area is a
well-stocked shop selling all the basics
for camping. They also have a good
stock of meat, cold meats, fresh bread,
packaged take-away sandwiches, etc.
The also sell beer and wine. The shop
also has a large amount of clothing,
gifts of all sorts and even binoculars.