THERE are few things quite as lovely as the glow from a battered old hurricane lantern swinging from a tree in the velvet, African night.

The smell of burnt paraffin and the roar of a pressure lamp always transport me back to Third Bridge campsite in the Moremi Game Reserve, some time in the '70s.

That would be the time I leaned happily, palm-first, on the top of a lit gas lamp. You learn fast when you're seven. Still, they heard the screams in Maun, apparently. It was also the night we slept outside by the fire and my old man woke up in the pre-dawn blackness to yell at one of the snorers who was, in fact, not snoring but growling, as male leopards are wont to do.

The world has changed since then. You can barely find a decent spot to camp at Third Bridge these days, and everyone sleeps in roof-top tents. But the lights - for those who know - have stayed the same.

Hurricane lantern

Lamps do not come more basic than the standard lantern found in just about every remote corner of the world. Dietz, the name most associated with these rugged workhorses, began making hurricane lamps in New York in the mid-19th century, and the design has been widely copied and barely changed since. It burns a kerosene-soaked wick - with brightness controlled by a wheel that moves the wick up and down - and it gives off a light that might not be stellar enough to read by but does a good enough job of keeping the darkness at bay.

Hurricane lanterns are cheap to buy - about R150-250 from hardware and outdoor stores - and foolproof.

Burn the correct fuel and use the lantern in a well-ventilated area.

Paraffin pressure lantern

For sheer brightness, paraffin-burning pressure lamps cannot be beaten, giving out - in the case of the cheap-as-chips, Chinese-made Butterfly - an eyeball-scorching 500 lumens or 300 watts of light. They also roar like a jumbo taking off when lit, something you will either love or hate.

Pressure lamps use mantles and burn paraffin or kerosene pressurised in the tank and vaporised before reaching the mantle.

Lighting them can be a bit of a palaver but when all goes well, it is one of camping's great rituals.

Unlike hurricane lanterns, however, pressure lamps are not all created equal. At the top end are the well-built, clean-burning Petromax lanterns. At 120 euros (about R1200, only available overseas) for the entry-level lamp, they are also not cheap.

At the other end of the scale are the Butterfly lanterns (left, about R500), which now labour under the unfortunate name of "Sea Anchor". It is these you see lighting bars in remote Mozambique or hanging off the back of Malawian fishing boats as they head out into the lake at night. Finished with a polished stainless-steel coating, they look pretty cool, but operation could often be improved on.

As with all lamps, using the correct fuel is critical and you should use them only in a very well-ventilated space.

Propane gas lanterns

The gas-fuelled lamp has become the poster child for bushveld lighting. Fairly cheap to buy and easy to use, gas is now ubiquitous. Using the standard ceramic mantle, gas lamps burn brightly - although paraffin pressure lanterns still have the edge - and the fuel is clean burning. Unlike pressure lamps, you can also vary the amount of light by increasing or decreasing the gas flow.

The main downside is that the fuel - which comes in standard canisters - is not always easily found out in the boonies.

The Kovea Adventure Lantern (R399 at Drifters and Cape Union Mart) is still one of the nicest I have seen. Light, bright and easy-to-use, it will have a permanent place in my camping and kayaking box. It has a standard connector that allows the use of gas cylinders from different manufacturers. Burn time on a 396ml canister is an estimated 1.5 hours but that will depend entirely on how bright you like it.