Happy Campers SA

In October 2015, the Happy Campers spent a lovely long weekend at Willem’s Rus in the Dinokeng Reserve, just north of Pretoria. We read about the resort in the WegSleep magazine July 2015 edition, and since we are great lovers of camping and the outdoors, we decided we wanted to see what’s on offer from the people at Willem’s Rus. The bookings were made via email and the whole process was painless and quick. We asked for stands number 14, 15 and 16 as they indicated that these stands were located next to their man-made watering hole. The website had enough photos and information to make our mouths water properly for this camp and there was much excitement when the morning of our departure finally arrived.

Thanks to wrong directions from Google Maps we did a little bit of a detour to get to the resort. We should have followed the directions from their website instead, seeing as it took us right up to their gate. On arrival the tightly locked gate served as reminder that the King of the African bush has made Dinokeng his home, and you should rather not dare set foot outside their campsite unless you’re in the safety of your vehicle. From the outset we saw that this is truly a place where you can rest and relax. We were greeted and checked in at their reception office by Jeanette Vorster and she walked with us to our camp sites. She showed us around the facilities and also gave us info on where we could go on game drives. Then it was time to set-up camp with all three families are hard at work, setting up camp in the middle of the day, during Gauteng’s first heat wave of the 2015 summer. The resort staff were also very helpful and at the top of their game, supplying us with wood and ice from their store at all hours of the day, even after hours. The resort management also made daily visits to our sites to make sure that we are comfortable and enjoying our stay.

We had a wonderful camping experience at Willem’s Rus; the ablution facilities were the best we’ve ever encountered in a caravan park and the pool was lovely refreshing, albeit not heated. We were very excited when we got visitors to the watering hole next to our camp sites; small herds of giraffes and kudus visited us, but those were only the ones that we knew of. Next time will my “night-cam” will come with so that we could get stealth pictures of any other nocturnal visitors. The sites are each equipped with a water tap and two three-point and caravan plugs but we took the opportunity to test new our solar power system that was meant to keep us in good form during our upcoming overlanding trip to Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park.

To be honest, we would love to keep this resort our little secret, fearing that it will become so popular that the resort will lose its spirit, but being the Happy Campers that we are, we have to admit that this resort is great, and that it is definitely worth the effort to take on the dirt road to get there. Next time we want to book sites 1, 2 and 3, with their excellent outdoor bathroom facilities. We can’t imagine anything better than watching a rhino graze whilst taking a hot shower….

*** The Happy Campers’ review of Willem’s Rus was featured in the WegSleep magazine – May 2016 edition