Cape Vidal , the lost and wasted paradise

[Henkus]

Only problem is the terrible noise people make running their cars and generators to create power, which ruins it for me, as we are not kitchen sink campers.
I have such fond memories of peace and quiet camping, which is still possible in the Berg.
Agree also that Kruger is still top notch, and there are some nice small spots there where noise is not allowed. Hluhluwe? But all booked up for Xmas. Any private places anybody knows about? It all seems to be clamping these days.
I’m looking at trying Sugarloaf as it’s been some years since visiting St Lucia central, but am feeling scared about the lack of water and dirt on the one hand and generator noise on the other. Sodwana camping was ok a few years ago.

Sugarloaf? No water? Is this recent?
It was beautiful the last time I was there earlier this year. Monkeys might be an issue though. Locals crowding the area around the entrance and ski-boat club is the other issue I have. They don't get the peace and quiet or pick up your rubbish ideas.

[walkabout]

Sugarloaf? No water? Is this recent?
It was beautiful the last time I was there earlier this year. Monkeys might be an issue though. Locals crowding the area around the entrance and ski-boat club is the other issue I have. They don't get the peace and quiet or pick up your rubbish ideas.

Yes had it for periods last year December already, without pre-warning, with quite a bit of loadshedding as well.

Still a lovely spot to camp with bokkies walking around and great birdlife, but definitely more run-down than a few years ago.

[Sagittaire]

I stay in Durban so I regularly camp at Cape Vidal. Their reservation system doesn’t work so you just have to take a chance and pitch up at the gate. The staff are all friendly and eager to help, that’s where it ends. The amount of garbage within the campsite area is disgusting. This past weekend it took an hour to pickup rubbish from the bush around the camp as well as the bin area where hyena, honey badgers and Samango monkeys easily open and raid the bins. I don’t blame the wildlife, it’s Isimangaliso not providing any proper services. No specific place is allocated for fires and the campsites are never cleaned. Campers are also at fault as I’ve never seen a monkey take empty beer bottles into the bush? It’s just disgusting, we pay for a service, they must clean the campsites whether it’s trash from the wildlife or dirty campers?

[Sagittaire]

Can anyone give an update on whether any work has been done on the Vidal ablutions? Last report was that one of the blocks has been renovated, has there been any improvements overall?

This weekend 20 October I stayed in Campsite 16 at the far end. The showers are working well in that ablution block and the tiles have been painted. The ‘family’ ablutions are still closed. The water is the normal brown colour and not mud. The bins were not emptied once in my 3 day stay so we dropped our bin bags off in bins near the office. Vidal is still paradise and you must just work around the short comings. The bush around the campsites looks like a landfill site. Otherwise all good, staff are great.

[Henkus]

I don't see why people who pay, read, PAY for a stand, have to work around shortcomings.

This is a disgrace. We, the gullible Jan Alleman public pay and keep on letting them get away with the slow decay.

ST Lucia..... read some posts, it's going the same way.

Sodwana...100s of campsites but many are so overgrown that they will never get used again. Phone them and they'll tell you they are fully booked just so that they don't have a camp full of people. Ablutions are still okay and the water is at least not brown, but neglect and idiots who go around smashing stuff. Ablution block near sites J182-184, because of its remote location has been slowly destroyed by really stupid morons who go and visit the park and can't behave like civilized humans but rather like wild animals.

The fact that the new undercover stalls for the traders at Sodwana has been left 40% complete and is slowly decaying is just another indicator of how deep the rot lies. Someone was paid for a job and it should have been paid only after completion. There is nobody who cares about it. They and us just accept it and that is why they get away with all of the stealing and bad management.

Enter the beach checkpoint gate at Sodwana, for years now they are not doing anything to fill the holes so when it rains, it is a muddy mess.

Ndumo, read all the sad stories.

Tembe, probably same as Ndumo.

Mapelane, beautiful paradise Mapelane..... my heart breaks that I am not able to go and enjoy it anymore because of poor management and criminal activities in and around the area.

Fanies Eiland, gone.

Charters Creek, "being fixed" for many years now but basically going to ruin.

Nee wat, all these places will slowly disappear and we will be the ones losing. At least I have fond memories of these places in the days before the clowns took over.

[Koos Best]

I don't see why people who pay, read, PAY for a stand, have to work around shortcomings.

This is a disgrace. We, the gullible Jan Alleman public pay and keep on letting them get away with the slow decay.

I could not say it better, exactly we must not accept the failed management of our parks and wildlife heritage , epspecially in KZN.
The control authorities or should I rather say the NON controlling authorities, KZN wildlife and Isimangiliso must disban and all parks in the province must be taken over by SANPARKS.

[walkabout]

There might be a few people by now with more updated news than mine, but we went to Vidal the weekend of 10 November 2023, not camping stayed in the bungalows. I did though cycle through the whole campsite and also went into all 3 bathrooms there, obviously only male sections.

I must say I could not see that any revamps have been down as reported earlier. The 1st bathrooms, as you come in on the right did have a sign on the wall to say renovations has started, as below. I quite enjoyed the wording!

The campsites itself were trimmed and looked neat.

On the bungalow side there was work going on every day, you could hear the chainsaws etc. They also used the 1unit just past ours (maybe no. 12), as their "storage and eating bungalow". Every morning a couple of bakkies would race in and drop off the workers, male and female (cleaners) who worked from this bungalow; but they seemed to get to it quite quickly and quietly, other than the machinery noise of course.

The bungalow we stayed in was ok, small things like door latches, knobs etc have still not been replaced, but otherwise working fine. The tap water was still brown, but they gave you a clear, about 50l container, water at the bungalow as well. They told us it was for the toilets though which was a bit puzzling, but as we brought drinking water did not really worry too much about it. The outside benches were in disrepair including some wooden fences. A young genet visited every night and a few big bush pigs came to visit the Saturday night. Lots of bushbuck abound.

As always the bungalows were well cleaned by the cleaning ladies.

The shop was very sparely stocked; they did not even have ice creams to sell, but did have lots of ice. Not lekker, especially for the kids. Is was also quite embarrassing to see foreign tourists walking in in 30plus degree heat, looking for an ice cream or cooldrink to buy, but walking out a few seconds later with disbelief on their faces.

Nature-wise still a lovely spot though.

[Pottie1]

We have been staying in St Lucia for the last two weeks and driving into Cape Vidal everyday as we have done for the last 5 years. The water at the public facilities at Cape Vidal have been absent for the duration of our holiday. My wife had to use the mens toilets today as the ladies toilets are filled to the brim after two weeks of no water. We love this place. The fact that the Rhino cards are redundant from April next year makes it worse.

[plunger]

ANyone else have feed back of Cape Vidal.?

[IcePick88]

ANyone else have feed back of Cape Vidal.?

We visited on the 3rd of Jan 2024.

No water in any of the day visitors bathrooms at the beach as well as the showers when getting off the beach! Female toilets disgusting! Broken windows. They can't even get dressed inside.

Men's toilets clean and smells nice. Except no water also! My wife and daughter had to get dressed there.

But see plenty of "staff" walking around. Dunno what they doing there.

The bathrooms in the "game park" side is clean, with running water and flushing toilets.

It's actually disgusting. Not sure where people need to relieve themselves!

[out of africa]

Has anyone been to Cape Vidal recently? Want to go end of April but not keen if there's no running water

[Lee__John]

Spent the day there on Saturday, the beach showers were running, so there must be water...
We drove through the campsite, it was very full (easter), but we didnt pick up on it being very dirty...

[PJ SA]

Well looks like Ezemvelo has redone their website in the last few months (unless I'm very late to this party)

https://www.kznwildlife.com/ecotouri...ape-vidal.html

[walkabout]

Haven't seen that, thanks.

Guys what is the name of the bottom spot (picture) in my link? It is one of the 2 bush lodges on the right just before you cross the river when you drive to Mpila from the N2 bottom gate: https://www.kznwildlife.com/accomodation.html

[PJ SA]

Haven't seen that, thanks.

Guys what is the name of the bottom spot (picture) in my link? It is one of the 2 bush lodges on the right just before you cross the river when you drive to Mpila from the N2 bottom gate: https://www.kznwildlife.com/accomodation.html

Think it might be Nselweni

[Gungets Tuft]

Haven't seen that, thanks.

Guys what is the name of the bottom spot (picture) in my link? It is one of the 2 bush lodges on the right just before you cross the river when you drive to Mpila from the N2 bottom gate: https://www.kznwildlife.com/accomodation.html

Definitely the deck for the communal area at Nselweni.

[Lukeh192]

Has anyone been to Cape Vidal recently? Want to go end of April but not keen if there's no running water

Hello All, does anyone have an update on the cleanliness of the Cape Vidal Campsite? Have the ablutions been fixed and is there running water?

We looking at booking for a trip in August - however due to it being high season they are charging R1000 per night for a campsite. I dont want to pay this if the facilities are run down.

[walkabout]

Thanks PJ SA & GT!

[Jeandaym]

Good evening everyone,
I'm planning a trip to Vidal for month end, and really excited 🤗
I'm wondering if any members have stayed recently?
Is it functioning OK at the moment? I'd really appreciate any feedback!

Thanks in advance and a great evening to all.

[walkabout]

Good evening everyone,
I'm planning a trip to Vidal for month end, and really excited 🤗
I'm wondering if any members have stayed recently?
Is it functioning OK at the moment? I'd really appreciate any feedback!

Thanks in advance and a great evening to all.

Camping or bungalows?