Yellow Sands Caravan Park
A coastal caravan park at the Kwelera River mouth near East London
Yellow Sands Caravan Park is a coastal campground at the mouth of the Kwelera River, twenty-five kilometres east of East London. The Leppan family have run it for six decades, converting what was once a dairy farm into level, electrified sites with sea and river views. You camp within walking distance of both the beach and the river, with the Indian Ocean on one side and the Kwelera on the other.
The park has an eighteen-metre swimming pool that won silver in the 2018 Pool of the Year awards. Yellow's Bru Bistro serves burgers, pizzas, and breakfast buns with bacon and hollandaise, alongside craft beers on tap. The kitchen stays open through the day, and families fill the tables at midday.
Sites are allocated by length of stay — bookings of twenty nights or longer get first choice from January onward, while shorter stays can book from June. Each site takes up to six people; additional visitors pay a day rate. The park does not allow dogs during the December and January high season, except for guide dogs.
The Kwelera River, meeting the sea here, is the reason the campground exists at all. You wake to its quiet flow and the sound of waves from the beach beyond the dunes.