Many of you probably know about Van-Life mostly from Europe or North America. Living, traveling, and working from a Van. Parking the Van wherever it suits you (and is allowed) and just making it your home. If you have ever wondered if this could be possible in South Africa – in this post I am sharing our experiences from just having tried this out during living Van-Life for the past 8 months.
We did however not spend a full 8 months wild camping, let me tell you why. First of all, let me tell you a bit about our van: Van-Life in a nice big properly kitted out van with inside kitchen and the ability to stand up – this might be what you imagine Van-Life to be like, however, we did it in one of the smallest Vans possible – a VW Caddy Maxi – without any of those before mentioned things and furthermore started out on our van-life journey with an empty van that we had just bought and still needed converting. It did make things a lot more complicated and stressful in the first 2,5 months of our journey. The last 3 months of our journey wild camping was simply too cold in most places as we headed straight into the winter months so oftentimes we would camp at backpackers or on campsites that at least had hot showers or sometimes fireplaces to warm up.
In just over 8 months we spent 58 nights wild camping (also called free camping, street camping, or stealth camping) in 36 different locations across South Africa between Cape Town and Durban!
Among those wild camping spots, you will find anything from a parking lot in front or behind hotels, 24/7 petrol stations, beach parking, roadside stops in the middle of nowhere, stopping next to the fence of a national park, next to a soccer field in the middle of the city, parking in front of restaurants, on the side of the road on a mountain pass, etc. Luckily we learned about a very useful app from another Van-life nomad at the beginning of our trip which made the search for wild camping overnight spots a lot easier! It is called iOverlander – go check it out!
Many nights when wild camping we would get ready for bed somewhere else and then drive up to our chosen overnight spot. Stop the car and go straight to bed without getting out.
On a side note, it should be mentioned that we chose and decided to go for a Van-option that basically leaves us incognito from the outside. Our Van is small, only has front windows and we didn’t carry anything on the roof racks either. So for anyone from the outside it just looked like a panel van, which could even belong to a handyman. We felt this was the most hassle-free and safest option for wild camping as it is not obvious for anyone on the outside to see what is going on inside.
By now you might have a couple of questions in your mind about wild camping in South Africa – and I would like to address the most common ones:
Is wild camping not dangerous?
Sure South Africa is certainly not the safest place and it is good if you know the country and people and have some sense of what could feel safe and what not. Overall if you act street-smart, trust your gut instinct, and don’t be too obvious with flashing off your belongings in the van, you will be fine.
One of my biggest surprises and lessons about the safety of South Africa was the imagined picture of crime and danger as opposed to the actual situation. We had countless evenings chilling in the dark outside at beach parking all over the coast where oftentimes I would expect a homeless person to jump out of the bushes whenever I used the bush toilet, however, this actually never happen. Most nights were really peaceful, calm, and chilled – which is not what the average South African person living behind walls and fences in their houses with alarm systems would imagine or tell you about how things are out there.
Where do you shower or use the bathroom?
Some bigger vans have a bathroom which does come in very handy. In our case, I must admit this part was rather tough. We used countless public bathrooms, some of them surprisingly ok looking, others rather not so much, lots and lots of petrol station bathrooms that regularly made me feel like some gypsy walking in there with a bag for my bedtime preparation including brushing my teeth, etc. Other popular spots were restaurant bathrooms and simply the bush toilet. Brushing our teeth next to our van in the dark was not a rare sight.
Showering was posing an even more difficult task – when it was hot in summer it was easy to get a wash or clean in rivers or in the ocean with biodegradable soap or use public beach showers wherever possible (although many places also had beach showers taken off to draughts in the area). Sometimes we also used a 5-liter bottle of water to have a quick shower – we just pierced some holes into the lid – and voilà it worked better than we thought. In winter it was just not possible to bathe or shower outside, so we would book a camping spot at a backpacker, a campsite, or another accommodation for a night in-between somewhere.
Is wild camping / free camping allowed in South Africa?
Well… to be honest, I am not entirely sure. At the beginning of our trip, we tried to look into it, and talked to other campers in FB forums and online, but it seemed to be a bit of a grey area. Maybe also because Van-Life hasn’t been much of a thing in South Africa in the past and only seems to get more popular now. However, we did not encounter any issues. We had but one incident where just as we lay down to sleep a police car turned up and was walking around our car shining their torches into it to see but they couldn’t see through our curtains. Once they left, we drove off and slept at a 24/7 petrol station for the night. A bunch of times we would meet people from neighborhood watch after dark asking us if we are ok or law enforcement checking up on our safety and here and there advising that spots might not be too safe.
Which places were the best for wild camping?
Interestingly my partner and I sometimes felt different about wild camping spots in terms of safety, however, I think we would agree that the most comfortable place for wild camping was Jeffreys Bay, a surfing mecca and it might just be the one spot where it is more common to have people camp in their Vans right in front of surf spots. On various nights we even parked and wild camped next to one or more other campers. Beach parking generally felt rather good, especially when choosing a blue-flag beach (which also tend to have decent public bathroom facilities), e.g. Ramsgate Beach on the South Coast in KZN. The spot you see in the above picture was next to the fence of Addo Elephant park – it was nice and quiet and felt very safe. 24/7 petrol stations are always a good choice when there is nowhere else to wild camp, it is safe and has the convenience of a bathroom, however can get quite noisy as well. Generally, it is, of course, easier and more recommended to wild camp outside of bigger cities. Our wild camping in cities were always away from the CBD. We stayed 2 nights in Virginia, a suburb next to Durban North, one night in Bluff, Durban and 5 nights in Gonubie – a suburb south of East London. Hogsback in comparison – a small mountain village – felt pretty much safe to just park and sleep anywhere.
Conclusion:
Wild camping is definitely possible in South Africa, although it probably mostly will not (yet) feel as easy as doing it in countries like Europe or the US where it is more common and maybe also just generally safer. It certainly gets easier over time to choose good spots to wild camp and the nervousness and uneasiness we sometimes felt at the beginning also faded over time. After having done all different types of accommodation during our trip from wild camping to staying on campsites, camping at backpackers, and overnighting in rooms or houses, my conclusion of what is the best thing about wild camping is the views you wake up to, the freedom to park anywhere whenever you need and the fact that you don’t pay for the overnight.
I hope you enjoyed this little blog post on wild camping in South Africa. The concept of Van-Life is still quite new in South Africa but it seems like more and more people are keen to give it a try! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via the contact form.
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