Camping braai guide: stands, skottels, gas and fire rules

December in South Africa means a packed bakkie, a booked stand at the campsite and a fire going by the second evening. A camping braai is the same braai you make at home, but with less kit, someone else’s rules and a fire spot you didn’t choose.

This guide covers what to braai on away from home (fold-up braais, tripods, skottels and camping gas), where your wood should come from, the fire rules in parks and campsites, fire danger days, and a packing list.

Quick answer: which camping braai setup?

Types of camping braai

Fold-up and briefcase braais

These are small charcoal braais that fold flat, often with the handles doubling as legs. They suit couples and small families, picnics and short trips. Most are sized for charcoal or briquettes rather than a big wood fire, which suits camping anyway: charcoal is quicker, cleaner and easier to buy at a reserve shop.

Tripods

A folding tripod holds a grid or hangs a potjie over a fire on the ground or in a fire ring. It’s the cheapest camping braai there is, and the most flexible for potjiekos. The catch is that a tripod is only a frame: you still need a safe, permitted spot for the fire itself. Our braai stand guide compares tripods with sturdier stands.

Bakkie and camp braais

Stainless or mild-steel braais built to travel: heavier than a briefcase braai, but with room for a proper wood fire and a decent grid. Regular campers buy these so they always have a contained fire box, whatever state the campsite’s braai is in.

Skottels and gas cookers

The skottel is the South African campsite breakfast cooker: a wide, shallow pan over a single gas burner, either on a cylinder or on folding legs. Multi-plate camping cookers and small butane stoves fill the same role. Our skottel braai guide covers sizes, setups and recipes in detail.

Gas for camping

Gas is the fastest way to cook at a campsite, and on a fire danger day it may be the only way. The two common options:

• LPG cylinders (3kg and 5kg). Refillable, and the standard for skottels and larger camping cookers. A 3kg cylinder is the usual camping size because one person can carry it.
• Butane canisters. Click into small table-top and fold-up stoves. No hose or regulator to pack, but you buy disposable canisters, and butane struggles to vaporise on near-freezing mornings.

Basic gas habits for the campsite:

1. Fill cylinders before you leave. Don’t count on finding a refill near a remote site.
2. Travel with the valve closed and the cylinder upright and secured, not rolling around in the boot.
3. Leak test every connection with soapy water before the first meal. Bubbles mean a leak.
4. Cook outdoors only. Never in a tent, caravan, car or under a zipped-down awning. Gas burners use oxygen and can produce carbon monoxide, which has no smell. Our gas heater safety guide explains the warning signs.
5. Keep canisters out of direct sun and out of a closed car on a hot day.

Wood and charcoal at campsites

Don’t bring your own firewood to some reserves

This catches out a lot of campers. The polyphagous shot hole borer (PSHB), a tiny beetle that carries a fungus that kills trees, spreads mainly when infested wood is moved around. Because of it:

• CapeNature announced in 2022 that firewood is prohibited in all its reserves, with reserves that produce their own firewood allowed to sell it on site.
• Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife banned visitors from bringing firewood into its reserves in December 2023, telling visitors to use charcoal or buy firewood locally.

Rules change, and other parks and private campsites set their own, so check before you load the bakkie. Charcoal avoids the problem entirely. Our charcoal and briquettes guide covers which to buy.

Don’t gather wood in a reserve

Dead wood on the ground is shelter and food for insects, reptiles and fungi. Unless the campsite tells you that you may collect it, buy wood at the camp shop or the farm stall on the way in.

Lighting up at the campsite

Wind and damp are the two things that slow a camping fire down. Paraffin-wax firelighters cope best with both, and our firelighters guide compares the options. For the method itself, how to make a braai fire works the same in a campsite braai as it does at home.

Fire rules in parks and campsites

National parks (SANParks)

SANParks asks visitors to make fires only in designated braai areas and never to leave them unattended, especially on hot, windy days. Fire-season notices for Marakele, for example, have limited fires to designated picnic or braai sites, or areas the conservation manager approves. In Table Mountain National Park, fire officials have urged people not to light fires even in designated areas when the wind is very strong. Each park publishes its own rules, so read them when you book.

Provincial reserves

CapeNature tells visitors to use only designated campfire areas and facilities, and preferably not to start a fire when it’s hot and dry, especially when it’s windy. Combined with the firewood rules above, the safe approach in any provincial reserve is simple: charcoal or bought-on-site wood, in the braai place provided, and only when conditions allow.

Private campsites and caravan parks

Rules vary from site to site: some allow your own braai on your stand, others only the built braai places, and some ban open fires on windy days or through summer. Ask at reception when you check in.

Fire danger days

Under section 10 of the National Veld and Forest Fire Act, once a high fire danger warning is published for a region, no one may light, use or maintain a fire in the open air there. That includes a braai at a campsite. In the Western Cape, the main fire season is summer, right over the holidays. Check the South African Weather Service fire danger forecasts during your trip, and see our veld fire and firebreaks guide for how the warnings work.

We couldn’t confirm whether every authority treats a gas cooker as an “open fire”, so ask the campsite before lighting anything on a fire danger day.

Making a safe camping braai fire

1. Use the braai place provided, or your own braai on bare ground or gravel where the site allows it. Never directly on grass.
2. Clear the area: no dry grass, leaves or overhanging branches nearby, and keep it well away from tents, awnings and thatch.
3. Check the wind. If sparks are flying, wait, make a smaller fire or cook on gas.
4. Keep water close: a full bucket or a big water bottle beside the braai, plus the fire blanket for pan fires.
5. Never leave it unattended. If it gets away from you, call 112 from a cellphone and tell the campsite.
6. Put it out properly. Douse the coals with water, stir them and douse again until nothing hisses and the ash is cool to the hand held above it. Coals buried under sand can stay hot for hours and burn bare feet the next morning.

Camping braai kit worth buying

From a R199 tripod to a stainless bakkie braai, plus a gas backup and a fire blanket. Prices and stock change, so check the store.

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Camping braai packing list

Fire and cooking

• Braai, tripod or the grid that fits the campsite’s braai
• Hinged (toeklap) grid and long tongs
• Charcoal or briquettes, or a plan to buy wood on site
• Firelighters and a lighter or matches in a sealed bag
• Skottel or gas cooker, full cylinder or spare canisters, hose and regulator
• Potjie, if you’re doing a potjie night

Safety

• Fire blanket
• Bucket or large water container for dousing
• Soapy water in a small spray bottle for leak tests
• Braai gloves and a small first aid kit with burn gel

Prep and clean-up

• Cooler box, chopping board and a sharp knife
• Grid brush, paper towel and rubbish bags
• Sealable containers to keep food away from monkeys, baboons and honey badgers

Food

• Work out quantities before you shop: our braai meat calculator does it per person.

FAQ

What is the best braai for camping?

For most people, a folding tripod or briefcase braai for the evening fire and a skottel or butane stove for breakfasts. Regular campers get the most out of a stainless bakkie braai, which gives a contained fire box anywhere a fire is allowed.

Can I bring my own firewood to a nature reserve?

Not to CapeNature or Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife reserves, going by the bans they announced in 2022 and 2023 to slow the spread of the shot hole borer beetle. Other parks and private campsites set their own rules, so check before you go, and buy wood on site or use charcoal.

Can I braai in a national park?

In SANParks parks you can braai in the designated braai areas at camps and picnic sites, as long as you never leave the fire unattended. Don’t make a fire anywhere else unless the park says you may.

Can I braai on a fire danger day?

Not over an open fire. When a high fire danger warning is published for a region, the National Veld and Forest Fire Act prohibits lighting or maintaining fires in the open air there. Ask the campsite whether gas cookers are allowed.

How do I put out a braai fire at a campsite?

Douse the coals with water, stir them and douse again until nothing hisses and the ash feels cool from above. Don’t just cover hot coals with sand, because they can stay hot for hours.