Just for interest sake
Precautions for unfenced campsites that are worth considering. This is primarily directed at those new to wild camping.
1. Always wear enclosed shoes or boots.
2. Make sure you have plenty of drinking water.
3. Apply sunblock to all exposed skin - liberally.
4. Always leave the vehicle doors unlocked in camp in case you suddenly need to seek refuge from a potentially dangerous animal visitor. Leave the vehicle seats uncluttered so that you can enter rapidly. Do not leave the vehicle doors open as you do not want mongooses, monkeys, baboons, or creepy crawlies such as rats, mice and snakes to enter your vehicle.
5. When setting up camp plan so that you feel more secure. Park the vehicle close to the tent and sit at night with the campfire in front of you and the vehicle screening your back.
6. Do not fall asleep in your chair in camp, especially an unfenced one.
7. Be sure not to consume so much alcohol that your level of alertness is affected.
8. Shut the #### up after dark; other people are there to appreciate the night sights & sounds!
9. Do not leave any food /leftovers /water / garbage open and out/ within reach around the camp-especially at night.
10. Do not store food/cooking utensils in your tent where their odor might attract unwanted attention from predators.
11. Pack everything into your vehicle/trailer overnight. The animals might wreck anything left in the open.
12. Do not be a chop and feed the wild animals.
13. Teach your kids camping etiquette, common sense, courtesy, respect towards fellow campers and the environment from a very young age whether in fenced formal campsites or unfenced campsites. Take them to unfenced campsites and teach them to be vigilant for themselves. Buy basic snake, scorpion and mammal identification guides, show them spoor of animals and insects in the sand and let them try to identify those. Make sure they know what a scorpion hole and tracks looks like, same with a snake. Give them a binocular and bird book and challenge them to identify all birds coming into the campsite, don't just tell them which bird it is. Make sure that they understand that they must not run and scream as this catches the attention of predators both during daylight and nighttime hours. Set a boundary for as far they are allowed away from the car and the vehicle, let them move and explore with in that boundary (obviously while you keep watch on them and the surroundings), don't keep them hidden behind a shade cloth wall the whole time, let them dig holes, bury themselves in the sand, climb a tree! Keep them very quiet and close at night fall.
14. Bones, bottles, cans, bottle tops, foil do not burn! Don't put it in the left overs of the fire and expect others to clean it.
15. If you cannot stand the long drop or if there is none and you have to dig your own toilet hole, dig it far from the campsite and dig it deep. Clear your ashes out each night of the braai and use that to cover the day's "business". The luke warm ashes are also very useful to curb the smell from the long drop.
16. Try not to sleep against the side walls of your ground tent (canvas).
17. Be careful when collapsing your tent and folding ground sheets. Scorpions, spiders or snakes could surprise you, always use gloves.
18. Make noise when leaving tent early in the morning as not to surprise predators in camp.
19. Cover the gauze door of the tent with the canvas door at night, and only open canvas over the gauze windows.
20. Park your car in front of the tent and keep unlocked, you can also use the remote to active the alarm from inside the tent if required.
21. Try to identify new animal tracks the next morning in camp, as a early warning sign for nights to follow.
22. In elephant areas it is unwise to carry fresh fruit, especially citrus. They have been known to dismantle a tent or even a vehicle if they scent this delicacy.
23. Do not camp under trees with ripe fruit or seed pods as these might well attract feeding elephants.
24. If elephant enter the campsite then just carefully move away without startling them. We usually just retreat to the far side of the vehicle.
25. Do not camp on/near established game or hippo trails as this might lead to dangerous or disturbed nights.
26. In setting up camp do not block wildlife access to waterholes.
27. When setting up camp be sure not to set up under a tree where baboons roost at night. The evidence will be on the ground in the form of their pungent feces. You do not want this all over your tent.
28. When harvesting water from a river or water source with crocodiles use a bucket with a longish rope to avoid approaching too close to the water's edge.
29. If there are rustic ablutions approach them carefully, in some areas lions love to lie up there in the cool shade.
30. Give someone your itinerary. This should be given to someone “at home", who is contactable at all times.
31. Inform the camp wardens of your planned daily routes. Make sure they write it down. This is naturally not possible when camping at remote sites.
32. Prefer to use minimal lights in camp in order to preserve our night vision. A brightly lit up camp leaves you isolated within your circle of bright light, blissfully unaware of what might be present just beyond your blinded vision.
33. There is no need to have a huge campfire. It is wasteful and it is largely a myth that a fire will keep wild animals away, especially semi-habituated ones.
34. If you are really nervous a good idea is to place lanterns with gentle light in strategic areas surrounding the outskirts of the campsite to increase your field of vision.
35. Take a strong torch or spotlight to scan your surroundings if there are any unexplained noises or when answering a call of nature. The eye glint of wild animals shows up very clearly in torchlight.
36. If one of you has to answer a call of nature during the night it is best if the one accompanies the other with a bright torch to keep a lookout. Some prefer to take some sort of sealable container to urinate into, with them into the tent at night. Broad-necked plastic bottles with a screw cap work best.
37. If lions do enter your camp lie as still as possible in your tent without speaking and avoid sitting up and allowing them to see your silhouette. They can scent you but regard the tent as a solid structure and do not perceive how flimsy it is. You do not want to attract undue attention or fuel their inherent inquisitiveness or make them more mischievous. If you are still up and about take refuge in your nearby vehicle.
38. Hyena will often be seen in the flickering light of the fire. There is no need to scramble for shelter, they are cowardly but have rarely been known to attack the unwary, they are great opportunists. One can usually just chase them off to a safe distance.
39. There is no evidence that a ground tent is safer than a roof top tent, but it is just one more layer of security in distancing you from the attentions of wild animals.
40. If a ground tent is used it should be of the more sturdy canvas ones rather than the “plastic” types and should not have too much exposed gauze on the door and windows.
41. Habituated vervet monkeys and baboons can be a great nuisance in camp and will quickly help themselves to any supplies left lying around or if the vehicle doors are open. Carry a catapult for these animals and just aiming at them is usually enough for them to flee??????.
42. Do not bury your garbage as hyenas will inevitably dig it up leaving a mess. Take all you garbage out with you if there are not secure, animal-proof garbage bins.
43. If traveling and camping in remote areas with no mobile phone coverage, consider carrying a satellite phone. Compile a list of relevant emergency telephone numbers, particularly local ones. Obtain the phone number and emergency number at the entrance gate.
44. Keep your tent zipped up at all times. This will prevent nasties such as rodents, snakes and particularly mosquitoes from entering.
45. It is probably wise not to put your meat onto the fire if you know there are predators in the vicinity.