Wilderness Survival.
Many at times, we may find ourselves in unplanned dangerous situations. Does anyone ask himself or herself what he or she would do for instance if they found themselves left out in the wilderness? I have been a victim, not once not twice and here is one incident I survived. It was on a Sunday afternoon when my friends and I decided to go out for hiking in a nearby forest. We set off to our journey and arrived well 30 kilometres off the town place. We were walking through the deep forest, and I was left behind as I was picking some wild berries. For a moment, I did not know where I was. When I looked around, there was no one; my friends had already gone. This is because I did not signal them that I was picking the wild berries. I took my phone and tried to make a call, but there was no network coverage. I was worried like never before now that I did not know what to do. I yelled, screamed, but no one came to my rescue. My friends had already disappeared. I was lost deep in the forest. I could not trace my way back either. The reality now hit me that I had to survive. It was almost getting dark, and at this point, I realized that I had placed my water and snacks in an everyday bag that one of my friends was carrying. I was just hoping that they realized I wasn’t with them and so they were coming for me. Well, according to my wristwatch it was 7 o’clock, darkness. I had to think and apply the things I have read in books before. I was starting a fire! Yes. This was to help me scare off wild animals, keep me warm and send a signal to my friends who I believed were searching out for me. In my pocket, I had a match lucky enough. I collected some firewood, dry, and made a small fire, which I had to nurture. I was thirsty and hungry, but yeah, I had picked the wild berries. For water, I did not spot a nearby source. I started feeling as if I was doomed. In my heart, I wanted to tell my father how much I loved him, just like the quote “Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you do not ever hear from me again, I want you to know you are a great man. I now walk into the wild” (Into the Wild, 69). Before things went far, at about 9 o’clock, I two men approaching from the dark, only to realize they were the forestry police who had learnt of my disappearance from my friends. Thanks to God, they followed the smoke signal and found me. I survived! This paper narrows down to explore two kinds of wilderness survival, that is; forest and desert wilderness survival.
Taking a close look at forest or woods wilderness, there are things an individual needs to do to survive. Regardless of whether one is just going outdoors at a business campsite, taking a short climb, or hiking into a perfect wilderness territory, it is good to be ready. It is never prudent to leave to risk those couple of articles that may become lifelines. Most importantly, consistently let somebody know the agenda and the time one intends to return (Alloway 15). Coming up next is a rundown of things that ought to be remembered for a first endurance pack: Waterproof matches, stick coordinates in a 35mm film compartment or an expendable lighter, fire starter and an unbending cutting edge blade (Preferably serrated on one side of the edge) sheath. Furthermore, it is a great idea to have a collapsing saw, compass, guide of the region one is in, signal mirror, electric lamp, plastic canvas 10.50 to 100 feet of nylon line and medical aid pack.
In a forest wilderness, when lighting a fire, it is good to find dry wood. It is fit to utilize the inner bark of trees or search for the dead branches at the base of fir trees. These are dead since they were denied daylight by the branches above them (Angier 40). These equivalent branches have likely shielded them from getting wet. One can utilize dead grass, feathered creatures’ homes, wasp homes (abandoned obviously), inner bark from fallen trees, or a piece of material from the tail of the shirt. An individual can likewise utilize whatever will touch off rapidly. Around this, fabricate a teepee of little dry twigs. When this is consuming, gradually feed the fire with more prominent and more significant parts of the wood. Continually ensuring the fire is consuming openly before advancing to a bigger piece of wood. When this fire is overwhelming, it ought not to go out. Fire will serve several purposes like signalling, warmth and protection from danger. This is what is referred to as “The accumulated clutter of day-to-day existence” (Into the Wild, 142)
Concerning shelter, one ought not tragically to try to develop a sizeable safe house. The body warmth can be lost rapidly lying on the exposed ground. “Use leaves, grass, or pine bows for this protection” (Batt 13) Make a casing with V formed sticks and across help. Spread this casing with materials within reach. Cover them or spot them in layers to make a safe house impervious to water and wind.
Concerning water, in many zones, water is promptly accessible. Nevertheless, it is acceptable to regard all water as though it were defiled. Heat all water before utilizing it. “Most living beings can’t confront a ten or brief bubbling”. Search for slopes as water may be at their base. Creature trails will, in the end, lead one to water. Search for fowls, as they will regularly circle a watering gap. Their flight designs, as a rule, incorporate a water source. Likewise, watch the creatures that one runs over, they will scratch at the outside of the ground if the water is simply beneath the surface. Watch the creepy crawlies. They will assemble on saturated ground. “On the off chance that you are sufficiently fortunate to have a bit of plastic, you can make sunlight based still” (Devlin 100). Another stunt is to delve openings in the ground and catch water in them. Indeed, even a dry brook may at present have water running underground.
Starving to death is not a quick issue. “The vast majority of us can bear 2 to 3 weeks of not eating and still endure” (Batt 14). Nevertheless, food is a significant method for safeguarding our psychological and enthusiastic state, just as a wellspring of vitality. Watch birds and falcons. “Now and again you will have the option to drive them off from their gets”. If you discover a beaver dam, locate the weakest spot and pry it open. Remain by this little cascade with a club and trust that fish or muskrats will come through. The beaver that assembled the dam makes sure to come out to fix the harm. A decent general guideline is to avoid mushrooms and any plant that has a smooth sap. “Cattail roots, oak seeds, and the bark from trees are for the most part consumable” (Hinton et al. 20). If not the eggs they abandon are consumable lest one may say that “I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing” (Into the wild, 155).
Signal for help is significant. “The most observable sign is your fire”. It is handily observed around evening time. “Make certain to construct your fire where it tends to be seen” (Howard 40). Building fire in a clearing, peak, or on a lakeshore is helpful. During the daytime, the smoke from the fire can be seen for some miles, and in many wilderness regions, some firewatchers and officers examine smoke sightings. Three fires organized in a triangle, 100 feet separated is a misery sign to the aeroplane.
Additionally, when utilizing hand/arm movements to flag aeroplane hold both the arms over the head. This is the sign for help. One arm upraised demonstrates No Assistance Required (Mohan 4). Signal mirrors, covers from a can, broken glass with one side covered with mud, a brilliantly hued coat or shirt attached to a long stick would all be able to be utilized to stand out.
I interviewed two overcomers of wilderness experience, and this is what they shared:
Interview 1
I requested that David John share his story, and this is what he said; “the most unlikely location you would need to wake up alone is in the Australian Outback. Overall, it became a reality for one me after I was left for dead in the notorious desert with no hint of how I arrived in any case. On January 24, 2006, I was cruising down a detached street when I believe my vehicle was high jacked by three men who at that point sedated and dumped my body in the Outback. I woke up ignorant and befuddled to dingos’ scratching at myself in my shallow grave. I thus started my 30-day battle to make it out alive. Making due to a careful nutritional plan of frogs, parasites, reptiles, and cockroaches, I found a dam. I had the option to remain all around hydrated until I was found by “outsiders” or homestead hands on April 6. By at that point, I was a mobile skeleton and profoundly tanned from the extraordinary desert sun, yet he was alive. My vehicle and the strange men were rarely found”. His experience was more like that of a messy being “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it” (Into the Wild, 55).
Interview 2
I additionally interviewed James Nolan, who shared his story; “You’ll make it fourteen days without eating, so stress over water first”. He began, “All things considered, being eager sucks, and in the long run you will need to take care of business. This is the arrangement of occasions that happened when I was tossed into a deep forest with obscure aggressors. I am most likely not talented at making a catch for little creatures, I along these lines needed to eat bugs or grasp vegetarianism. For the bugs, I searched for crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, worms, and grubs. In a perfect world, I simmered these in leaves by my fire to make the proteins increasingly edible and murder any microscopic organisms, just as bringing down the yuck factor. I crushed the worms and grubs before cooking to dispose of the foul crap. I expelled heads, wings, spiked anything, reception apparatus, and any hard plates. I maintained a strategic distance from splendid hues, awful stenches, and anything fuzzy. For plants, I abstained from anything with smooth or hued sap, severe or foamy taste, three-leaf development designs, spines, thistles, or hairs. I was keeping a decent disposition as it was significant for my psychological prosperity. However, it additionally assisted with boosting the safe framework, so did whatever I could to remain caution and positive. I had a go at singing, chuckling, uproariously as if it was genuine yet I was faking. I experienced a curious predator, a bear yet I stayed away, and did not run. I played dead, and the bear passed by indeed “essence remains slippery, vague, and elusive.” (Into the Wild, 186). Two days in the deep forest, sleeping on a tree with angular, eating bugs was difficult. Hunters dropped by and saved me.”
Secondly, for a desert wilderness, there are things an individual needs to do to survive. As stated in Into the wild that “danger has always held a certain allure”, it has been said that the most significant risks in desert endurance are presentation (to the sun during the day and to the cold during the night) and parchedness and neither of these is to be messed with. Perhaps the best safeguard against the sun is receiving in return, and accepting that, to continually having a significant cap or other covering for your head with you (Marlowe et al. 3). On the off chance that the highest point of your head is presented to the direct sun, or even devious sun for extensive stretches, your body needs to make a substantial effort to keep itself fresh, so the first rule in desert travel is concealing. On the off chance that one is gotten without a cap, it is smarter to utilize another piece of clothing to envelop the head by, or if your abilities are ready, style a ‘cap’ out of suitable materials within reach.
Getting undercover is a decent strategy. This goes inseparably with the original plan, covering the head, aside from this applies to the remainder of the body too. Discovering conceal or building a shade cover is one of the main goals for desert endurance, as keeping out of the direct sun and not endeavouring in the warmth of the day will assist with saving water(Marton et al. 12). The immediate need will be for some impermanent shade, and afterwards, when the sun begins to go down, you can build a superior safe house. The general thought is to avoid the drying out beams of the sun during the day, and to travel or scavenge during the cooler hours of the morning or night this is synonymous to the quote “Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow” (Into the Wild, 132).“Leave little stone cairns or bolts on the ground at interims, either for yourself to backtrack to, or for any individual who may go over your tracks and could discover you that way”.
While moving to go to discover asylum or water, keep the vitality uses as low as could be expected under the circumstances, to moderate both what little dampness is in the body and what little food one may have eaten (Kaufer 40). Move gradually, make an effort not to start to sweat, and keep your mouth shut to slow the pace of drying out from your relaxing. However, at that point comes the truth of evening time in the desert (Tawrell 60). In many desert areas, when the warmth of the day disperses, the temperature begins to drop, and drop, and drop, until one is freezing. Haven and warmth will go far toward keeping the vitality and spirits up in the desert wilderness, so finding a comfortable spot to dig in before it gets cold is nearly as significant as finding a dark place during the day.
Conclusion
To sum up, from my experience, existing literature on survival techniques and interviews from the two survivors, it is clear that we all should be ready in case of any eventuality by acquiring the relevant skills.
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