A Guide To Camping Guides

Posted by: Suzie

Before, camping guides were too technical and written only by people with years of military experience. Today, the writing of camping guides has taken a more user friendly turn, and now provide a wider range of interest for the average camper. There are several genres of camping guides available, covering most of the specialist concerns of today's campers.

One genre is the total guide. These are simplified versions of the older technical guides and are written for the average camper in a friendlier tone. Camping tips and tricks discovered by veteran campers before are mostly found in these genre, a bit technical but informative nonetheless. These also contain fascinating trivias, historical affiliations of the terrain, and old scout lores about camping sites.

Camping guides that focus on the pleasures of camping do just that. These are an excellent resource for getting the most out of your camping experience, as well as suggestions for side trips and activities to make the most fun out of the trip for everyone involved.

One of the most essential camping guides is the line of cooking guides. Most campers do think of enjoying a heart meal under the moonlight. Careful planning and information from cooking guides will open you up to the fact that anything can be cooked while camping. Some foods don't travel well, but these guides can teach you options for preparing some healthy and delicious foods on the go that you otherwise might not have thought of as camping fare.

There is also an excellent line of specialist camping guides. These guides offer a range of topics and further expound it, like camping in particular elements, camping with young children, older generation camping, and pretty much anything for both new and veteran campers.

As with all things, a little knowledge from camping guides can go a long way. The variety of subject matter found in these books should answer any questions you might have about camping. You can also find guides filled with ideas for activities, meal planning, and specific site recommendations in any local bookstore. A good camper is always ready, and with the knowledge that these books provide, a camper is more prepared than ever.

John “Lofty” Wiseman spent years as a soldier and instructor for the SAS, an elite British fighting unit. In the app, Lofty guides the reader through a myriad of nightmare scenarios. Stranded atop an icy mountain? Covered. Need to know what local plants are edible? Check. Stuck in a forest fire with no obvious escape? No worries. The guide provides detailed information on all these would-be disasters. The app will cost $6.99 at itunes and is compatible with the ipad and ipod touch as well.

Although the guide is a great read, and the bulit-in survival quiz is fun for parties and around the campfire, the practicality of using it on-demand in some of these situations is questionable. For instance, if your plane were to crash land in the ocean your cell phone would be wet and useless. Then what? You are stranded on a mountaintop in the Himalaya and your phone runs out of battery. Tough luck. To get the most out of the guide read it before the disaster strikes.

The app holds interest by utilizing several interactive features including the survival quiz, an instructional video, and even a morse code feature that will turn your iphone into a beeping/flashing communicator. These make it fun for the user to learn a bit more about surviving if and when disaster strikes. That can't be a bad thing when the shit hits the fan.

While I don’t envy the troop leaders when they’re trying to load a gaggle of hyper ten year-ish old girls onto a bus for a three hour drive to Toronto, I have to admit that staying over night within the zoo grounds would be pretty cool. While the girls apparently had a bit of rain over the dinner hour (at the Simba Safari Lodge which overlooks the Rhino habitat), it sounds as though they had an awesome time. They got to watch play time with the elephants, had an exclusive Zoomobile tour and were allowed into the giraffe pen for a closeup look as a zookeeper fed the giraffes. There was even a campfire in the evening, then into a tent equipped with cots. Tasha’s only complaint was that between the lions roaring all night and the peacocks screeching, it was a little noisy. I don’t see how even a lion roaring could drown out a troop of Girl Guides, but there you have it.

If you’re in the Toronto area, the zoo makes the Serengeti Bush Camp available from May 22 to September 2 for groups and from July 1 to September 1 for families (at a cost of $80 to $100 per person, depending on age and whether they’re a Zoo Member or not). Considering that the price includes zoo admission, buffet dinner and breakfast as well as accommodations, I’d say it’s a bargain.

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