Winter in Lang Elsie’s Kraal campsite is beautiful, with
aloes of various species in flower all over the place. The nearby Breede River
was flowing strongly, with good winter rains so far. The canola and wheat
fields surrounding this last remaining patch of Renosterveld were lurid green
and brilliant yellow. Despite a few passing showers, the weather was sunny and
pleasant. If well prepared with a warm hot water bottle that can easily be
filled at the camp’s Kwikhot water dispenser, winter camping is nothing to
fear: you’ll get a quiet campsite, and another highlight was we saw only two
mosquitos during our 3-night stay.
Bird life was abundant and the resident birds were
ridiculously tame. Flocks of weavers gathered in the acacias around the camp in
the morning to take a break from raiding aloes inflorescences. A pair of Cape
Robin Chats were frequently underfoot. European Starling’s did a great job of
imitating Barn Owls, but like the camp birds, you soon stop getting excited by
them. I put down a Klaas’s Cuckoo call to their imitations, not expecting one
to be around or calling in the middle of winter, until actually spotting this
glittering gem of a bird.
After our lengthy drive from Blue Hill Nature Reserve on the
other side of Uniondale, always longer than the Google Maps estimated drive
time with children of 8 and 5 in the back seat, we got an ideal camp spot, the
surrounding trees would provide a great wind break from the occasional driving
westerly winds. We packed our first full day to the max. After rains during the
night kept me up mostly out of concern for getting soaked in our canvas tent,
we woke up relatively late at 7:30. Good news is the tent is 99% water proof:
but that means 1 drop in a hundred did makes it way through, which turns out to
be a sufficiently annoying amount. Our day started with a walk around the Aloe
Trail, at Charlie’s request. Highlights for the children included the small
wooden bridge over the first gulley, the many flowering Oxalis, the story of
Lang Elsie on the board near the historic kraal site, and the walk along the
river-side forest trail through the tunnel of trees, one of which had a patch
of army worms resting on the trunk.
The mission of the day would be to get Charlie to Cape
Agulhas and the southern-most tip of Africa, about an hour and half drive
south. Since I had never been to De Mond Nature Reserve, we decided to pull in
there over lunch time to see the legendary flocks of terns. The river mouth is
quite a long walk from the car park (1.5 km or more), and I didn’t log any
terns while I was there, although Kelp Gulls harassing a Fish Eagle certainly
was a memorable event, as Greater Flamingos erupted in panic from the combat in
the sky.
The drive through the agricultural lands at this time of
year are an ornithological feast, filled with large and easy to spot birds like
Sacred Ibis, Spur-winged Goose, Helmeted Guineafowl and Blue Crane. By
comparison, Charlie and Eli were mostly disappointed with Cape Agulhas, mostly
my fault because I’d told them that beyond that was Antarctica, land of ice and
penguins. Charlie was not impressed by the lack of penguins, and our limited
time slot of 5 minutes to play on the stony beach. I have to say that the map
of Africa close to the iconic beacon is really amazing: well done to whoever
did that.
Then it was the jaunt back through Bredasdorp and back to
the campsite by 5pm: a full day out, with just enough daylight left to prepare
dinner and have a warm shower, before turning in early to catch up sleep lost
the previous night, under the watchful eye of the camp’s resident genet.
With so much still to do, we decided to book a 3rd
nights stay, giving us another full day in the area. We started that off with a
relaxing drive around the long loop, where the low renosterveld and fynbos
allows for very easy wildlife spotting. Bontebok had already been ticked off at
the campsite, but Red Hartebeest, Mountain Zebra, Reedbuck, Grey Rhebok
followed in quick succession with bonus points for a pair of Secretarybirds:
South Africa’s current bird of the year. Beautiful fields of Ericas
formed an amazing foreground against the dark slopes of the Langeberg Mountains
and Marloth Nature Reserve, and it was here we would spend our afternoon. As
the northern section of the pentad (bird atlassing area) includes the lower
slopes of these mountains, I was keen to head there to pick up Fynbos birds
missing from Bontebok NP.
With a gale force westerly wind having picked up over the
morning, we chose to do the relatively short but steep hike up to the
Duiwelsbos waterfall. The picnic spot at the base of this trail was an ideal
lunch stop, nestled among tall Protea aurea, with hyperactive Cape
Sugarbirds on their non-stop sugar rush providing visual and aural
entertainment. Setting off up the gulley, the Afromontane forest shielded us
beautifully from the wind. Arum Lilies sheltered along the banks of the stream.
Signing out after the walk we were almost blown away, and although expecting
our campsite to be a disaster zone, found the magic of Lang Elsie had protected
our tent while we were away.
Of course, a highlight of any camping trip are children of
the other campers. Charlie and Eli connected quickly with a trio from Belgium
for the remainder of the afternoon, having great fun with stick insects and
spiders along the river edge, a shared joy of nature overcoming the lack of a
shared language. After early braai boerewors rolls, we explored local sections
of the nearby trails by torchlight, finding a Fiery-necked Nightjar and
countless spiders, but sadly, no Caracal. Certainly, one of the reasons this is
a fantastic child friendly park is the lack of dangerous animals and easy to
access walking trails: long game drives with too much energy in the back seat
are never fun.
A third full day could easily have been filled with a trip
to De Hoop Nature Reserve, but alas, the school bell was warming up in
Uniondale getting ready to summon all for the next school term.
Details
We booked 2 nights online via the
sanparks website, and our third night at the
reception, which costs a bit more than booking online.
The camping ablution block is modern, clean, and well kept.
There are 3 double-hot plates in the kitchen, a microwave, and my all-time
favourite appliance – the Instant Hot Water dispenser. The log cabins face west
towards the Breede River, and are smartly done. The access roads are in good
condition, as are the trails. It was sad that two of the trails were closed:
but I’m not sure we could have fitted them in time-wise. Overall, an easy,
affordable and pleasant experience.
