Camping at Rocky Bay Caravan Park 2023
Camping at Rocky Bay Caravan Park near Park Rynie started when we arrived at Rocky Bay from Yellow Sands on 1 May and decided we would only set up camp the next morning as we were exhausted after the 9-hour drive from Yellow Sands.
The sunrises on the East Coast of South Africa compare well with the best in the world and camping at Rocky Bay is an experience we like to have at least once a year.
I wrote about Rocky Bay before in my personal blog, so there is little new.
What did change since last year was the quality of the resort shop. Until June when they installed solar power at the main buildings, they had no ice cream as they lost too much stock due to load shedding. The same goes for many types of chocolates. These two are of major importance to me when when I got used to them during our previous camps.
But, in general, I saw the range of products diminishing. I understand that the camp is very near to large shops and a mall, but, whatever the (valid) reason, I expected more.
Rocky Bay is expensive compared to other camping resorts, and it is understandable if one considers the quality of the sites and the view, but I could see lower occupation than a year before in the three months we were there. This cannot just be attributed to rates, as unrest on the main route from Gauteng, pollution and infrastructure collapse on the KZN coast, fuel prices and other factors are probably just as much to blame.
But, in the time I have been talking to long-term campers from the Cape to KZN and listening to the reasons why people camp long-term or even permanently, I would expect that campgrounds that are more expensive will feel the pinch first.
Rocky Bay still has a few things going for it:
- It has its own water source with the resort boreholes which means there are no water or pollution problems.
- They started installing solar power and if they can extend that to the whole resort and be independent from Eskom, it will give them an extra edge. We already see it happening at other resorts.
- Most caravan parks around Rocky Bay will increasingly suffer from the collapse of the infrastructure which will assist Rocky Bay in keeping occupation levels at acceptable margins.
(See my observations on infrastructure collapse and expected civil unrest later in this post. It could deal a devastating blow to not only Rocky Bay, but to the whole tourism industry on the South Coast)
We met new people and caught up with the “old” campers from previous years. Unfortunately at least three of the old Rocky Bay campers couldn’t make it this year due to illness.
A couple we met at Yellow Sands camped near us, which added to the familiarity.
Lappies and Terssia of Sea-la-Té
We stumbled upon Sea-la-Té at Sunwich Port, the deli of Lappies and Terssia, who moved from Hennopspark in Gauteng to the South Coast.
While Terssia was still contemplating starting a home industry food initiative, Lappies wandered around town and returned home the proud owner of a local small business.
They turned that into Sea-la-Té where you can buy any type of pie as long as it is a vetkoek pie and a range of fresh products one usually find in a tradition home industry shop. We had vetkoek steak-and-kidney pies.
Terssia shines in the kitchen and Lappies charms the visitors who are lucky enough to see the sign and walk in.
Lappies recalled his years as a child visiting his grandmother on the farm and asked Terssia to start baking jam tarts and other delicious old school baked goods.
Terssia is a good example of the clean kitchen Afrikaner “tannie” that only makes quality products because it is how she was taught and how food should be prepared. These down-to-earth products makes Sea-la-Té a special place which you should visit.
Sea-la-Té is roughly opposite the entrance road to Untu Palms Caravan Park in a row of small shops.
This map will take you there:
Two months at Rocky Bay
Two months at Rocky Bay and 6 months into our year-long camping tour, and in the last week of June, our second challenge (some people would call it set-back) occurred this week.
Luckily it wasn’t anything camping related. We had a call from the chairperson at our complex who told us that the solar power inverter at our house blew up and the battery gives an alert.
This week we also had 24 -hours without electricity after two hours load shedding.
Rocky Bay management allowed all campers to store their freezer contents in two large freezers at the main building where they installed solar power a month ago.
We encounter more and more campers who talk about installing solar power in their road caravans. Off-roaders are already covered with their systems that come with the caravan.
We have been considering it for a while now, but we will probably do it once we are forced by a near-total collapse of the electricity grid.
June 2023
Meeting my new doctor at Rocky Bay
Discovery Medical sent me a message to nudge me that I am due for my annual checkup.
So, I checked the Discovery website and found a network practice in Scottburgh where I made an appointment via WhatsApp with dr Bruce Longmore at Scottburgh Family Clinic.
I was so impressed with the way in which he did the exam, conducted our conversation and that he pointed out some benefits of my medical aid I wasn’t utilising, that I registered him as my primary care physician.
I will do my annual exam next year at Scottburgh Family clinic again.
Unfortunately I am not used to this standard of care and interest in my health affairs from my doctors in Centurion.
July at Rocky Bay
This is the last of our three months at Rocky Bay before we move back to Yellow Sands and continue our year-long camping trip.
A week ago we drove down the South Coast to visit other campsites and familiarize us with what is available for long-term campers.
Most other camps are much more affordable than Rocky Bay, but some of them clearly illustrated why they were cheap.
We considered moving to Untu Palms at Sunwich Port near Port Shepstone as we will be using the Port St Johns route back to the Eastern Cape.
But after we learned that the water supply in Sunwich Port (as in most towns on the South Coast) has effectively collapsed and that the resort provides 5 litres per campsite per day when the water supply is cut, we decided to stay put. The collapse of infrastructure on the South Coast is alarming and I expect we are near the brink of total collapse followed by serious civil unrest.
I must say that we were impressed by Marlon Holiday Resort in Sunwich Port. We walked through the resort and spoke to a couple who live in a house on the resort permanently. Their only complaint was the water problems in the town, although it seemed like Marlon had no such difficulties – but I didn’t check with them.
We were impressed.
Rocky Bay Tuna Braai
Middle July, the neighbours, Anton and Amanda, who we met at Yellows Sands, invited us and some other camper friends to a tuna braai.
Anton is a dedicated angler and he caught tuna earlier this year in the Cape.
We had a great afternoon of Tuna and Red Roman fish on the coals, and most enjoyable conversation.
When I say “enjoyable conversation” you will see the Wifey and other guests roll their eyes. Don’t mind them. It’s just that I and Johan started talking about long-term camping and how the long-term camping “industry” is changing.
At the end of the afternoon Johan said: “You know, the two of us did all the talking!”.
It is exactly at that stage of most conversations that I realise I talked too much …. again!
In any case, here are some pics which Amanda insisted I take and sort of “demanded” I include in my blog post.
Electricity, Water and Infrastructure in KZN
KwaZulu-Natal suffers from infrastructure collapse and government failure like most of South Africa.
We saw that from the Eastern Cape to KZN.
Electricity load shedding followed by Eskom infrastructure failure resulting in 24 hours without power is becoming a common occurrence. There are roads and streets that collapsed from the side after the 2022 floods and only now is there an effort to build up the collapsed parts with rocks.
Part of the problem is that the Government’s promises of work for people means that they pay teams of people to individually carry and pack rocks, or teams to manually remove grass overgrowth on the road shoulder.
Unfortunately it confirms that the government has no idea how to govern. They do not repair damage quickly before further costly damage is done, nor do they create real jobs by employing teams of which less than half work at any given time while the other manual labourers take a rest or observe.
Paying salaries is not job creation.
In line with our attitude that we accept what we experience and do not judge if we can help it, these are my observations, although my observations lead to the realization that the complete collapse of infrastructure and accompanying civil unrest is now a real possibility.
In late June and July I noticed more news alerts in my social media feeds of informed people warning about civil unrest.
I am sure that jobless people also take notice of the warnings and prepare to deliver on the expectations of the observers. It is completely illogical but that is what we experience in a country where education are deliberately set up to fail.
In July we had the attacks on trucks on South African roads.
We take note of all these events and changing dynamics and position ourselves to live with it the best way we can.
I must say, these things come as no surprise. A year ago I sent out a note to other owners in our complex in Centurion. I then warned that the failure of electricity supply would necessarily lead to a collapse in water supply, with dire consequences. I expected the collapse to really start happening in the second part of 2023.
I think none of these problems will be solved, based on 4 factors:
- Government’s inability to understand the act of governance;
- The governing party’s inability to understand how an economy functions;
- The power of organisations that do not answer to the electorate, so the tail wags the dog;
- The disintegration of basic law enforcement (which actually is the basis of all problems in the country)
There are actually a few more such as the active breaking down of education and some others, but the first 4 are of paramount importance – with the disintegration of law enforcement at the basis of everything.
I touched on this in a blog post on my Centurion Living website.
(The grey wagtails one often see with them, are not the females but the ordinary Wagtail)
John and Family Hotdog Stall
(Also Known as Rocky Haven)
One a Friday in August 2022, John suffered a stroke.
On Monday, he suffered a second one.
The result of this was that John retired from his business in Kathu, spent time and much effort and recovered to such an extent that you wouldn’t notice anything was wrong until you see him walk with a limp.
It was then that John told his wife he always dreamt of having a mobile food stall (‘n regte stalletjie) by the sea.
The result is Rocky Haven mobile food stall where I found him and his family in the municipal parking area in front of the Rocky Bay Caravan Park entrance.
I hope John is there when you camp at Rocky Bay Caravan Park again, and I hope they make a big success of their small business.
Rocky Bay affairs
In the second last week of July I had a long conversation with Annien, the Resorts Manager at Rocky Bay who assisted me with valuable information and insights about weekend, holiday and long-term campers.
I am working on a blog post about the subject of the contribution each group makes to the income of a camping resort.
One thing that popped up is the problem all services in the hospitality industry experience which are the ever-increasing input costs and the affordability limitations of their market.
Rocky Bay Caravan Park already installed solar power at the main office block. They plan on doing the same at their water purification plant as well as the ablution blocks. Then Annien would like to have fibre installed.
Rocky Bay is in a bad spot for cell-phone reception. If they have fibre, that could alleviate the problem as people will be able to use data lines and make WhatsApp calls rather than cell-phone tower calls.
I had a discussion with someone at the Vodacom outlet in Scottburgh. Apparently Vodacom wanted to erect more towers around Pennington to boost connectivity, but activists in the community put and end to their plans, presumably based on fears of cellphone tower radiation or something like that. They acknowledge that connection quality in the area is bad.
The Wifey has MTN and she had less problems with communication. In other areas such as the Eastern Cape, one often finds the reverse to be true.
Eventually Rocky Bay will be completely off-grid and load shedding, Eskom failures, data connections and municipal water failure will not affect the resort and the campers.
The challenge for resort managements everywhere is that the campers can only afford what they can afford, and that rates are in some instances already very near the campers’ affordability limit.
We hope Rocky Bay will be able to meet these challenges without making it unaffordable for average long-term campers to camp at the resort.
We already booked for next year.
Just before we left, we received word that Sam the Samoosa Man has suffered a stroke and was in hospital. By the time we left, there was no news on his condition.
Eventually we claimed the damage to the solar system at home which the insurance company rejected because the system was not installed correctly according to the assessors.
This saga goes on into August as we will be questioning the decision.
We are now moving to Yellow Sands for a month, and the next blog post will be about our trip via Port St Johns to Yellow Sands.
One thing that counts in favour of Rocky Bay is their reception staff. One can approach them at any time and they are keen to help with information and problem-solving. Supported by the resort’s administrative system, it makes them one of the top resorts.
The only draw-back I experienced was that their WhatsApp system is based on their office computers, so they are not able to send out information after hours, especially with the Eskom problems in the area.
Communication between campers and resort management and vice-versa, becomes more important as a requirement of a well-managed camping resort. It already found a place in the blog post I am preparing about what makes a campground a good resort.
Rocky Bay – Quick facts
Safety: Safe. 24-hour manned boom gate. Isolated from towns and has only one access road.
Own security guards patrolling 24 hours and external security company provides patrols and support.
Wi-Fi: Yes at the office.
Private ablutions: No
Standard of ablutions: Old buildings but clean and well-maintained. Cleaned continuously during the day but mops available for mopping up water after showering. Shower curtains but little trouble with water spillage if the curtains are used correctly and depending on how aggressively you shower. Adequate toilet paper was provided.
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Plugs in bathrooms: Hair dryer plugs for women.
Laundry: Yes. Pay-and-wash washing machines and tumble dryers.
Condition of access roads: Main road potholes but accessible to all caravans.
Nr of stands: 160
Paved stands: No.
Unpaved stands: Yes.
Shade: Yes, some stands. Trees.
Shop on-site: Cash tuck shop (wood, water, charcoal, milk and bread). When we were there, the ice cream fridges were empty because of losses suffered during load shedding.
Nearest town: Park Rynie. Scottburgh Mall 4km away
Pet Friendly: Yes.
Load shedding: Yes and unreliable Eskom infrastructure may cause longer periods of no electricity.
Hot and cold swimming pools: Cold.
Pensioners rates: Yes
Long-term camping rates: Yes.
Location:
Old Main Road,
Park Rynie,
KwaZulu-Natal
4182
Contact
Tel: +27 (0)39 976 0336
Caravan Park Fax: +27 (0)86 593 5502
Email: caravan@rockybay.co.za
Website
Facebook
Things to know about Rocky Bay
Borehole water, so no water problems.
Solar power at the main building.
Rocky Bay offers some of the most spectacular sunrises
