Trendy gear that puts the camp back into camping
It’s non-essential equipment, but can you really do without it?
DOWN TO EARTH: Toasting marshmallows the old-fashioned way is no longer to all campers’ tastes CAMPSITES throughout South Africa are packed at this time of year with families determined to keep up with the Joneses sharing their ablution block.
So what do the campers who have everything, pack into their trailers this year?
The camping biltong maker is apparently a must-have, a snip at R700, and the same goes for the camping spice box (R50), a cut above those small Tupperware bits that spend the rest of the year stuffed in a cupboard.
Equally alarming is the camper’s apple-coring device (R50) . . . for when you’re out in nature and incapable of munching around the core or cutting the apple into pieces.
And don’t forget a waterproof notepad (R100) — which, in a nod to roughing it, isn’t an electronic device, but requires oldfashioned handwriting skills.
It’s all beyond the ken of Sandy Biggs, from the South African Camping Club. “You sometimes walk past people who are sitting and watching soapies at their campsites,” said Briggs, who goes camping with her husband at least once a month.
“If they want to spend half their weekend setting up gadgets, then so be it. For us, as long as you can sleep comfortably and have a comfy chair, that’s enough. You want it to be simple while still being able to do what you need. You don’t want to have to rub together two sticks.”
Biggs’s version of back-to-nature camping does not involve putting up a gazebo to protect that other symbol of conspicuous consumption, the vehicle, or a two-man tent for the family dog. Such pampered pooches are the envy of the less fortunate, a few of whom are tethered by a leash especially designed to slide along the length of a rope between two trees.
Then there are those who believe that “good fences make good neighbours”. Why enjoy the views when you can hem yourself in with collapsible fences that required a trailer to carry them?
The manager of Camp and Climb in Cape Town, Charmaine Kritzinger, said camping wasn’t like it used to be: now people were prepared to break the bank to be comfortable.
She said that canvas tents and dining shelters were some of the more popular items. “They take the whole house SOLVE IT: A R770 Leatherman Leap from Packrat.co.za will put a gleam in a nine-yearold’s eyes BET AGAINST WET: A R100 waterproof notebook is ideal for keeping your ’roughing-it’ diary TALL ORDER: High-heel hiking shoes have been voted among the top 10 most useless pieces of camping equipment with them. It’s not like it used to be when people just went in to the bush with hardly anything. Some people spend up to R20 000 on camping gear.”
Jackie Glover, who works in the sales department at hardcore Johannesburg camping retailer CAMPGROUND GOURMAND: A trendy R50 spice box may come in handy at the gasfuelled camp fire ON-TREND TORCH: When things go bump in the night , whip out a R2 519 LED flashlight from PackRat.co.za PackRat.co.za, said multipurpose tools such as Leathermans had been among the season’s biggest sellers, even though prices reached R3 000.
Torches were another item on which people splurged, with the “Jedi knight” models exceeding R3 000.
Various overseas manufacturers have thought of everything that could earn them a quick buck — until the customers realise that it’s actually just easier to stay home (and save your reputation in the process). Perhaps some of the surplus stock is on its way to South Africa?
Most likely to be ridiculed in this category is the marshmallow roaster — a stainless-steel electric heater that allows you to toast these sweets without having to light a fire. No selfrespecting camper in South Africa would use anything but the braai to ensure that a black crust of sweetness forms on the marshmallow.
The family that does fall for the marshmallow roaster is also most likely to be in the market for the “mattress with the builtin speaker” or the “camping icecream maker”.
This sorry gadget was listed by retailer Go Camping Australia as one of the “top 10 most useless pieces of camping equipment”, as were “high-heel hiking shoes” . . . for obvious reasons. — Additional reporting by Farren Collins