Travel - Almega Caravan Park

Almega Caravan Park

Introduction

Almega Caravan Park [coordinates: -25.3399, 28.3857] is a camping ground to the north of Pretoria, 64km from my home. This is another campground where each campsite has its own private ablution. Because of its proximity to Pretoria, like Willemsrus, the campground is very popular, especially over weekends, when it can get quite crowded.

Almega Caravan Park is quite close to Willemsrus - instead of turning off on De Wagendrif Rd just past the Safari Mall, continue on the tar road in the direction of the Rust de Winter Dam for a km. The road is tarred all the way to the turn off to the campground, where a short gravel road leads to the gate. The intercom is a bit indistinct, so I found it easier to phone and ask them to open the gate.

It is an easy drive from Pretoria, and Waze will guide you all the way to the gate.

The staff are very efficient, and bookings can all be done by email. During office hours, emails are responded to very promptly.

Although the entrance to Almega Caravan Park lies in the gated area of the Dinokeng Game Reserve, it is not part of the Dinokeng conservancy. Your gate pass is stamped at the Almega reception, which means you do not have to pay the Dinokeng conservation fee, unless you go into the reserve.

(updated: 28 August 2023)

Campsites

The campground has ten ablution blocks, each with four bathrooms, to give each campsite a private bathroom. Each ablution block is numbered one to ten, with the bathrooms (and thus the campsites) taking a letter A to D.

As you can see from the next pic, the campsites are well grassed and green, even though this pic was taken at the end of winter.

Our campsite, with the tent almost pitched. To the left of the tent is ablution block 2, with ablution block 1 in the vicinity of the caravans on the right. The campsites are large enough for some privacy, but not all are well shaded, especially if you are camping in a tent.

The spot we chose to pitch the tent had decent afternoon shade, but is unfortunately very close to the braai of campsite 2D. Fortunately, there was no-one staying at 2D during our stay, so this was not a problem. Because of the proximity to the braai, our tent could have had an issue from flying embers. The other possible spot would be where my bakkie is standing on the extreme right of the picture, but this was very close to our braai.

If you look at the campground layout in map 2, campsites with the most shade for tent camping would be 1B, 2A & B, 5C, 6B & C, 7A & B and 8C.

Below are some pictures of campsites in which I try to show the available shade.

I don't think I would like to stay in the campsites around ablution block 10.

What was interesting about this campground is that most of the caravan campers seem to be regular guests, and by and large seem to know each other. The pic above is one of the group around ablution block 1. They seemed to spend most of the day chatting at one of the campsites. The other campers around us seemed to know each other as well, and had communal braais every evening.

Each bathroom has a caravan plug socket on the outside, with two standard South African plug points on the inside. Water is heated by gas, which is ignited by an electrical spark emission - this is a problem during load shedding as it relies on mains power.

The scullery has less protection than either Ruah Park or Eden Park, as the roof overhang is very much less, but you do still have the privacy of not having to share the space while washing dishes.

The only thing that I don't like about the bathroom, is that the lavatory is rather exposed if someone opens the door while you are using it! The counter top across from the lavatory is unbelievably useful both for packing and using it for any electrical appliance you may want to use as the plug points are directly above it.

Next to the counter top is the entrance to the shower. As you can see there is a bench in the shower for whatever you want to use it. It is especially useful for keeping your clothes dry while showering (neither Ruah nor Eden Park have this). The shower itself is very spacious.

The campground is very close to the Rust der Winter Road and the traffic is quite heavy until about 21:00, so it can be a little bit noisy - depending on the wind/air movement at the time.

(updated: 31 August 2023)

Things to do

There are about 15km of roads to explore on the farm. This can be done on foot, on bicycles and by hiring electric scooters at reception. Hiring the electric scooters includes a guided tour by the owner. Guests are not allowed to drive in their own vehicles on the farm.

As I will be referring to this map quite often, I suggest you open another copy of the image in a new browser tab by right-clicking on it (long press on it from a mobile device). You can then flip to the map in the new tab when necessary.

Unfortunately, there are no signposts on the trails, but once you figure out how the map works, it is easy to follow. What is very useful are the distances given. You soon realise you have made a wrong turn if the distance you walked is more or less than you expected.

The fenced area of the caravan park is roughly enclosed in the area A2, D2, E, F and A3 on the map above. All areas marked with a no entry sign on the map are private residences and off-limits to visitors. Other useful points of reference are:

• B4: the entrance gate from the Rust de Winter road;
• E: the gate into the campground (the reception office is at this gate);
• C: the yellow rectangle between C and H3 represents a footbridge over the Boekenhout Spruit - the bridge is also suitable for the electric scooters (and any game wishing to cross the river without getting wet!);
• A2: from inside the fenced area of the campground walking eastward (downwards on the map) from ablution block 2, there are two gates at A2, one heads south to the river (to the left towards A1 on the map), the other east (downwards on the map) to a private section of the farm.

On our first walk, we did trespass by going through the wrong gate at A2. The pictures give you an idea of how dry the veld was after winter.

Pat did see a korhaan at the old cattle dipping pen (top right picture in the montage above), but it disappeared in the direction of the river before we could ID it.

We did a circular route, back to the gate we started from and did get to the river.

A nice easy walk is from the campsites to A2, then through the gate to A1. From A1 to C, there are several paths to the river. (Fishing is permitted.)

There are several weirs on the river which make pretty pools. We saw five Black Ducks below the weir in the top right pic in the montage above. I have never seen that many Black Duck together at once.

On the southern side of the footbridge, we wanted to see what was at the dam between I2 and R on the map. From H3, we headed towards H4, then on to I1 and I2. At I1, we saw a small troop of vervet monkeys, but these ran off into the bush as soon as they saw us (we didn't see monkeys in the campground).

The dam is quite big, but unfortunately it is choked with reeds. There are small pools of water visible from the road. In one of these, we saw a jacana, and what might have been a Black Crake. We also heard a Cape Reed Warbler, so there are birds in the reeds. What was surprising was that there were no signs of old bishop nests - the area looks ideal for them.

Following the road to M2, you reach a tract of land which is more like a savanna region than typical bushveld.

Under the trees in the distance in this patch we saw a small herd of wildebees, with one lone eland; a small herd of impala; a herd of kudu; and a herd of nyala. At that time, all we had seen was a herd of nyala just outside the fenced area of the campground. Seeing all these animals made the walk worthwhile.

As for birds, we did not see too many species (our list was 52), but for the time of year it was not too bad. In the campground itself, there are some really tame species that wander around under tables and chairs in the campsites looking for titbits.

As Almega is just outside Dinokeng, visiting Dinokeng could be something else to do. You can pay the conservation fee and purchase a self-drive permit either at the reserve office in the Safari Mall, or at the Wilderness Gate on De Wagendrif Road. I have given fairly detailed descriptions in my review of Willemsrus.

There is also a kiddies play area on the campground.

Just beyond the kiddies play area, in the direction of the reception office, is the swimming pool.

The swimming pool is unique in that it's in the shape of an electric guitar!

The mobile data signal is fair. Both MTN and Vodacom were steady on at least 3G for most of the day, which made it usable, but not really good enough for serious business (but then you are supposed to be on holiday!).

(updated: 5 September 2023)

Concluding Remarks

The stands are well grassed for the time of year. By and large, there is quite a bit of shade, but unfortunately, the stand we got did not have too much - I would avoid 3A & B and 10 on future visits.

The campground is geared towards caravaners as they are less worried about the sun than tent campers. I can imagine that the campground can get quite full over weekends. We were fortunate that the occupancy was less than 40% in the time we were there, even though this is the most people we have had in a campground on a midweek trip.

The braais are cleaned every afternoon in time for the evening braai. What I like is that no-one comes to clean the bathroom during your stay - your privacy is maintained. The owner comes around every afternoon with firewood and ice for sale, and loves to chat with all the campers.

For me the highlight of this campground are the trails through acacia bushveld. Even though we visited at the end of winter, there were still birds to see. It is also very close to Dinokeng if you feel the need to see big game - for me, the antelope on the Almega grounds were sufficient.

I definitely want to do another visit, when the veld is green and the migrant birds are still in the area.

(updated: 6 September 2023)

Equipment tested

• Bluetti: The Bluetti EB70 was used to charge the Jackery 500 which was running the fridge during our stay. The EB70 was charged by a Bluetti PV200 solar panel. This system worked really well, without having to use mains power.
• Tent: The Oztrail Bungalow 9 had its first taste of really windy conditions, with some strong gusts on our last night. This was not pleasant, but everything stayed put.

(updated: 29 August 2023)

Campgrounds