Rugged panoramic beauty

Fiddlers Creek Campsite on the Orange/Gariep River

- Richard van Ryneveld

My love of Namaqualand and especially the Richtersveld goes way back to 1971. In my first university vac, I ended up working as a barman at the art deco Masonic Hotel in Springbok. A few years later I ended up working on the Namibian side of the Orange River. Namaqualand and the Richtersveld is now imprinted are my DNA! Actually, Namibia falls into the same category. Like me, a large number of the camping and caravanning fraternity will be looking for camping facilities on the Orange/Gariep River at the South African/Namibian border post at Vioolsdrif. There are plenty of campsites on both the South African and the Namibian sides of the river. But let me share one of my favourite campsites on the South African banks of the wide river, it is called Fiddlers Creek.

Fiddlers Creek is the name of the base camp for Bushwhacked Outdoor Adventures. Bushwacked adventure is a very popular venue for river rafting on the Orange River. Adam and Maudie Bleach are the owners of Fiddlers Creek campsite and the adventure company. I love arriving at Fiddlers Creek. Turning left just before the Vioolsdrif bridge one heads west with the wide river on your right for about 10.5km before seeing a quirky old clay-coloured Bedford bus, with some pretty weathered old khaki river rafts on the roof. Turn right. You’re almost home. Drive slowly through the ‘flood irrigated’ fruit orchards down to a bit of riverside paradise, slowly ‘coz you don’t want to cover the fruit with dust – and continue down to a piece of paradise on the river called Fiddlers Creek.