Seaside rendezvous

If huge beach resorts like Hartenbos aren’t for you, head to these less busy campsites next to the sea.

1Cape Columbine Nature Reserve, Western Cape You won’t easily find a stand closer to the sea. And you’ll have to search far and wide for a more unspoilt seaside campsite than at Tietiesbaai in the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve – the Western Cape’s most westerly point. If you choose one of the stands right next to the sea, you’ll feel the spray of the waves that hit the enormous rocks. You camp with the sound of the ocean and the calls of gulls in your ears. On the opposite side of the rocky coastline in this reserve lie fynbos veld and the, well, tip of Tietiesbaai – a large hill with a big pointy rock on top. You can climb the hill in 30 minutes and look out far over the sea and the reserve. You can also walk for kilometres on the beach, put some white mussel on your hook to catch a hottentot, or brave the cold water to dive for crayfish – if it’s crayfish season and you have a permit, of course. There is no electricity or shade trees, and the 64 stands are all on grass, sand or dirt. The first 10 stands are just below the Cape Columbine lighthouse. Eight of them are in a row next to each other, opposite a rock embankment with the sea right behind it. These stands are of the more private ones in the reserve, but they are a good five to 10 minutes’ walk to the ablution facilities. The other two are right next to the sea against the rocks and are just a minute or two’s walk from the ablution facilities. Three minutes’ walk down the sand path is the main campsite at the Tietiesbaai beach. There are five stands in a block, another 23 all along the beach, and 12 behind them, further from the water. A little bit further down, the road veers to the right, where there are another five stands next to the water and nine more private stands next to the rocks. There are two ablution blocks with separate bathrooms for men and women. The solar geysers, however, are small and during busy holidays the warm water runs out quickly.