When I switched my cell-phone on at our provisioning stop in Springbok, I noticed that I had three missed calls from the same number. I didn’t think much of it until the same number appeared on my phone’s screen half-an-hour later. It was the ranger from the Groenriviersmond office of the Namaqua National Park wanting to know when we’d be there to check-in, or if we’d prefer to postpone the formalities until the morning.
This caring and non-officious attitude set the tone for a most relaxing and peaceful stay at this one-of-a-kind, sedan-car-accessible site on the pristine West Coast. True to form, our dawdling along the country dirt tracks in our vintage Landy Campervan made us arrive quite late and we were pleased not still to have to check-in.
The ranger had also told us there were no other campers booked in over the two days we were to stay there, and we could choose any one of the 12 sites on offer.
Not normally an easy task at night, but fortune was smiling on us — the full moon was out and we eventually chose one reasonably close to the lighthouse, with a wonderfully flat section in front of the stone-walled boma, and not far from the enviro toilet shared with the campsite next door.
On a previous trip on a motorbike here earlier in the year, I’d learned that not everyone was happy when the government had set about proclaiming this section of coastline as part of a national park.
