Heart Of The Garden Route

The ATKV Hartenbos resort started way back in 1936 as a part of the South African railways, and soon Hartenbos became one of the most popular venues on the Cape's east coast.

- Richard Van Ryneveld

With the influx of yearly holidaymakers, ground around the resort was sold off and over time the town of Hartenbos developed.

With the development of the nearby seafront complex, ATKV Hartenbos probably offers more activities for holidaymakers than any other similar resort in the country.

It’s a massive resort, truly one of the biggest in South Africa.

There are more than 570 caravan and camping sites, some close to the sea and others further back, but all the sites are actually relatively close to the beach.

The camping sites, as well as the rondavels and chalets, are contained in 6 “Blocks” or “Terrains” as they are marked on the map: B Block, C Block, D Block, E Block, F Block and finally J Block.

Blocks C and D are set about 10 metres above sea level, with about 48 sites in each block; they’re also closest to the shops. Block J is set back with no sea view, but is close to shops.

I first camped in the E Block at stand 37 – snug in my bed in the Stealth EVO XR6 caravan, I looked out watching the lights of an oil rig and a large cargo ship lying in the bay. The beach with its lapping waves was literally 30 metres away from my caravan.

The next morning I moved up to on to the top terrace of the E Block to stand number 96. The only reason why I moved was because I’m a photographer, and this site offered me better opportunities to get the caravan and Isuzu mu-X with the sea in the background.

I also had nice shade up on the top deck, so perhaps I would choose it in the future.