Cooking fuel
 

Planning a trip from Tanzania to SA starting in Jan 05. I already have a gas bottle and 2 ring cooker that I can fit into teh vehicle. WIll a UK regulator get me through most of the countries en route, or will I have to change it in different countries or should I be looking at a multi fuel stove. I understand that charcoal is readily available in some parts.

Any suggestions and experiences welcome.

The gas fittings seem to keep changing. We ended up buying a new local gas head whenever we needed to replace the gas bottle. We also used Charcoal / wood fires for cooking. When I do the next trip I think I'll take a multi fuel stove, mainly because we ended up carrying kit for cooking in three different methods (charcoal and open fires / gas bottle etc). Means we ended up carrying unnecassary amounts of kit.

Also worrying about the gas issue...is it best to kit yourself out with Propane or Butane? Is there any differnece? What is most readily available?

I'm planning on carrying 2 large (probably 15kg) bottles to try and cut down on the filling frequencies and we'll take our little multifuel stove along as a backup, but still unsure what type of gas is available in Africa.

Cheers

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Chris D
1973 Unimog 416 Camper Conversion

Chris,

I do not have teh space luxury that you clearly do, but fortunaley my cooker can accept both butane and propane, but the regulator and filling aspects still concern me.

I shall keep an eye open for travellers in each region that I intend to travel through and ask them what they use and how they fill their canister.

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I can speak for West Africa guys, yeah you will find that the bottles /regulators change country by country, in Marocco you can get camping gaz cylinders ok and the rest of West Africa you get similar bottles using mostly the same regulators. Take a resonable amount of Gas, carry a Camping Gaz regulator just in case (if this isnt your main bottle)
I took 2 6kg (Calor Gas propane) bottles to West Africa and back, Nov 03- April 04 and still have 2kg left in 1 bottle now, which im still using for camping back here in the UK... we cooked with it nearly every day.
If you like Brewing up as much as me, to cut down on gas usage take a Kelly/Volcano Kettle, they are perfect for this trip, great for a lunch time/evening brew I wouldnt do this trip without one !!!
For a grill, I used a stainless steel Coleman fold up camping grill, (£9.99) cut it down an Inch shorter so it fitted into the bottom of the box where I store my cooker, with a piece of old kip mat over the top so it didnt rattle - took up hardly any room and was great for Bush Camp cookery.
Gas is widely available if you run out and cant get your bottle filled - you can pick up different sized bottles and regulators easily - most places I wouldnt worry too much about it guys. If you meet an overlander coming the other way do a swop.
I was in A Defender 90 - so talk to me about available space !!!

Oh yeah, as for Propane or Butane I used Propane as we spent a while in the Atlas at altitude, propane lights and burns well at altitude...butane not as well...butane is more widely available for refilling, so on a longer trip its the one to use.
Hope this is of help guys, Cheers, Grif.

[This message has been edited by Gipper (edited 16 August 2004).]