Life at the Bay

At Sugar Bay Resort, we offer two types of holidays; a holiday camp and a school camp/tour. Our holiday camps are typically held during the holiday period whilst schools are on break, at least four times in a year. Our school camps/tours are held throughout the year and typically host both local and international schools out of peak holiday periods.  Sending your child to Sugar Bay on a school camp, however, isn’t the same as sending them to a holiday camp. There’s a misconception between the two, whereby, parents assume that their kids have reaped all the benefits that the complete Sugar Bay experience has to offer during a school camp. A school camp/tour is merely a taste of what can be experienced during our holiday camps, where the opportunities and fun are endless. Here are 7 differences between holiday camps and school camps/tours: 1. The Leaders During school camps/tours, learners are accompanied by their headmasters and educators. This sometimes leaves kids ver...

Over the past few years, we’ve been noticing a significant decrease in the number of female applicants who sign up to become camp counselors.    Many young ladies feel as if they cannot advance if they do not begin studying right away, and often end up disappointed after a year or two, when they realize that they stepped into the wrong career path.    At Sugar Bay, we believe that high-school graduates should take time out to discover themselves if they are unsure of what career path to choose. This is why we recommend that you join the Sugar Bay family during your gap year and train to become a camp counselor.    Find out the benefits you can reap from working as a camp counselor at Sugar Bay below: Counselor-in-training (CIT) Course: When you sign up for our CIT course, you will be in line to receive accredited qualifications that will be useful within the camp environment, including international camps, as well as outside of the cam...

Sugar Bay Resort is a holiday camp for kids and teens located on the Dolphin Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The camp has been running for the past sixteen years and has improved with every passing year.   We recently spoke with Sugar Bay’s camp director, Zoe Ellender, to find out how she envisioned the summer camp concept and in turn, created the exceptional camp.    Ellender shared that it all began with her unhappiness practicing as an attorney. She disliked the unhappy environment where the more miserable clients were, the more money you made. She engaged in some deep soul searching after her realization that her career was too negative for her, and, with the aid of a life coach, was lead into discovering what her passions were. “I love the beach, I love children, I love the sun and hate England, events management, sports, especially ocean sports, teaching, and planning and going on holiday” , she said as her face lit up with glee.    “When I discovered m...

  Simple, yet essential life skills like appreciation, courage, trust, etcetera, cannot be studied out the pages of a book. These lessons require direct participation and are best learned from purposeful reflection.    A holiday camp which encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning seemed to be a great start for laying the foundation for experiential education. Experiential Education is a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill, and value from direct experience.    At Sugar Bay holiday camp, four metres elevated from the ground, was not only where a new crate building record was achieved, but also courage. Motivated by a bunch of campers, a little boy conquered his fear of heights. This was where he discovered that he was indeed a courageous young man.   A few metres away, a group of girls were sitting under a tree, braiding friendship bracelets. After the class, they exchanged bracelets with a str...

Integrity is a fundamental element for any holiday camp simply because; it is based on honesty, strong moral principles, uprightness and unity. When searching for the perfect holiday camp, these three elements should be present, just as it is at Sugar Bay Resort. The luxury holiday camp for kids and teens is certainly an all-rounder when it comes to integrity at camp.   The camp practices this significant quality by ensuring that honesty is the number one priority – amongst the camp staff, counselors and campers. The staff are well aware that without honesty, there cannot be trust, and without trust there cannot be a camp possessing integrity. Parents will only send their kids to stay-over camp if they trust the organization or people whom their children will be supervised by and accompanied with. At Sugar Bay, honesty and trustworthiness is genuine, as this holiday destination is the first choice for many parents who need reassurance that their kids will be in capabl...

  One of the greatest issues parents are faced with these days are in fact, homesick kids. We've been having so many trust issues that most of us haven't even sent our kids away from home before the age of 12. This is becoming an issue, as the older our kids are growing only being exposed to their comfort zones, the greater their homesickness and the chances of them not being independent.    If you have decided that the time is right to send your kids away from home. Here are 5 effective strategies to help the little ones grow their wings and soar away from home. 5 Ways to deal with Homesickness: 1. Prepare your child Preparing your children before they leave for a vacation is the first step in dealing with homesickness. It needs to be established that missing home and finding it difficult to adjust to new situations is indeed a normality. The aim of this preparation helps kids to deal with and understand their emotions. Once they unders...

In recent times, we often forget about spending time away from the screens and technology because we are convinced that our lives are to be lived within these devices and online social media platforms.    However, it is important to take some me-time away from technology every now and then, and if you aren’t doing this with us here at Sugar Bay camp, then here are some relaxing, technology free activities that you can indulge in some evenings to calm you down before bedtime and bring you back down to earth. Here are 6 ways to reconnect with yourself without technology: 1. Reading   Make a list of your favourite sequels that you have been meaning to read for eons but never really got the chance to. Go to the library, borrow these books knowing that you have a deadline to fulfil. Then, sit down and get engrossed in the pages of a good old book. 2. Writing    We’re not advising writing a book, but just little, effortless pieces ...