YELLOW SANDS 2025 3-MONTH CAMP
Yellow Sands was our planned stop for April after Cannon Rocks, but a one-month camp turned into a 3-month frustration with the Suzuki agents in East London.
With the bad news, there was a rich dose of good events.
On the way from Port Alfred to Yellow Sands there was a knocking sound coming from the towbar when we encountered bumps or potholes, but we couldn’t find the source.
We stopped at Cocabana Canvas and Caravans who has a good name in caravan circles and good reviews on Google. While we were waiting for the technician to do a small repair on the jockey wheel, old friends from Rocky Bay, Anton and Amanda Brink, arrived looking for something they needed.
Anton, and Mike from Copacabana looked for the source of the knocking sound we encountered, and Mike immediately saw that the towbar was tearing out from its brackets on the car. Anton insisted on towing the Scout for us because he doubted that we would safely make it to Yellow Sands.
When we travelled the road to Yellow Sands, I understood his concern.
This post does not add much to what we wrote about Yellow Sands previously, as not much has changed.
Schäfli Road, which takes you to Yellow Sands, was a feast of potholes that became increasingly demanding as it rained during the next three months. Road conditions immediately show you who governs a province, unless you keep to SANRAL main roads.
Suzuki towbar trouble
After more than two years camping along the South African coastline, I suppose you should expect anything, but a towbar that rips out is a new one for me.
Interestingly enough, we camped next to Theo at Silwer Sands and he experienced the same problem with the towbar on his 2011 Suzuki Grand Vitara as we did on the 2009 Suzuki.
The factory fitted towbar on the Suzuki Vitara is only fitted with two hole on each side while there are three or four holes available. The towbar started ripping out on the one hole which let the towbar drop slightly.
Our insurance covered the repairs, although the panelbeaters fixed it again on only two holes each side because they are not allowed to do anything more than what was on the vehicle.
I will not bore you with the details, but I would not advise anyone to buy a Suzuki Grand Vitara to tow with. (The new 2025 Vitara has a smaller engine and will definitely not make a good towing vehicle.)
Ronnie’s Suzuki East London is our least favourite Suzuki agent
We experienced a knocking sound under the car, which I thought could be a vibrating exhaust, so I took it to Suzuki East London.
They came back with stern faces, informing us that the power steering had to be replaced. They ordered the power steering, and we made another appointment.
This time, they realised that they did not receive one part that they needed, and we had to wait a month for it to arrive. It arrived in less than a month, but now we were already nearing the second month at Yellow Sands.
What was promised to be a 7-hour job deteriorated into a sleepover for the Suzuki, and when we fetched the car the next day, the wheel alignment hadn’t been done, and the steering wheel was completely unaligned. So we had to go back.
But, if we thought our problems were solved, we were seriously mistaken.
The knocking sound for which we took the car in originally was still there, and when we asked if they had found the cause, we were told that we had to bring the vehicle in again “so they could run diagnostics” on the car.
By now, we were already in our third month of what should have been a one-month camp. Even an email to the dealer principal was opened but unanswered.
You can find East London Suzuki on Google Reviews, although I can concur with these reviews about Ronnie’s Suzuki.
We would eventually only solve the problem in July in KZN, but that is a story for the next blog post.
But, despite all the trouble we had much pleasure, especially when our son flew down from Johannesburg to visit us for a few days.
Contact with the children is always uplifting for the soul!
Camping friends and saviours
Paul and EIiana Botha at Cannon Rocks, who drove us to the first technician to look for the cause of the knocking sound.
Piet and Jean Swart at Yellow Sands who were always available should we need anything from town.
Piet had a quadruple bypass in December while they were camping at Ladismith. They are a good information source for people who want to know what it is like to have a heart attack and bypass while camping.
Mathys and Alida de Wet with Thys’ new idea of a Boerepotjie Fondue.
We cannot express enough gratitude to Anton and Amanda Brink, who redefined friendship and walked an extra 100 miles for us. Whenever we were planning for shopping or how to get to the auto repair shop, they arrived as if they sensed that we needed them.
The friends who travelled many kilometers around East London while we had car frustrations.
Anton is a seasoned angler with vast knowledge of surf and deep-sea fishing.
Amanda is a friendly lady. I just caught her in a focused moment when I took the picture!
Yellow Sands is a good place to be stuck for 3 months if things go wrong.
The resort did not change much in the two years since we were there last time, although they paved several additional camp sites, and created a coffee bar and stretch tent where one can watch sports next to the swimming pool.
One must, however, be prepared for Eskom’s antics, because you may find yourself without power for multiple hours to days after a storm. If that happens, you may also experience Vodacom and MTN connection difficulties. Yellow Sands has a WhatsApp group for campers, which they use well when needed.
Yellow Sands holds a market day in April where campers can offer their handmade goods for sale. Many grandchildren have presents from grandma that were bought here.
Morgan Bay
We did a trip to Morgan Bay to see what the camping ground is like.
It looks like a worthwhile campsite with very good quality ablutions and a nice sea view.
I heard about a squatter camp near the campsite and crime problems, but the township is on the other side of the village. I believe people did come from the other side of the river and took things from the campers, but whether it is worse than some other camps, is a point for discussion.
Emerald Vale Brewery
The Emerald Vale Brewery was worth a visit. They have a variety of their own beers and interesting and tasty dishes.
I liked their Pale Ale, and The Wife enjoyed the pink Gin.
This and That
Camping for nearly 3 years and joining Facebook Groups dedicated to wildlife has taught me so much that I have become much more tolerant and observant of the small critters around us.
An important insight is that there is much pleasure to be found in living with Nature rather than packing Blue Death and Dyant with our camping gear.
There are The Spider Club of South Africa, Butterflies, Bugs, Bees and other small things, Snakes of Southern Africa, and a variety of other groups where one learn to better understand your surroundings.
The Spider Club of South Africa members are most helpful.
Our 2025 Yellow Sands camp was a demanding experience, but the fact that we were stranded at Yellow Sands made it just another 3 months of fun camping.
We used the time well by starting a new Afrikaans camping website and Facebook group for all campers, including weekend, holiday, long-term, and permanent campers. You can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/689217910521474 and here: https://altydkampers.co.za/