Camping Gear

 Sleeping Bag  Tent  Bivouac Sack  Sleeping Pad  Stove  

You should know that although I own plenty of it, I never carry heavy camping gear on an overseas trip, and only occasionally carry a sleeping bag. That is my practice and my point of view. Many travelers don't agree, and a number of them carry tents and stoves. I will tell you why I think it is often inappropriate, and then I will make some recommendations, if you do decide to take them.

Is it a Camping Trip?

NO!  Third World Travel is not a camping trip.  There are certain similarities, but in almost every place you can get to out there, you will find very reasonable lodgings and food, so that you do not need to take a tent or stove, and not necessarily a sleeping bag. Perhaps you've had experience -- or heard stories of others -- travelling cheaply in Europe, where staying in campgrounds and cooking your own food is a way to survive the otherwise high prices. This is just not necessary in most of the Third World. If you do bring a tent and stove, you will be able to enjoy camping out from time to time, but it is not usually necessary. You may even find a few places in the world where you can make a regular practice of camping, but for general travel in the Third World, it is just as reasonable to leave the heavy camping gear at home.

Some first-time travelers make the mistake of thinking that ordinary traveling in the Third World is a camping trip. They leave home with a tent, stove, pots, freeze-dried foods, sleeping bag and a rolled-up sleeping pad, just as if they were headed to the mountains for a couple of weeks. Although they find it difficult to actually camp out in most places they travel to, they can't bear to part with this expensive equipment. So they build their trip around the gear. They look for camping opportunities wherever they can find them, often camping on the grounds of cheap hostels or beach bungalows to save some money. They cook their own meals. They make the most use they can of their camping equipment, even pitching tents in hotel rooms to protect them from insects. (It really does work, but it may not be reason enough to bring a tent.)

For me they are like the bicycle enthusiasts who ride their bicycles all over the world. They are intrepid, tough, brave, individualistic, and they have a unique experience. They can get to some more places than people without all that gear, but they may also set themselves apart from other travelers and from the local people. In some ways their trip is dominated by their equipment.

Tents, heavy sleeping bags, cook stoves, fuel bottles, pots and pans are fine for camping out. The reality of most Third World travels is that you will rarely need to camp out in really isolated areas. Why?

First, it is usually unnecessary. If your purpose is to reach isolated mountain, desert, or island regions where you know that no facilities exist, then camping out is the way to go. But most of the places you can get to in the Third World are near some population, even just a small village, and you can usually find shelter and food. You can even go trekking in Nepal for weeks, staying and eating each night in a village that is accustomed to taking in travelers. Except in the rare National Parks, you will find people inhabiting all but the most desolate areas.

A lot of back-country traveling almost seems like camping out. Getting back to the basics of survival seems less romantic after living in primitive huts for a few months. I have "camped out" for weeks on numerous beaches, sleeping in a crude hut or in a hammock between the trees, and cooking on a campfire each night. But there was always a shop not too far away, or at least some fishermen to supply food.

_____________________________________________________
Camping Light

I once made a solo trip into the Mexican jungle to find the Mayan ruins of Bonampak, years before there was any road there. I started hitching into the jungle carrying one of those flimsy little day packs with nothing but a hammock, wool shirt, first aid kit, insect repellent, compass, water bottle, tin cup, flashlight, spoon, spare underwear, some tinned mackerel, condensed sweet milk, soda crackers, and coffee. I spent two and a half days and two nights on jungle trails, and two more nights at the end of the road, hours drive from the nearest house or shop. I found the ruins, as well as an isolated village of Lacandon Indians. I would have been safer and more comfortable camping in the jungle with a tent and stove, but I would certainly not have enjoyed carrying them through that awful heat.  In fact, it probably would have killed me!

Second, there are rarely any designated campgrounds such as you would expect to find in Europe or North America. Aside from water and toilet facilities, an "organized" campground provides some amount of security and the presence of other campers. In overpopulated Third World countries you will find few "natural" environments without any human habitation. At least you will be subjected to great public scrutiny, especially by children who will gather around your campsite to stare as you go through your daily routines. In many rural areas, the temptation of an unattended tent is too much for local people who have little. You must be very careful where you camp out, especially when you consider that one poor choice could end your camping trip altogether! In many instances, the best location is on the grounds of a hotel. Think about that.

Yes, you can camp out in organized camping grounds in the fine national parks of Costa Rica and Kenya, and in parts of North Africa where Europeans commonly go car-camping; in some of these places, you can also find accommodation nearby. There are many other places where travelers have sometimes pitched tents on isolated beaches, or on private property (with permission) without problems. Also, if you plan to do a lot of hitch-hiking in desolate country, it is advisable to be able to sleep out on your own when you must. Even in these cases, you might get by with a sleeping bag and a plastic sheet, although a tent will certainly protect you better from wild animals and insects.

Third, if your intention is merely to save money, this is a poor reason in Third World countries, where a hotel room can be had for $1 to $5, and a meal for $1 to $2. You can eat and sleep for two months for the price of a good tent or sleeping bag. What makes good economic sense in Europe and North America is not necessarily a good strategy in the Third World.

I think I have already emphasized that trying to carry everything you might ever need on your trip is not at all reasonable. Consider the Weight-to-Use ratio. If you have specific plans for camping out, and know that it will be feasible in the areas you are going to, or if you plan to do lots of intrepid traveling into remote environments where you may have to survive on your own, then you will need at least the minimum appropriate camping gear, and you will definitely have a great experience doing it. But I want to discourage first-time travelers from taking unnecessary camping gear to places where they will not need it.

Occassionally, there is another factor at work here...  Many first-time world travelers who are experienced at camping out, simply feel very much out of their element when it comes to finding lodgings and food in strange Third World countries where they do not speak the language.  Even before they leave, they somehow feel that being able to "camp out" will allow them the privacy and autonomy that they imagine they will need out there in strange places -- they are just not comfortable with the idea of communing with all those other "strange" folks from "foreign" European countries... For them, their familiarity with their camping gear and the "camping experience" makes them feel a little less insecure in their Third World travel environment.  In my opinion, that is certainly not any reason to lug around 20 pounds and hundreds of dollars of unnecessary camping equipment -- when you could just as well travel unfettered and just jump right into the travelers' community at hostels and cheap cafes.  Living among the people -- locals and "foreign" travelers alike -- is much of the fascinating experience of travel!

Going Camping

If you decide to do some real camping out, a few guidelines are in order about the gear you take. As much as possible do not take really expensive equipment that you will hate to damage, lose, or sell. Also realize that a one week backpacking trip to the mountains is easy compared to the abuse your gear will take on the Road. Although it is made to stand up to the elements, camping gear can be relatively fragile when it comes to being tossed and kicked around for months on end. Some equipment may require regular seam-sealing, dry-cleaning, repair or replacement of worn parts. This is not a problem at home where you use it for one week a few times a year. But carrying it off to the edges of the Earth for several months of hard traveling is a different story entirely.

Like all travel gear, the simpler the better. Look for items with sturdy materials and construction, fewer parts that can possibly break or go wrong, and are easy to clean, mend, and maintain. Take what you will need to mend your tent, stove, and sleeping bag, should it become necessary. If your stove or tent poles break along the way, they may become useless weight.

Sleeping Bag

Use

You should understand that a sleeping bag serves different purposes for traveling than for camping. Yes, it is sometimes used to give you a warm place to sleep, especially outdoors, and this is certainly a good reason to take one. In warm tropical climates, a sleeping bag is just as useful for giving you a clean and bug-free place to sleep, even in hotel rooms. It is also used as a coat and seat cushion on the bus, and often just as a spare blanket on chilly nights. For each of these uses, there are other alternatives, many of them smaller and lighter, but the more rough traveling you do, the more a sleeping bag may fit into your plans.

Unless you'll be camping out in cold climates, a really warm sleeping bag is useless just because it is too warm. Another consideration is washability; your clean sleeping bag won't stay clean for long and you will need to wash and dry it regularly. Unlike a camping bag, washability and durability are more important in a travel sleeping bag than warmth. You will want a sleeping bag that packs small and light, is not too warm for the climate you'll be in, is easy to wash out, and sturdy enough to stand up to the abuses of travel. My vote is for a bag that has already proven itself by standing up for a year or two; it will also be worn enough that you won't mind all the horrible things that will happen to it along the way. Also consider one of the newer super-light synthetic bags that pack small, weigh under three pounds (1.3 kilos), are reasonably inexpensive, and can zip out into a blanket for two people.

Materials

The best materials for a travel bag are synthetic; the more you pay, the more "hi-tech" the insulating materials you get; and you can pay plenty for a new one. Down is not only too warm and even more expensive, but it is useless when wet, and difficult to wash and dry properly without ruining the "loft" of the feathers; down is just not practical for hard traveling, especially in moderately warm areas. Cotton bags are much too bulky and mold faster than synthetics. A bag that unzips into a square blanket is not as warm to sleep in, but has many more uses and is generally cheaper than a "mummy bag". Double zippers are preferable, and big wide zippers are easier to use and seem to be much more reliable.

Yes, for really serious cold weather camping, you will probably need down for the warmth. For this purpose, consider getting a light to medium down bag, which can be packed very small, and add a waterproof bivouac sack which will also increase the warmth in the bag. A sleeping sheet will protect the bag so you won't have to try washing it for a long time. Also consider that a down bag easily compresses under you, and you may need a sleeping pad for warmth as well as comfort.

Alternatives

Now let's consider the alternatives. To keep you warm in bed or on the bus, you could bring some extra long underwear and clothing, which will also be useful outside and in the daytime. A down vest takes up much less room than a sleeping bag and is useful all day. To keep you clean, a sleeping sheet is just as effective, much lighter and easier to wash. (As I mentioned, some people use a sleeping sheet inside their sleeping bag to keep it clean.)

To keep the bugs out, a sleeping sheet or any sheet or sarong is enough to keep the mosquitoes off. But bedbugs, fleas, and ticks can go right through the fabric. A sleeping bag protects you better, but those little devils can infest, and end up living in, your sleeping bag (even synthetic ones!) as well. A plastic sheet or poncho is better underneath you to keep bedbugs out, and the combination of a poncho and sleeping sheet could be as effective as a sleeping bag. Yes, the best protection really is to pitch a tent, even in your hotel room! A bug-proof bivouac sack is a much lighter alternative.

A seat cushion can be a real god-send sometimes, but I wouldn't carry a sleeping bag for that purpose. An extra jumper or jacket can be used effectively if you remember to have one handy. Putting such extra clothing in a large stuff sack or small pillow case will make it a more effective cushion or pillow.

So, for all the little extra uses of a sleeping bag, there are acceptable alternatives. But many people stand by their sleeping bags as necessary equipment, and often find them useful. For sleeping outside where it is cold, you will probably need a sleeping bag. Notice, however, that you may still need a tent to protect you from the rain. I have often used (only) a bivouac sack as an emergency sleeping bag and shelter in moderate climates.

Packing It

The obvious way is to roll your sleeping bag up and tie it on. A sturdy and waterproof stuff sack will protect it from the elements. If you will always be carrying a sleeping bag it is better to keep it inside your rucksack, either laying flat on the bottom, or rolled up in a separate compartment. You can now buy a special compression stuff sack with strong straps outside, that can reduce the packing size of a synthetic sleeping bag by about 40% (down would compress even more). It takes a little effort to get it compressed, but the space saving is significant. Also available are lightweight compression straps that you can use with most any large stuff sack. If you plan to carry a sleeping bag and want to get it inside your pack, this could be worth searching for.

Care of a Sleeping Bag

Every night, your body gives off a small amount of water vapor, not to mention sweat and body oils. You should air out your sleeping bag regularly, to keep it from getting damp, moldy, or worse. Hang it on the wash line on a warm day and keep an eye on it! Or hang it on the clothes line in your room for several days -- especially under a fan -- when you aren't using it.

Synthetic sleeping bags can be washed out with soap and water, if you can just find a washtub large enough for it. Then you must wait a couple of days for it to dry out properly, without being stolen. You can dry it on a line, or lay it flat on some concrete and turn it regularly. You won't want to do this very often, but when it gets really grotty, or you spill a jar of honey over it, or sleep in a mud puddle, it just has to be washed.

Down bags are much trickier. Theoretically, they require special soaps that won't damage the oils on the feathers, and the drying process is quite difficult. If you just hang the bag on a line, the wet feathers will bunch together in soggy mats at the bottom of each internal compartment. They will stay there, and eventually dry out as a tight mass of lumps. To be dried properly, the bag must be constantly "fluffed" to allow the feathers to dry out and puff up separately. Even then, a down bag may lose some of its "loft" (fluffiness) after each washing.

If your sleeping bag becomes infested with fleas, ticks, lice, etc., you must soak it in a mixture of water and some common insecticide such as lindane (Kwell); ask the local pharmacy since this is a common problem for locals. You must then thoroughly wash the insecticide out of the bag.

Tent

Get the lightest camping tent you can find that will suit your purpose. The lightest ones are under four pounds or two kilos, including rain fly. You can get one-person shelters that aren't much more than a bivy sack with a door, that come in under three pounds (1.3 kilos). If you have an old backpacking tent that is not incredibly bulky, use that instead of spending a lot of money for a new one. This makes it easier to give it away if you decide you no longer need it. (When I say 'give it away' I mean that you will sell it for next to nothing, compared to what you paid for it.) Make sure you can lock the front closure and keep it locked when you are away; it discourages honest people from disturbing your possessions, and baboons are quite adept at opening tents.

To be useful, a tent must have a solid, integrated floor that keeps insects and water out; preferably, the floor should extend up the sides so that the seams are not on the ground. Make sure the seams are sealed and sturdy; have them re-sewn before you leave if you can. Get a tent patching kit or pressure-sensitive repair tape that needs no ironing, and consider some spare shock-cords for the poles.

To be even reasonably waterproof, a tent must have a separate rain "fly", a tarp that lies closely over the tent without touching it. Without the "fly", the tent is not waterproof at all. You must take the fly, or at least be able to string a large poncho or ground sheet over the top of the tent to keep it dry. Remember that "stringing" up requires something to tie it to; in a few places there will be nothing. The few fly-less tents are made of waterproof Gore-Tex material; they are usually so small that they are just bivouac sacks with a little doorway at the front. They are worth considering for their compactness, but there is little room to even sit up, let alone stash gear inside, or to spend a rainy afternoon.

One cheap version of a tent is the "tube tent". In a few camping supply stores you can still buy tubular plastic sheets by the yard. You get about three meters (yards) and use it as a tent by stringing a line through it and attaching the line to two convenient trees. It keeps the rain out, but not much wind and no mosquitoes. It's a good emergency shelter from rain for camping, but not very good traveling gear.

One couple I know always carry a small tent they made themselves out of mosquito netting, especially when going to the tropics. It has a thin nylon floor and a T-zippered front. They find their 'tent poles' and pegs where they camp and carry a plastic sheet for a rain fly. They swear by this tent for compactness, low weight, and pitching in infested hotel rooms as well as on beaches. It is not particularly private or durable, but it keep the animals and bugs away, and is a good compromise if you think you'll be needing a tent just once in a while. But you may have to make it yourself!

A similar possibility is the "indoor travel tent" that is sold for use on your bed in a hotel room. It is very similar to the mosquito net tent my friends made, but has its own external shock-corded frame poles. It is only intended for indoor use, but has a nylon floor and could be a passable shelter outdoors. Since it is sized for beds, it is quite small, and you still need to string up a plastic fly for rain protection. It weighs almost 3 pounds (1.4 kilos), almost as much as the smallest backpacking tents, but costs half as much, though still not cheap. (Magellan's)

One fellow decided to put all his camping gear to good use in Belize. He found a sugar-cane field on the outskirts of Belize City and pitched his tent in the midst of it, oblivious to the danger of cane snakes. This did not prove to be the main problem however. One day while he was away in town, the cane field was harvested, and his tent and belongings along with it!

Bivouac Sack

Bivy Sack, for short.  This is a thin waterproof cover, usually without an inner lining, designed to completely enclose a sleeping bag and serve as an emergency shelter, in place of a tent. I've never seen this on anyone's list of travel gear, but I bought one a long time ago for backpacking at home, and have carried it on several long trips around the Third World. I carry it camping at home when I don't expect rain. It protects my down bag from dew, frost, and unexpected rain showers. Since it blocks the wind and adds a layer of insulation, it also provides an extra degree of warmth.

As travel gear, a bivy sack can replace a sleeping bag or tent, or both, if you don't need the warmth or won't be doing a lot of camping out. This fits the description of a lot of traveling in tropical Third World countries. What it lacks is the warmth of a sleeping bag and the space of a tent. It will be at least as bug-proof as a sleeping bag, especially if it completely encloses you. Mine has a mosquito-net panel over your face and one zipper across the neck. It weighs 20 ounces (560 grams), packs smaller than a pair of trousers, and is easy to wash out and dry. It didn't make the final list on my last trip because I started out with a sleeping bag, but I wish I would have had it for all the bug-infested beds I encountered later. When I do carry it, "it doesn't get used very often, but..." That's what everyone says about tents, but a bivy sack weighs only 20% to 30% what a light tent weighs.

If you are thinking of buying a sleeping bag or tent, you may want to consider this alternative. A good water-proof bivy sack is expensive -- usually made of thin Gore-Tex material -- but you can find some made of water-proof nylon, and others that are only "water-resistant", for less. They are currently advertised by REI, Campmor, Safariquip, and L.L.Bean.

Sleeping Pad

This is an insulating pad to lay on when you sleep on hard ground. The old blue "closed-cell foam" Ensolite pads are still seen rolled atop rucksacks from Kathmandu to Timbuktu. If you've done much camping out, you know the difference it makes in temperature and comfort when sleeping on hard, cold ground. A pad is not really necessary on sand, and it's one of those camping items that can be very useful very occasionally. Unfortunately, there is just no place to pack them easily. I got a thin one in Japan made of three separate sections, joined by their nylon covers. It folds up to not only fit into a rucksack (taking up quite a bit of room), but makes a great seat cushion or protective camping seat, as well a sleeping pad. It was of great use in the bush of Africa, but I mailed it home afterwards. Although it probably damages the material, I have also folded an old ensolite pad in three, for much the same purposes.

Therm-a-Rest pads are the modern replacement for Ensolite: "self- inflating", collapsible, mini-air mattresses, with better insulation and comfort than ensolite; they also weigh about twice as much, and cost several times more. If you get the smallest, head-to-hip model, you can roll it up in your pack, but it's still fairly bulky. The thinnest (1 inch, 2.5cm) Therm-a-Rest weighs just over 1 pound, (455g) and rolls up to 11" long by 5" in diameter (28 x 12cm); that's 215 cubic inches (3.5 liters). The 1.5 inch thick (3.8 cm) model is more comfortable at 1.5 pounds (680g) and packs quite a bit larger. They can be punctured and are quite difficult to repair because the air cells are inside, so you must be careful of thorns and such. Like other bulky camping gear, I recommend leaving it at home unless you know you'll be using it quite a bit, or if you have a big empty space in your pack. Then again, I know a couple of hardy travelers who would never be without one.

Cooking Stove and Utensils

Some people who never camp out carry a simple stove, so that they can cook up in their hotel room whenever they like. It not only saves money, it means you eat what you want (or whatever you can buy), when you want, in the comfort of your own room. For people with special dietary needs, or who just can't stand too much curry or greasy cooking, it could be a routine worth the effort. In addition, you can have a hot cup of tea or coffee whenever you like.

The disadvantages are weight and inconvenience. Don't forget the weight and inconvenience of the fuel you must carry. You still have to go out and buy food, and in places where reasonably good food is readily available and very cheap in cafes, your stove may be carried around to little benefit.

Fuel is another problem. Do not ever pack any fuel in luggage you check on an airplane; you will probably not even be allowed to carry it on if they find it. Of course you must have secure fuel containers, and you must find a place to buy the fuel. The only fuels readily available all over the world are gasoline (petrol or benzene in Europe) and kerosene (paraffin), and even these are sometimes difficult to buy. Most American camping stoves burn 'white gas' (Coleman fuel) which is very rarely found in other countries, as is unleaded gasoline. These stoves will burn gasoline, which is what most travelers end up using, but it soon clogs the stove, and will quickly ruin it. GAZ canisters, so common in Europe, are appearing in some, but not many, countries. They are very convenient to use but not to carry and you should be sure of their availability before taking this route.

Stoves with a number of replaceable parts, like the multi-fuel MSR stoves, are questionable in the long run simply because there are so many parts to wear out or be lost or broken. If anything can go wrong, it will, and the part that breaks will be the one you don't have a spare for. You should definitely carry a spare burner jet and other vital parts on any long trip. MSR and several other manufacturers sell maintenance kits for their stoves; definitely take one along, and notice the number of parts in each one before buying the stove. Kerosene stoves have very few vital parts and burn hotter, but since kerosene is not easily ignited, the burner jet must be pre-heated with another fuel (gasoline, or alcohol 'paste').

A good reliable stove could be a convenience, especially if shared by several people. But weigh this against the weight and inconveniences and don't spend too much money on an item you may decide later to toss out. A stove can be very handy for camping out but is still not completely necessary unless there is no firewood or too much rain.

A passable and cheap alternative for the hot tea is to buy an emersion heater -- an electric element that you stick right into your cup. (This is a reason to use metal cups.) You can even use it for soups. They are clearly useless for camping and you still have to deal with the type and availability of electricity, but emersion heaters of varying sizes are commonly sold in a number of Third World countries. Some of the cheapest ones you find in travel stores are too flimsy to last long. Another alternative is to walk downstairs or around the corner to the nearest cafe or tea shop and sip a hot cuppa for a few pennies while watching the world go by. If you don't care for the local tea or coffee, this is a poor excuse to carry around all that stove gear.

Pots and Pans -- If you carry a stove, you will want a pot big enough to cook for as many people as will be sharing it. Your outdoor meals will tend to simplify themselves into one-pot stews, so one large pot is usually adequate. A single 1 to 1.5-liter pot is enough for one person, but you will want a bigger pot for more people. If you will just occasionally be cooking over a campfire, you can buy a cheap pot or two in any town, and give them away when you leave.

Cooking Grate -- Another useful item if you will be making many cookfires is a small cooking grate. It is very easy to dump a pot of water or food if it is not sitting on, or hanging from something solid while cooking. The lightest aluminum backpacking models are about 15 inches (38cm) long, have just three metal struts and weigh as little as 90 grams (3.2 oz.). I wouldn't recommend carrying one around unless you plan to spend lots of time cooking out on campfires. You may be able to find reasonable substitutes nearby; a piece of metal window screen, or whatever. If you trust your campworthiness, you can build a cross bar from local branches and suspend your cook pot from a light chain and adjustable hooks that you can bring from home.

Other Cooking Items -- If you will ever cook over a fire, you will need a bag to protect the rest of your gear from the soot on your pots; a strong plastic bag will do. If you will be doing much serious cooking, look for a sturdy plastic ladle to dish things up with. Cut the handle short and attach an "S" hook to the end so you can hang in on your shirt while cooking.

---

Randy's Travel Page... Packing List Table of Contents.. Next Page

---

Randy Johnson's "Footloose and Fancy-Free in the Third World"
All text Copyright © 1992-2008, Randy R. Johnson.