Cape Town - Residents from Mamre, Atlantis, and Pella camping annually at the Silverstream Resort want the City to resolve challenges they say they experience while holidaying at the Grotis Park camp site.
The resort which is situated off the West Coast R27 road is a family getaway that offers camping, caravan, and braai facilities.
A two-bedroom chalet at the resort costs R525 a night during high season (between Easter weekend and Freedom Day up to and including Workers Day weekend and December 15 to January 15) while from April 1 to September 30 (excluding Easter weekend and Freedom Day up to and including Workers Day Weekend) patrons pay R351.
The challenges that the residents said needed urgent interventions included lack of ablution facilities, a limit of six people per camping site, and access hours with no day visitors allowed. A petition was submitted to the City.
Petition author Beverley Johannes said with no ablution facilities, longstay visitors to the Grotis Park camp site had to walk to the caravan park or general parking area for ablution and washing facilities.
Previously, she said, mobile toilets were made available and that this had now been discontinued.
She said the lack of toilets not only caused inconveniences and discomfort but also affected the visitors’ health and safety.
“As a result, we have no other choice but to use a bucket system, especially at night. It is disgraceful that holidaymakers are made to use a bucket system. Add to this, the other ablution blocks always have long queues which are indicative that ablution facilities, in general, are not sufficient to cater to all beachgoers,” she said.
Johannes said the limitation of six people per camping site was forcing residents to leave some of their loved ones at home as they could not afford to book additional sites. This with no visitors allowed during the day was isolating other family members.
She asked the City to consider increasing the number of people per plot to the average size of a family, which she said was eight to ten.
“If controlling the number of people staying over is an issue, a tag/sign-in procedure can be used to ensure that all visitors to our camp signs out and return tags at the end of the day,” she said.
The City said it notes the claims made and that these are viewed in a serious light.
“The Recreation and Parks Department is looking into the allegations and will respond once the investigation is complete,” it said.