Camping skills: tents, staying warm and safe cooking

Good camping is mostly about small, careful habits: where you pitch, how you insulate yourself from the ground and how you handle flames and fuel. Get these right and you sleep well and wake up safe.

Choosing and pitching your spot

• Pitch in daylight on flat, high ground and stay out of wadis, which can flood in rain (experienced UAE campers quoted by Khaleej Times).
• Gulf News camping guidance adds: avoid low areas, stream valleys and cliff bases, and keep tents away from cooking areas, fires, fuel, generators and power poles.
• Dubai Police suggest pitching tents against the wind, which usually blows from the north in the UAE, and using tents with few openings to keep out insects.
• In sand, longer sand pegs hold much better; test any new tent at home before the trip (Khaleej Times).
• UK fire services advise at least six metres between tents to stop a fire spreading (Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue).

Sleeping warm

• Desert nights can drop to around 10 degrees (Khaleej Times), and you lose a lot of heat into the cold ground.
• A sleeping pad's R-value tells you how well it resists that heat loss; higher is warmer. REI suggests an R-value under 2 for nights around 10 degrees and 2 to 3.9 for nights near freezing.
• A well-insulated pad helps your sleeping bag reach its rated temperature, so do not rely on the bag alone.
• Wear a warm hat and dry thermal layers to bed, and change out of sweaty clothes before you sleep.

Stoves, barbecues and carbon monoxide

• Never use a stove or barbecue inside a tent, awning, car or caravan, and never use one to heat a tent: they are for cooking, not heating (Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue).
• Carbon monoxide from a barbecue inside a modern tent can reach fatal levels within minutes, and disposable barbecues keep giving off carbon monoxide for hours after cooking.
• Carbon monoxide has no smell or taste. Early signs include headache, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea and chest pain (Public Health England). If anyone feels this way near a stove, get everyone into fresh air and seek medical help.
• Cook well away from the tent with a bucket of water nearby, and never leave cooking unattended.

UAE tent fire rules

• The UAE Ministry of Interior has listed five common camping fire mistakes: lights and lanterns less than 50 cm from the tent; barbecues or coal inside the tent; no fire extinguisher nearby; open flames such as candles or lighters inside; firewood stored less than 15 feet (about 4.5 metres) from the tent.
• Use a torch or headlamp instead of candles in and near tents (Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue).
• Make an escape plan, including how you would cut your way out of the tent in a fire.
• Do not leave phone chargers running on a sleeping bag or other soft surface.

Campfires done properly

• Do not light a fire directly on sand; use a fire pit (Khaleej Times), in a large cleared area well away from tents and anything that can burn (USDA Forest Service).
• Keep water and a shovel next to the fire, watch for wind gusts that can carry sparks, and never burn plastics, cans or rubbish.
• To put a fire out: drown it with water, stir the ashes into a 'mud pie', drown it again, then check for heat by holding the back of your hand close to the ashes without touching them. 'If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot to leave.'
• Keep fires small and burn wood completely to ash (Leave No Trace guidance via the NPS), and avoid open fires during thunderstorms, as UAE authorities advise.

Camp routine

• Clean up after every meal and store food before sleeping, since it attracts insects and small animals (Dubai Police).
• Keep the tent door closed when you are not going in or out (Khaleej Times).
• Before bed, check the fire is out and cold, the stove is off and fuel is stored away from the tent.
• When you leave, take all rubbish, including fire and food waste, home with you.