Wild camping or dispersed camping is the act of camping in areas other than designated camping sites. Typically this means open countryside. This can form part of backpacking (hiking), or bikepacking, possibly along a long-distance trail.
Wild camping or dispersed camping is the act of camping in areas other than designated camping sites. Typically this means open countryside. This can form part of backpacking (hiking), or bikepacking, possibly along a long-distance trail.
In Australia, wild camping may be referred to as "bush camping". The regulations differ by state. In New South Wales, some national parks permit bush camping. [1] In Victoria, bush camping is permitted in many, but not all, of the parks managed by Parks Victoria. [2] Additionally, bush camping is permitted in assessed parts of the Victoria's Crown water frontages, which are strips of Crown land 20 metres or wider lining waterways in Victoria. [3]
Camping outside of designated campsites is generally not permitted in national parks, provincial parks and cities in Canada. However it is typically allowed on Crown land, which covers 89% of the country. [4] Regulations for camping on crown land vary by province, for example Ontario, [5] Quebec, [6] British Columbia. [7]
Wild camping is legal in Finland, even on private property, as long as it leaves no trace and does not impede the privacy or other rights of the landowner. In Finnish, this is known as Jokaisenoikeudet or 'the everyman's rights'. [8]
Wild camping is strictly prohibited in the Indian reserved forests & protected forest areas like Tiger Reserves, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries as these are wildlife native areas inhabited by Tigers, Elephants, Lions, Bears among other wild animals. It encourages illegal behaviour and hampers wildlife conservation due to illegal acts like poaching, deforestation, construction and irregularities in administration of certain reserves. [9] [10] [11] Besides, illegal acts like poaching, bootlegging and illicit tree felling is highly rampant in many parts of India, hence this will give an opportunity or even inspire people to emulate poachers like Veerappan to enter Protected areas of India under the guise of camping to indulge in illegal activities.
However, there are a few camping sites in some Reserved Forests which are operated by the Forest Departments with some basic amenities such as permanent tent bases that are under the supervision of Forest staff.
Relevant legislation in New Zealand includes the Freedom Camping Act 2011 and the subsequent updated guidance for local authorities [12] which states "freedom camping is permitted everywhere in a local authority area unless it is prohibited or restricted in accordance with a by-law".
Wild camping is legal throughout Oman; tents can be pitched on public land. [13]
In Sweden, a right of public access – allowing outdoor recreational activity on privately held wilderness – is enshrined in the constitution. [14]
Although land access for outdoor recreation was improved in England and Wales with the introduction of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, there is still no assumed right to camp in open countryside without the landowner's permission. There are certain areas where it has traditionally been tolerated, such as Dartmoor National Park, [15] however in 2023 landowners challenged this access in the courts. [16]
In Scotland, following the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, people may camp on most unenclosed land, whether state or privately owned, provided they adhere to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
Dispersed camping is the term given to camping in the United States on public land other than in designated campsites. This type of camping is most common on national forest and Bureau of Land Management land.
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers 954 km2 (368 sq mi).
The national parks of Scotland are managed areas of outstanding landscape where some forms of development are restricted to preserve the landscape and natural environment. At present, Scotland has two national parks: Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, created in 2002, and the Cairngorms National Park, created in 2003.
Campsite, campground, and camping pitch are all related terms regarding a place used for camping. The usage differs between British English and American English.
The freedom to roam, or everyone's right, every person's right or everyman's right, is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness or the right to roam.
Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realms, crown land is considered public land and is apart from the monarch's private estate.
The mass trespass of Kinder Scout was a trespass protest at Kinder Scout in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, on 24 April 1932. The protest sought to highlight that walkers were denied access to areas of open countryside which had been fenced off by wealthy landowners who forbade public access. It was organised by communist leader and Jewish anti-fascist Benny Rothman, the secretary of the British Workers' Sports Federation and a member of the Young Communist League.
National parks of the United Kingdom are 15 areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape across the country. Despite their name, they are quite different from national parks in many other countries, which are usually owned and managed by governments as protected community resources, and which do not usually include permanent human communities. In the United Kingdom, an area designated as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses that are often integral parts of the landscape. Land within national parks remains largely in private ownership. These parks are therefore not "national parks" according to the internationally accepted standard of the IUCN but they are areas of outstanding landscape where planning controls are a little more restrictive than elsewhere.
Common land is collective land in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
The Sundarbans National Park is a national park in West Bengal, India, and core part of tiger reserve and biosphere reserve. It is part of the Sundarbans on the Ganges Delta and adjacent to the Sundarban Reserve Forest in Bangladesh. It is located to south-west of Bangladesh. The delta is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. It is also home to a variety of bird, reptile and invertebrate species, including the salt-water crocodile. The present Sundarban National Park was declared as the core area of Sundarban Tiger Reserve in 1973 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1977. On 4 May 1984 it was declared a national park. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1987, and it has been designated as a Ramsar site since 2019. It is considered as a World Network of Biosphere Reserve from 1989.
Protected areas of New Zealand are areas that are in some way protected to preserve their environmental, scientific, scenic, historical, cultural or recreational value. There are about 10,000 protected areas, covering about a third of the country. The method and aims of protection vary according to the importance of the resource and whether it is publicly or privately owned.
Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultivated and unenclosed land has opened up since the enactment of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. In Scotland the ancient tradition of universal access to land was formally codified under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. In Northern Ireland, however, there are few rights of way, or other access to land.
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is a protected area and tiger reserve located along the area straddling both the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats in the Erode district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Sathyamangalam Forest Division is part of the Bramhagiri-Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats Elephant Reserve notified in 2003. In 2008, part of the Sathyamangalam Forest Division was declared a wildlife sanctuary, which was further enlarged in 2011 to cover a forest area of 1,411.6 km2 (545.0 sq mi). It is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. In 2013, an area of 1,408.6 km2 (543.9 sq mi) of the erstwhile sanctuary was notified as a tiger reserve and it was the fourth tiger reserve established in the state as a part of Project Tiger.
Dendles Wood is an area of protected oak-beech woodland located on the southern edge of Dartmoor, in the English county of Devon. Forming part of the Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation, the wood is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and 30 hectares of it has been designated a national nature reserve. It is one of five woodlands within Dartmoor that have been protected as national nature reserves. Dendles Wood and the adjacent Hawns Wood are sometimes known collectively as Hawns and Dendles. The wood supports a variety of flora and fauna, representative of upland oakwoods. In particular, it has a rich variety of moss and lichen, and several breeding bird species.
Sheoak Hill Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Miltalie about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north-west of Cowell.
Smith River State Recreational Waterway, popularly known as the Smith River State Park, is a protected river corridor and "virtual park" owned and operated by the state of Montana in the United States. The site is not officially a state park, but rather a State Recreational Waterway and managed River Corridor. The park consists of the state-owned Smith River; a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) put-in access point, Camp Baker; 27 FWP-owned and -leased boat camps on the shore of the river; and the FWP-owned Eden Bridge take-out point. Little of the area is owned by FWP. Much of the surrounding shoreline is owned by the United States Forest Service, United States Bureau of Land Management, and private owners. Through management agreements with other government agencies and private landowners, FWP manages the 58.9-mile (94.8 km) Smith River Corridor as a "virtual state park". The Smith River is the only river in the state of Montana where a permit is required to boat or float on the river.
Many parts of Scotland are protected in accordance with a number of national and international designations because of their environmental, historical or cultural value. Protected areas can be divided according to the type of resource which each seeks to protect. NatureScot has various roles in the delivery of many environmental designations in Scotland, i.e. those aimed at protecting flora and fauna, scenic qualities and geological features. Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designations that protect sites of historic and cultural importance. Some international designations, such as World Heritage Sites, can cover both categories of site.
The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides detailed guidance on the exercise of the ancient tradition of universal access to land in Scotland, which was formally codified by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Under Scots law everyone has the right to be on most land and inland water for recreation, education and going from place to place providing they act responsibly. The basis of access rights in Scotland is one of shared responsibilities, in that those exercising such rights have to act responsibly, whilst landowners and managers have a reciprocal responsibility to respect the interests of those who exercise their rights. The code provides detailed guidance on these responsibilities.
Alexander Frederick Clifford Darwall is a British landowner and hedge fund manager. He is notable for having roles in several large investment companies, his donations to UKIP, the Vote Leave campaign, and for legal action to limit public access to his land in Dartmoor.
The Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that legislates for access to land within Dartmoor, an upland area in southern Devon, South West England.