Camping at Van Stadens Resort
Van Stadens Resort near Blue Horizon Bay and 40 km from Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) at the mouth of the Van Staden’s River in the Eastern Cape is one of the older camping resorts.
It is in an area scattered with wind turbines of the Kouga Wind Farm, the largest of its kind in South Africa.
The facilities at the older resorts are often buildings and fixtures that date from as long ago as the 1960s and keeping up with maintenance is a challenge.
Nevertheless, Van Stadens is a popular camping destination and one can see why when you look at the effort the owners put in to keep the resort on an acceptable standard.
If you are a camper that requires the newest infrastructure or you flinch at the appearance of rust stains on basins, then camping at Van Stadens River Resort is not the camping experience you are looking for.
Van Stadens is popular for many reasons, especially among the “locals” from surrounding areas in the Eastern Cape.
It is an established resort in a special place on the coast. It has all the facilities campers, day visitors, and anglers require and it offers reduced rates for pensioners or retiree campers.
There are campsites with a great view of the ocean but which are exposed to the severe winds and there are sheltered campsites that hide behind the trees and shrubs that line the beachfront. A number of campsites are riverfront sites.
The fact that Van Stadens Resort welcomes day visitors may scare off many long-term campers. We arrived there when the riverfront, where day visitors congregate, was quite full, but at the camping sites, we were hardly aware of their presence. In our experience, the way Van Stadens manage their day visitors makes the arrangement work well.
Some campsites overlook the day visitor area but they are still popular sites.
Load shedding is a problem like everywhere else and the resort does not offer a backup power system. We always had hot water in the ablution facilities where gas-heated water is provided. In the ablution block where I showered, there was no hot water for my last shower, maybe because of load shedding.
Van Stadens has a nice beach where you can walk yourself to exhaustion.
We plan on returning to Van Stadens Resort in future.
Van Stadens Resort – Quick Facts
Safety: Safe. Low crime area. 24-hour gate control.
Wi-Fi: No. Vodacom reception.
Private ablutions: No
Standard of ablutions: Very old but well maintained. If you don’t like rustic camping facilities, this is not the camp for you.
Wheelchair accessible: Some ablutions
Plugs in bathrooms: No shaver plugs.
Laundry: Yes but no washing machines are in use due to severe water shortages.
Condition of access roads: Good but old tar road.
Nr of campsites: 90
Paved stands: No.
Unpaved stands: Yes.
Shade: Yes, some sites. Trees.
Shop on-site: Cash and card tuckshop with essentials such as long-life milk, soft drinks, wood, charcoal, ice cream, and chocolate.
Nearest town: Blue Horizon Bay.
Pet Friendly: No.
Load shedding: Yes. Blue Horizon Bay.
Hot and cold swimming pools: Yes. Cold.
Pensioners rates: Yes
Long-term camping rates: Monthly. Call for rates.
Location:
Van Stadens River Mouth, Van Stadens Rd R724, Van Stadensriviermond
Contact
Telephone: 041 776 1059
E-Mail: reception@vanstadens.com
Website
Things to know
- Some campsites have sea views, others do not and others have river views.
- The resort accepts day visitors. Weekends can be pretty busy with the locals visiting, but day visitors are kept away from the camping sites. We arrived on a busy Sunday but at the camping site, we were unaware of the many day visitors. It posed no problem to the long-term campers.
- This is a notoriously windy area as the wind farms in the region illustrate.
- Sea view stands are open to winds. August, September and October is the windy season.
