Western Cape road trip | Day 5

Day 5 | 31 December 2022

Karoo Bush Camp (Van Wykdsorp) to Bontebok National Park (Swellendam)

Linda, Olivia and I were up early again. We were very keen to explore the area so we put our hiking shoes on and sat Olivia in the backpack and off we went to find a hiking trail. However, due to heavy rainfall in the area over recently, the path that led to the trails was now a swamp. We weren’t about getting our shoes muddy on this occasion. So instead we opted to walk around the Karoo Bush Camp and see what we could find.

There was a camper nearby who had an amazing 4×4 caravan setup. Definitely something I would love to do if I had the time (and money). He had one of those overlander trucks. #goals We also found a path leading to a lookout point above the campsite which had beautiful views of the valley.

When we got back to our campsite we had to start packing up. That’s when I realised that our camping fridge had stopped working. It looked like it was just a blown fuse, so I replaced the blown one with a new one. When  I connected the plug again, there were sparks and a flame inside the power supply of the fridge! Needless to say, the fridge had died. If it had only lasted a few more days, it would have been great. Now we were about to head to a campsite at Bontebok National Park for 2 days, and the fridge would definitely have been useful there.

The route we took to Swellendam was around 200km mostly on dirt roads. We left Karoo Bush Camp at 10am and arrived at Bontebok National Park at 17h30. Along the way we took a lunch break at a river crossing and all had a dip in the fresh water. We also got stuck behind a herd of cows being herded by a 10 year old girl. Her brother was trying to fix their quad bike which had broken down. Unardo happily towed it back to their farm.

Bontebok NP doesn’t have a shop where you can buy supplies such as firewood or ice. So we took a drive into Swellendam to stock up. We were staying at this camp site for 2 nights ( a welcome relief after travelling for 5 days from one place to the next). Arriving quite late in the day meant that we wouldn’t have much choice in finding the camping stands, let alone trying to find 3 stands together for our group. Bontebok NP is owned by SANPARKS, and you need to pre-book your accommodation through them before arrival. So we had 3 stands booked, but it is on a first come, first served basis. Luckily for us though, we did find a section of the camp that had 3 stands together, and we were able to set up our campsite.

About a 300m walk away from our site there is a river. There are stands near the river, however you need to walk up a hill to get to the ablutions, which didn’t seem too appealing. Linda, Olivia and I ninja’d at around 9pm. We pretty much take any opportunity to sleep that we can nowadays. I set my alarm for 23h45 as there was too much FOMO, seeing as everyone else was sitting around the campfire and chilling. I managed to encourage Linda to not carry on sleeping and get up before midnight, so that we could pop some bubbly and celebrate the new year. 2022 was done, and we are looking forward to a busy and prosperous 2023 for Go Adventure. We were in bed again at 00h15…