Chasing The Sun

[TRAVEL]  Mossel Bay, Western Cape.

- Richard Van Ryneveld

When you bum is blue with cold in your home in the Overberg, the chance of a trip to the “best weather” in South Africa is a heart-warming thought. (Or would that be butt-warming?)

A trip to the harbour town of Mossel Bay – a place with 320 sunny days a year – was just what the doctor ordered.

Snugly ensconced in the cabin of a brand new Renault Kadjar TCE XP, I set out on the 380-odd kilometres from our office in Cape town to visit Dibiki Holiday Resort and De Bakke Santos. I had heard plenty of “You have to visit Dibiki” on the travellers’ grapevine over the years, and I now had the chance to experience it for myself. And at Dibiki, I was to meet my new home-on-wheels for the trip: a small chap called the Serai Weekender.

I liked Dibiki from the moment I drove through the front gate. Dibiki is small, intimate, neat as a pin, and has really friendly, welcoming staff at reception. I bought a big bag of hardehout and meandered back to the Serai to start the fire, as I was expecting special guests to join me for a braai.

The Serai is the dream-child of Christo Paulse and his wife Tinka, who had actually set up the caravan and an adjoining gazebo tent for me on the grass close to the entrance of the resort. It was they who would be joining me for dinner.

Many good South African stories are told around a braai fire. The story of the Serai is no different.

‘We have always been mad-keen campers’ said Christo, as the fire’s orange glow was reflected in the shiny white fibreglass cocoon behind us. ‘We were living in Wonderboom in Pretoria when we started with a tent, but moved on to a caravan later.’

Tinka added, ‘But we didn’t like the caravan layout. Christo was always thinking of ways to change it.’