Escape the hustle and bustle of city life and come and experience our little gem in the Karoo.

Porcupine Rest Camp is owned and run by Joy Nel and her adventure and culture guide partner, Francois Roverch. Joy spent many years travelling southern Africa’s wilderness areas and fell in love with the African bush. She left the chaos of city life to follow her dream: to establish a spot for campers where you don’t need to share overcrowded ablutions or a run-of-the mill patch of lawn; a place where people could enjoy nature and all that it offers. Francois is a nature lover who grew up at the foot of Table Mountain and spent much of his time exploring it. A keen camper from an early age, he worked as a full-time river guide before guiding countless visitors on various other adventure activities, such as sand boarding, quad-biking and hiking trips. Porcupine Rest Camp is an incredible new adventure for Francois, and falling in love with Joy and the Karoo has been an added blessing.

At Porcupine Rest Camp, when you book a site, it is yours exclusively. No sharing with strangers. Instead, you’ll have the peace and privacy that city life often denies you and you can spend quality time with your friends and family. We are biker- and cyclist-friendly (see our camp gear packages) and are a popular stop-over for groups doing road trips in the area. We take walk-ins too and even for those who can’t stay the night, The Overlander Bush Pub is a welcome break and little oasis in our Karoo valley.

In keeping with Porcupine’s ideal of treading lightly through nature, the rustic but comfortable camp sites are designed to blend in with their natural setting and use mainly local materials and on-site resources. Deadwood and invasive flora is used to stoke the hot-water donkey boilers, and The Overlander runs solely on solar energy.

Joy and Francois also believe in putting something back, so most of the items available for purchase – meat, ice, bread, homemade goodies and crafts – are locally sourced and support local small businesses and the Vleiland and Karoo community.

PETS
ONE site at a time will be open to pets, subject to our terms and conditions, and agreed to at the time of making the booking.

ELECTRICITY
There are NO power points at the campsites. Cellphones, tablets and GoPros can be charged at The Overlander/reception area. We are totally off-grid and run on solar energy – no load-shedding!

CELLPHONES & WIFI
Only Vodacom and limited Cell C coverage; no MTN or Telkom. WiFi available at The Overlander/reception area.

Campsites
The three private sites – Karee, Sweet Thorn, River Camp – are in a unique setting and spaced well apart. They offer privacy and a chance to really appreciate nature and the beauty of the Karoo landscape and Klein Swartberg mountains. Our new site – Sunset Camp – is a communal site during busy periods, but can also be hired as a private site for large groups. It has two showers, two toilets, a massive braai pit, wash-up area and hot water supplied by a gas geyser.

And for those who want to enjoy an ice-cold beer or a game of pool in a really chilled setting, there’s also The Overlander Bush Pub and swimming pool at the camp’s reception area.

Campsites include:
Private ablutions for private sites; shared ablutions for communal site
No electricity at sites, but cellphones etc. can be charged at the bar
Fireplace with braai grid
Wash-up area
Hot water donkey boiler (donkey wood provided free of charge); gas geyser in Sunset Camp
Large shady trees
Braai wood to purchase
Private access to river at private sites

No. of Campsites:

Name: Porcupine Rest Camp
Item: Porcupine Rest Camp
Rating: 5
Author: Josh Edwards

Safety and Security:

Lighting around Campsites
Manned Gate

Pet Policy:

Pre-Authorised

Mobile Reception:

Partial

Facilities:

Bar
BBQ / Braai Facility
Hot Showers
Pool
Restaurant
Scullery/Washup Area
Toilet
Toilets (Flushing)

Activities:

4x4 Trails
Bird Watching
Hiking
Mountain Biking
Nature Photography
Star Gazing

Accessibility:

4x4 Vehicle
Gravel
Standard Caravan
Standard Trailer
Standard Vehicle

Music Policy:

No Load Music Allowed

Sort By

Josh Edwards

Rating

Been to Porcupine on two occasions. The private campsites are amazing and the ablutions really special, the hosts are very friendly and they have an awesome bush pub and outdoor lounge area along with swimming pool.

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8 months ago

Get Outdoors Africa

Explore Africa’s amazing, camping, glampling, pet-friendly, off-grid, 4×4, campsite accommodation destinations.

Porcupine Rest Camp

Porcupine Rest Camp

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