Coleman porta-potty

A camping portable toilet is a must if you're going to go camping away from the beaten track.

If being 'far from the madding crowd' is your thing, then you need a portable camping toilet, like a Porta-Potty to make your camping experience all the more comfortable and hygienic.

The cheapest portable camping toilet is nothing more than a plastic toilet seat on an aluminum folding stool frame. (See bottom of this page.) You fit a plastic bag underneath to collect the waste, which you dispose of after it starts to fill up.

The king of portable camping toilets is the Coleman Porta Potty. It's portable and made from strongest plastic. Yet it looks almost as familiar as the porcelain 'loo you have back home. What's more, this portable john actually flushes clean with water - or chemicals.

The porta potty (originally called the Porta Potti in Europe) has two sections. The top part is a water tank for flushing, and the bottom part is the tank to hold the human waste. You can fill the top with disinfectant if you wish, but the waste will break down better in the soil afterwards if you leave it alone.

To use it, just lift the lid and pull a lever to open a sliding door over the waste tank. You flush it by pressing on a small plastic bellows, which pumps a jet of water around the toilet bowl. It doesn't need much water. Once the bowl is clean, you shut the sliding seal and then close the lid on top. A soft toilet brush make the cleaning task quick and simple after every use.

When your camping toilet fills up, you have to separate the two halves of the device and empty the tank. If you have access to a "regular" flush toilet nearby, you can pour the contents down there. But many camping parks have a disposal tank you must use.

If you are camping rough someplace remote, or on a farm property, you can pour the contents into a pit you've dug. Afterwards, be sure to cover lightly with a layer of soil, and keep adding to it as the liquid seeps into the ground. (In a month or so it would be a perfect spot to plant a young tree.)

Just be sure to empty your camping potty before its holding tank fills up completely. That can be rather messy.

Do an internet search for "porta potties for sale" or "equipment porta potty", and you'll find what you need.

If you're backpacking or hiking, such luxuries are impossible. A considerate back packer, bush walker or trained Boy Scout will, at the very least dig a small hole and bury their feces. And special forces soldiers actually take it with them so they leave no trace for others to track them.

If human waste isn't buried at least a few inches deep it will attract flies and help breed maggots. It is unsightly, unhealthy and inconsiderate of other people. All you need to carry, apart from toilet paper, is a small plastic camping trowel. (That's what they're designed for), and you can get one at most Outdoors or camping store suppliers. You only dig a small hole, about the size of a large cup... then fill and cover it up. But never forget the toilet paper.