Caravanning an increasingly popular holiday option

Caravanning and camping are becoming an increasingly popular holiday option worldwide and South Africa is no exception, with a wide range of options from roughing it in a two-man tent to glamping, camping with all the luxuries of home, and more.
There are few better ways to get really close to the Limpopo outdoors than by pitching a tent or setting up a caravan.
South Africa has more than 700 camping and caravanning sites that are in or near popular nature reserves, wildlife parks, famous landscapes, tourist attractions, tour routes, and the gorgeous coastline that stretches for thousands of kilometres.
There are basic camp sites, where visitors come to enjoy the serenity of the outdoors without the hustle and bustle of city life. Some of these have electricity and ablutions available, while others are more rustic, little more than a clearing in the verdant vegetation. On the other side of the spectrum, there are luxurious tented camps, where tents stand on raised platforms and boast king-sized beds, inviting linen, mosquito nets, and electricity. Affectionately dubbed ‘glamping’, this is a real treat for those who want to enjoy the camping experience with a touch of the glamour and convenience that comes with modern living.
Polokwane Observer advertisers, David and Martin Faul, brothers from Benoni, buy second-hand caravans, restore them and resell them. They say caravanning is becoming increasingly popular with young families who cannot necessarily afford the price of a brand new caravan, and this is the market they cater for.
It has also become trendy for retirees to become ‘gypsies’, and wander across the country in a caravan, like Lynn and Ken Finlay from Walkerville just outside Johannesburg decided to do in 2012. “At an age when friends were having heart attacks, strokes, cancer and all the other delightful experiences that happen when you hit the fifties, we decided that as healthy, fit and experienced campers, we would opt for this lifestyle while the going was still good,” they explain on their online forum, Full Time Caravanners.
“What an adventure with so many new places to see, people to meet and the joy of living in nature. We sleep in the caravan, eat and cook in the tent and live outside in the most beautiful surroundings at a fraction of what it would cost living at home. Life is simplified, diets change and the lack of stress and increase in exercise adds years to one’s life and takes years off the outlook,” they further say.
When it comes to glamping, no one does it quite like a well-known Cape Town hotel which offers glamping opportunities at one of their resorts. The resort offers luxury airstream caravan units with artist-themed bedrooms and uber-conteporary living spaces as well as comfortable glamping-style tented options.
Whether a peaceful weekend away in a little tent for two, a family vacation in a caravan, or a romantic honeymoon in an opulent tented camp, the South African camping experience is a truly special one, both for tourists and locals.

Story: KAREN VENTER
>>karen@observer.co.za