by Jo Burns

Created on: March 15, 2010

Living in Africa lends a completely different angle to this debate, depending on where you are in Africa of course. Living in Botswana definitely  makes tent camping a 100% positive choice. We love the open air and sitting around a campfire in the evenings, more often than not in a game reserve so the wild noises are close at hand.

Without a 4x4 most of these areas are in fact inaccessable, the roads are definately not for sissies so even a trailor can be a problem in wet weather, or even thick sand. A rooftop tent then comes into its own, we have even converted our boat to be able to fit the tent on top of the roof of our awning so we can camp on the river as well. The other problem which a tent solves is mobility, within a few minutes we are usually sitting having evening drinks and the fire is slowly catching into the blaze we love. In the morning down comes the tent, normally before we have breakfast we are basically packed and ready to roll.

A few years back my husband had just finished a project in Canada and we opted to turn in two business class tickets for cash and make our own way home. We spent a crazy few months going to all sorts of different places on the weekend buying our tent and camping equipment. We had decided to fly to San Francisco, hire a car and travel across the states in our own time and without any schedule to follow, I am not sure what was more fun the planning or the holiday. Remembering that the aircraft alone was a limiting factor regarding space and weight, we bought only the smallest equipment which fitted into the trunk of the car. Our first mistake was using a cold box, which we donated to a lovely lady and her son at the first opportunity. That was an adventure in its self as the lady in question had had her box stolen a few day previously and she couldn't believe she was been given a new one, she felt that I was on some promotion or another! We then bought a small fridge which is an essential piece of equipment to replace the cold box.

We spent the next month traveling at our leisure along back roads as far as possible, camping every night in our tent, being ready to relax within ten minutes. We seldom spent more than one night in any site preferring to travel short distances to our destination which we chose whilst relaxing the previous evening. At one site a very friendly family approached us most amused, they had been in the camp when we arrived and had been amazed how quickly we made camp, they even timed us! The main reason for their amusement is a RV had arrived just after us and the amount of time they spent setting this up was horrendous, in comparison. We had a fan to keep us cool at night and donated that to a very happy young lady in Miami at the end of our trip.

In our years of tenting we have been into the most incredible places in numerous countries, all in a tent, meeting the most lovely people with like interests. Often meeting people walking around the camp sites often on the way to ablution blocks or admiring the different ways of camping, birding or relaxing around the campfires. Enjoying the fresh air and the country side around you, even being visited by different animals during the night where you can actually smell them, what better camping experience could you get.

Sorry I see no fun in being closed up in a RV when a tent has it all. If I want to be closed up I will go into a hotel which is not my favorite option either. With the style of life we enjoy the RV doesn't even feature.

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