With a dizzying variety of camp lamps and lanterns available, some camping enthusiasts make a hobby out of collecting such gadgets.
When night settles on your camp, it is time to bring out the lights.
A well-lit campsite after dark is not just for everyone to see clearly, but also as a ward against animals wandering into the area, perhaps drawn by the smell of your cooking.
There is, though, one important consideration about the light’s colour: use warm, amber lighting.
If the situation lets you bring one, setting up a hurricane lamp that can be fuelled with either kerosene or oil at camp brings out the retro feel and adds a relaxing ambience to the campsite.Bright, white, fluorescent lamps will bring thousands of insects to your camp, a situation to avoid because the profusion of insects is annoying in itself and will in turn draw lizards, spiders and a barrage of other nocturnal insect hunters to your temporary shelter.
This is particularly the case when you set up lanterns.
Properly positioned, lanterns throw light 360 degrees around it, ensuring that everyone will see in the dark. But do consider lanterns that emit amber light.
Keep the bright, white light sources restricted to your head lamp or handheld torch, which are crucial for helping you see perfectly in the dark.
With modern technology, a dizzying variety of camp lanterns exist that use energy efficiently and so can emit light for tens of hours.
Many are not too expensive and some camping enthusiasts have turned collecting lanterns into a hobby of sorts, owning over 30 of them so that they would be spoilt for choice and have the luxury of setting up a well-lit camp at night.
When car camping, you can bring an assortment of lights to beautify your camp.
At the very minimum, consider bringing three light sources: a lantern for the inside of the tent, a little lamp for your camp table and one more handheld torchlight or headlamp.
To keep your camp from being invaded by thousands of insects at night, use lanterns that emit warm, amber light.The tent’s lantern should be able to emit at least 450 lumens (the measurement unit of the strength of light emitted) and at this strength, the batteries in such lanterns usually allow it to work for at least 20 hours, more than enough for a two-night camping trip.
Besides camping, such a lantern is a great emergency light, so you might want to leave it in your car on other days because it can be hung over the car bonnet for emergency repairs on the road at night.
The lamp for the camp table need not be too bright. This is where you prepare your meals and eat them, or tinker with gear such as your fishing rig.
A camp table lamp of about 150 lumens should suffice.
For your personal light, a torchlight or headlamp of between 400 to 1,000 lumens is good enough. Remember that more lumens does not mean it is better, because a brilliant light will eat up your battery juice quickly too.
Many people favour headlamps as their personal light for camping because they leave both hands free.
Bring along one ultra powerful light source while camping, such as this handheld floodlight that shines at a maximum of 3,200 lumens. (The twinkling lights in the bushes on the other side of the stream are the eyes of spider and insects reflecting the floodlight.)They are also a delight to use if the campsite has a stream nearby, allowing campers to enjoy the night time adventure of wading along the stream in search of shrimp, fish and even snakes.
A desirable feature on some headlamps is their ability to emit red light. Red light will let you see what you are doing up close without spoiling your night vision.
If you can, add a powerful light source to your camping gear.
This is for the times when things do not go according to plan and you end up having to set up camp at night, which any camper will admit is no easy task.
For a challenge like this, a floodlight of over 3,000 lumens will feel like god-send.
Choose one that can be mounted on a tripod, strapped to a tree or hung from a branch. Be mindful of where you position it so that you get good illumination but not from an angle where people have to turn to and end up being blinded by the light.
A chain of small LED bulbs emits a surreal glow around the camp that is not glaring.
Such a floodlight is also valuable in the event that the campsite has a stream. Then your gang can experience a night dip after dinner while being safely illuminated.
There is another type of lighting that is catching on, especially among groups who delight in increasing the aesthetic appeal of their campsites. The gadgets comprise chains of small bulbs or strips of LED lights strung up around the tent and even on the guy lines.
For your camp table lamp, it is convenient to have one that has a top shade to send the light downwards so that people walking past will not be blinded by its glare.They add warm light and illuminate the grounds with an almost romantic, festive ambience.
With a large powerbank, these little lights can last a long time, making them even more popular.
Those who go car-camping, meaning they drive all the way to the campsite and therefore can carry more stuff, may want to beautify the evenings with old-school hurricane lamps that can be fuelled with either lamp oil or kerosene.
These will be a challenge to carry while backpacking, since the lamp’s chimney that shields the solitary flame is typically made of glass.
But if the situation allows for it, these olden day lamps bring out a historic feel to your campsite, adding a warm, cozy feeling to the night.
Some of these lamps are pressurised so that the burner can emit an even brighter glow. Find a way to hang it overhead and you will give your camp a golden glow.
The burning of kerosene also helps to keep mosquitoes away, and you can even do a little DIY and prepare a lamp oil mixed with citronella to ward off insects.
The inside of most modern-day tents come pre-equipped with a hook to let you hang a lantern above.There is no shortage of innovatively designed camp lights to choose from, and what you choose depends entirely on the nature and duration of your camping trip.
You will need to consider the battery capacity or type of fuel, brightness, colour, water resistance, weight and quite a few other factors, including whether you prefer to be a minimalist or would like to enjoy a trip with the bells and whistles.
