HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE JUNGLE? JUNGLE SURVIVAL SKILLS.

You can live in the jungle even where there is not a single person around for many kilometers. Not "civilized", not "semi-civilized", not even "wild". Surprising as it may seem, there are places where no one builds dwellings and where no one goes. In most cases, there are two good reasons for this. The first is a long distance separating the distant jungle from more settled places. The second is the absence of the need to go to hell when everything you need for life can be obtained nearby. Moreover, the places I write about are more likely to be visited by whites than by Indians. After all, the former always stick their purple nose peeled in the sun where it is not safe to stick it. These are the corners we're talking about.

Undoubtedly, many have often read and heard about the terrible predators that inhabit the Amazon jungle and think only about how to devour the two-legged "king of nature." Nonsense, I tell you. There is much more anxiety and trouble to experience from midges, mosquitoes and ants, sometimes from termites in a sleeping bag and ticks, as well as heat and humidity, prickly vines, monotonous food and unfamiliar rainforest conditions, than from a bloodthirsty jaguar hiding you in the darkness of the night. Therefore, let's dot the "i" with you.

In most cases, all wild animals, without exception, prefer to flee or hide, as soon as they suspect the proximity of a person. That is why many of them are much easier to meet in the zoo than in the most deserted corners of the Amazon jungle. If you want to see jaguars, go to the zoo, because in the jungle you will at best find their tracks, and at worst you won’t even see them. Nevertheless, certain precautions should be taken with respect to certain mammalian predators, reptiles, insects and other living creatures that can cause injury.

Among the terrestrial predators, it is worth mentioning the jaguar, or "tiger", as it is commonly called in South America. He is one of the few who is able to meet a person face to face and even lash out at him. But. only when he dies of hunger. In August-September, when cats are looking for females and are excited, arrange battles and generally become insane from an overabundance of sex hormones, protecting kittens or if the beast has been cut off all the ways to escape. However, as soon as a jaguar kills a person at least once and tastes the taste of his meat, a big wild cat turns into a formidable enemy, attacking at any convenient scenario. In such cases, during the day, the predator most often waits for the victim near the paths along which people constantly walk, always attacking suddenly and with lightning speed. At night, the jaguar can "visit" the camps of hunters and fishermen and kill the sleeping ones there.

Of all the big cats of the selva, the most dangerous are the big spotted jaguar-uturungu and the pitch-black yana puma. Especially the latter, which, as the rumor says, always attacks the sleeping victim. At the same time, according to beliefs, she does not touch the meat, but drinks all the blood and gnaws the skull to get to the human brain. There is a legend among the inhabitants of the jungle that ascribes to the yana puma the ability to hypnotize prey at a distance, forcing a person to plunge into deep dream. Believe it is so tenacious that it is worth the Indians to stumble upon the traces of a black jaguar in the jungle, as they very hastily leave dangerous place and as quickly as possible try to get away before nightfall.

They say that no precautions can save a person at night from an attack by a puma yang. Fortunately, this vicious predator lives in the most remote and rarely visited corners of the jungle. I believe, however, that - as in many other cases - the intractable disposition of the yana puma is slightly overestimated by the impressionable natures of the forest inhabitants.

Two other large predators from the cat family - the real cougar and the lewchu cougar - are much less dangerous. And small wild tigrillo cats generally never attack people if they do not put them in a stalemate.

But where jaguars are most common - from the places known to me I will name upstream Byabopi River in the Blue Cordillera in Peru - it is unreasonable to relax and lose vigilance. At the very least, it's best to always be armed. At least carry a machete or a spear that the Indians still make. But this is for the most extreme case.

The next animal against which it is also useful to take precautions at night is bat-Desmod, popularly known as a "vampire" or under the name Mashu. This is especially true for those who have the opportunity to spend the night in abandoned forest huts. A small-sized winged animal is ready to get into the slightest loophole in a mosquito net or even gnaw a hole, just to get to a sleeping person and drink blood. At the same time, the victim does not feel either the bite itself or how the desmod sucks her blood. Only in the morning a person discovers red spots on sheets and clothes. And that's when he realizes that he was attacked by a "vampire". Therefore, when going to bed, it makes sense to hang up a mosquito net with special care, carefully tucking and pressing down the lower edges of the cloth with something heavy. Another sure way to protect yourself from nocturnal bloodsuckers is to burn hot pepper-ahi on a fire. Moreover, so that the smoke penetrated into every corner of the shelter, and rising up, fumigated the palm roof, in which desmodes and other bats settled for a day.

In areas where there are especially many "vampires", fishing nets are sometimes hung in the camp, thus making it difficult for bats to move freely. Desmodes, unlike insectivorous relatives, have poor echolocation and often get confused in nets, after which they are mercilessly killed. If possible, then in the camp you can leave lit smokers or "bat" kerosene lamps to scare away those same bats with the light.

Among reptiles, the main enemies of man in the jungle are snakes. There are many types of them, but not all of them catch the eye every day and not every night. Nevertheless, most of all the Indians and mestizos are afraid of the bushmaster shushupi, boa-hergon, kaskabel, loro machakui, naka-naka and others, whose bite is often fatal if timely assistance is not provided to a person.

As I said before, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the jungle run away or hide when they feel the proximity of a person. And snakes are no exception. Their bite cannot be avoided if the reptile is cornered and has to fight for its life. I have heard and read many stories of snakes attacking humans for no apparent reason. A man walks in the selva, and suddenly - once! - bitten by a poisonous reptile. And he does not know that the snake was sleeping, or for some other reason did not notice the approach of a person. And when she found him, it was already too late to flee. The only thing left for her was to attack.

I suggest you consider the usual case. Imagine that a snake, as often happens, settled down to rest on a branch of a tree or shrub, just at the height of human growth. She is sleeping, when suddenly, waking up, she discovers an approaching person, and he does not even suspect the presence of a reptile, comes closer and closer and closer. The distance is shrinking. The snake is instinctively afraid that if it moves and tries to hide, it will be discovered and killed. And the first rule of the jungle says: "The more inconspicuous you are, the longer you will live." Therefore, the reptile makes the only correct decision - to prepare for protection. From the outside, this often looks like preparation for an attack. The snake raises the front of the body and head, ready for a deadly throw, freezes and remains in this position until the person passes by. If at the same time he does not touch the branch and does not wave his arms, then without risk to life he will pass the snake lurking above his head.

There is, however, one exception. This is shushupi, or, as it is called in the east of Ecuador, mutulu pale. She is the biggest of all poisonous snakes living in the jungle mainly in high places that are not flooded by rains and floods. Its length sometimes exceeds three meters, and at its widest point the body reaches ten centimeters in diameter. As baptized mestizos say, this is the only snake that did not accept the curse of God. They argue that shushupi, chasing a prey, does not wriggle horizontally, like all other snakes, but makes vertical oscillations with its body and is even capable of making long jumps. Whatever it was in reality, but, fortunately for a person, shushupi is active at night, and not too numerous. True, there are areas in the Amazon where shushupi is a real disaster. But these are uninhabited areas, like the headwaters of the Byabopi River I have already mentioned in the wild Blue Cordillera. Personally, I have never had to face this reptile nose to nose, but I have heard her nightly serenades, terrifying. Truly a terrible performance, I tell you! Several times I have seen long skins hung in the huts of the Indians and in the shops of the merchants in the city market in Iquitos.

Shushupi is in the habit of taking a day's rest in animal burrows, in the hollows of fallen trees, and in general in some dark holes. Sometimes she shares housing with the animal, which in Peru is called majas, and in Ecuador - guanta. The meat of this rodent, the size of a very fat cat, is valued by both Indians and mestizos for its most delicate taste; he is hunted regularly. Both Shushupi and Mahas spend their days in the same places, and the sounds that both make when their deep and sound sleep is disturbed are similar. All this sometimes leads to tragic consequences for a person or his hunting dog, who mistake a snake for a harmless animal hiding in the depths of a hollow tree trunk.

There are many legends and beliefs about shushupi among the inhabitants of the jungle. I have heard, for example, that if this three-meter evil creature is chasing you, then you need to throw some of your clothes in its path. This will buy time, as the snake will throw itself on a T-shirt or shirt and arrange a cruel massacre on them. And in the meantime, a person will be able to run away as far as possible.

The Indians are very suspicious of all snakes, although they perfectly distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous species. The former are feared and, on occasion, killed. The latter either do not enjoy their attention at all, or they are also killed. But not out of fear, but in order, for example, to take away their beautifully colored skin or bones, which are used for jewelry. In the latter case, the dead snake is left in the jungle for two weeks. During this time, heat, humidity and ants clean the bones and skull white.

In addition to jaguars, blood-sucking bats, and poisonous snakes, certain insects, spiders, scorpions, and some other tiny creatures that live throughout the humid evergreen are dangerous to human health in the jungle. equatorial forest. On own experience I was convinced that certain precautions must be taken to avoid trouble. The main thing is to learn to distinguish who is who from the creeping and flying brethren. The consequences of bites are painful, but almost never lead to death. Yes, the pain in a bitten or stung place can be hellish, and tears well up in the eyes of Indian hunters, who are generally not prone to sentiment and demonstration of pain. A person can even pound in a fever, temporarily paralyze or fall asleep. But if you are healthy, you are unlikely to die. But get an excellent lesson for the future! Invaluable experience, I tell you.

A separate and very serious topic that I want to touch on is mosquitoes. And not even so much they, but those infections that these insects carry. As a rule, troubles await in the swampy jungle and along the banks of lowland rivers. The most famous and widespread is malaria in its two forms found in the Northwestern and Western Amazonia. Lighter - three-day "vivax", and heavy tropical "falciparum", which gives complications and often leads to death. Both are carried by mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus, which infect humans when they bite.

Theoretically, you can protect yourself from malaria by taking as preventive measure special tablets. In practice, this in most cases is not done for various reasons. That is why, in areas of low selva, malaria is so widespread among Indians and mestizos that it is treated with philosophical calmness, like a cold. Therefore, a visiting person should be aware that sooner or later, with almost one hundred percent probability, an attack will happen to him. Then the only hope is chloroquine and primakine tablets, hydroxychloroquine or analogues. And it doesn't matter if he comes for a week or stays for a few months.

Malaria is a very bad thing. For few contagions can exhaust you in such a way short time, as attacks recurring every other day, lasting exactly twenty-four hours. Breakage in the whole body, wild chills, followed by fever, temperature up to 39 and above and the strongest headache. In addition, malaria has a strong tendency to recur, whether you are treated or not. It can happen again in a month, two, six months, at any moment. And since the "bad air disease" in swampy areas, as practice shows, is inevitable, you can protect yourself only in the only reliable way: do not visit them.

Here everyone decides for himself. Moreover, besides malaria, there are several other varieties of "fiebres", or "fever", as they are called colloquially. Among them are the so-called dengue fever and the infamous yellow fever. The latter, fortunately, is practically eradicated today, although in the thirties of the last century it was in literally mowed clean entire regions in Ecuador and Peru. There are also many other diseases with similar symptoms.

Here, it seems, we have more or less figured out the "risks" that await a person seeking adventure on land. It is time to move on to the aquatic and semi-aquatic jungle dwellers. Before the rest, we should mention the black caiman, the anaconda, which in Ecuador and Peru is called boa or amarun, the snake yaku hergon and naka-naka, the predatory piranha and the dirty carnero catfish, carniru or caniru.

It may seem strange to you, dear reader, that out of the tens of thousands of species of living creatures that inhabit the Amazon, I have mentioned only a few species that can be considered dangerous to health and life. It's a paradox, but that's the way it is, if we put aside the colorful, chilling myths and legends that the jungle is so rich in and that some authors love to refer to, laying them at the heart of the plot of their works. You will probably be even more surprised if I try to convince you that a person can travel for weeks and months along the rivers in a boat or canoe, and never meet a large caiman, or an anaconda, or a water snake. It is much easier to find them in a zoo or aquarium than in the rivers and lakes of the Amazon. Although they do live there and are quite numerous.

Despite this, going to the jungle, you should remember the following. The black caiman, reaching five meters in length according to official data and seven meters according to unconfirmed, attacks a person either when he is in the water or on the shore. This happens when the predator is hungry, or if a person naively decides to take the eggs from the nest, which the caimans arrange on the ground near the water. These eggs, when shaken, make a peculiar sound, similar to the ringing of a bell. The caiman, even being under water and having heard this sound, jumps out to the land with lightning speed and violently attacks a person or any other animal that is near the nest.

If a person or animal accidentally falls into the water or bathes in sparsely populated or generally wild places, then the risk of a black caiman attack is quite high. First, he pulls the victim under the water and drowns her. Then the caiman pulls the prey ashore, where it eats. Do not believe those who tell stories that the black caiman devours people in the depths of a river or lake. It is not true.

In other cases, when an angry caiman lies on the surface of the water, hiding among surface plants, it slightly arches its tail before attacking a canoe or boat. He waits for the boat to approach, then to turn it over with a lightning and crushing blow. You can be sure that the impact of a five-meter toothy colossus is crushing!

Now let's talk about the anaconda, a favorite character in many novels and movies, as well as fairy tales, myths and legends. Throughout Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil, it is more often called boa, yaku mama, or amarun. The giant boa usually lives in large calm lakes and wetlands in the jungle. It is rarely seen on the rivers. This snake - despite an unthinkable number of breathtaking stories - only in the rarest cases attacks a person. In the rarest! This happens when the anaconda is hungry - it can eat once every six months, and also if it mistakenly takes a person for its usual prey - bakers, capybaras or any other animal smaller than itself.

The anaconda always kills its prey by coiling around it and breaking bones. chest. Among the inhabitants of the jungle, it is considered imprudent to stay motionless for too long on the banks of a river or lake in those places where there are practically no people and boas do not know fear of a person. There is an explanation for this: there is an opinion that the anaconda hypnotizes its victim before attacking it in the same way as the black jaguar does.

Forest dwellers claim that the most reliable way to free yourself from the "embraces" of the anaconda is to bite the giant snake with all your might, after which it will instantly loosen its grip. In my opinion, the method is somewhat dubious, given the thickness and strength of the spotted skin of the snake; it is not so easy to cut it with a knife.

Like the black caiman, the anaconda can attack a person in the water when he inadvertently falls into the river or bathes near the shore. In the same way as the caiman, she drags the victim under water, and after a while gets out with her on land. As a rule, far from the place of attack.

If the prey is large, then the anaconda, having eaten it, remains sleeping somewhere on a tree trunk or in a fin cluster for several days, digesting the victim. At this time, it sharply decreases in length, but it expands terribly in breadth, because - like any other snake - it swallows the prey whole, without tearing it apart. It is clear that in this state the gigantic boa constrictor loses the ability to move quickly and becomes vulnerable.

The meat of a giant snake is edible, but few people dare to eat it. The Indians generally avoid killing anacondas, let alone using them as a source of animal protein. But what is really appreciated is the beautiful skin of the boa, which is used for the same purposes as the skin of the caiman. Fat anacondas are attributed medicinal properties: It is said to help with arthritis and rheumatism.

In the Amazon jungle, there are two varieties of anacondas that live in the water - black and yellow. In addition to them, another boa lives on land, called sacha mama, which in the Quichua Indian language means "mistress of the forest." The black anaconda is considered the most vicious, but is also persecuted more often, since its fat is said to be a much more effective drug than yellow anaconda fat. They also claim that, when taken in the palm of your hand, even in a small amount, it is able to disperse throughout the hand. And if this fat gets on a metal part of some mechanism, then the latter will hopelessly deteriorate, since the substance produces severe corrosion.

As for the yellow anaconda, it is much more common and not so dangerous to humans. Sacha mama is the most beautiful land-dwelling boa constrictor, which also poses no danger to humans due to its small size. However, it is surrounded by a halo of mystery, and there are many legends about the mistress of the forest in the jungle.

Water snakes live along swampy river banks and in jungle-glew swamps. All of them are extremely poisonous, but they bite a person only when he makes his way through liquid mud, without being careful and without making a warning noise. In other cases, they, like other inhabitants of the jungle, instantly disappear at the slightest suspicion of the presence of a person. Most water snakes are small and rarely grow up to one meter. There are several types of them. Yaku hergon is similar to land hergon. And the naka-naka is painted in beautiful red, black and yellow and resembles an asp that lives in the jungle on land.

Now I suggest you move on to fish that pose a real or imaginary danger to humans. Piranha, or panya, is a well-known fish that has become famous far beyond the Amazon due to its predatory disposition. There are several species that differ in size and biology. Usually, at the word "piranha" in the mind appears the disfigured body of a person or animal that had the misfortune to be in the water where these small, bloodthirsty killers live. However, reality is much less sinister than human fantasy. For example, I have repeatedly had to swim in rivers where piranhas were found, and eat fish soup from piranhas caught in the same place. And, frankly, the ear of them turns out to be glorious! And none of the Indians were scared by the fact that there is a risk of turning into a gnawed skeleton if you climb into the water.

Slightly less optimistic is the situation with another fish, not so well known outside of its habitats. I mean catfish carnero. WITH Spanish His name translates as "butcher". It lives mainly in rivers, less often in lakes. The nimble carnero enters the body of a human or animal through various openings and is able to penetrate deep inside, damaging any organ it encounters. If the carnero got inside, then pulling it out is not an easy task, as the fish spreads its fins and gets stuck in the hole.

There are two types of carnero: small and thin, barely reaching five centimeters in length, and the second, growing up to fifteen centimeters. The first is considered the most dangerous, because, due to its small size, it easily penetrates into the holes on the body. The other is more often attached to unprotected or damaged areas of the skin.

Butcherfish attack a person or animal when they stand motionless in the water. Therefore, is it any wonder that the caught corpses of carneros are teeming with swarms.

To avoid being attacked by a malevolent fish, the following precautions should not be neglected. Entering the water, you need to make as much noise as possible. Do not stop for a long time in one place, constantly move and wear clothes that fit tightly to the body, reliably covering the "causal place".

In addition to all the above troubles, in the jungle, a white man will sooner or later encounter diseases. Cuts, bruises, lack of habitual food, very rarely - infectious diseases. All travelers go through this and, in the end, begin to treat such misfortunes philosophically. There was a time when I carried a first-aid kit with me, stuffed full of all kinds of tablets and pills. With each trip, their number was inexorably reduced, and one fine day only those who were destined for life "in civilization" remained. For it is precisely in the cities that the traveler has troubles with the stomach, which quickly pass, as soon as he goes deeper into the jungle. There are exceptions. For example, today I stock up big amount antiseptic ointment and drops from the common cold, as these are the most popular medicines. And not so much by me, but by other people who need help. It's nice to help a sick person, especially if it's a child, even if you yourself don't get anything but the stingy words "Kai rukuga alii schungu runa mau" with which the Indians will describe you, telling relatives and friends. "This old man is a man with a good heart," they will say.

You learn from your own experience that, living among the Indians, you can always count on the help of shamans or even ordinary members of the tribe, who are well versed in medicinal plants and various kinds of drugs.

Indians are excellent ethnobotanists. Indian medicine knows many medicinal plants. For example, bolsa muljaca, a small plant whose leaves are boiled, and the bitter, disgusting decoction is drunk as a remedy for fevers and malaria. The poisonous sap of the cataua tree is used as a sure remedy for scabies and other skin diseases. Coconut shell decoction is used to treat dysentery. Chuchuvashi bark, infused with sugarcane moonshine, fights rheumatism and colds. In addition, Chuchuvashi tincture is famous as a very strong aphrodisiac. The fruits of the guayaba tree are good for indigestion. For coughs and bronchitis, syrup from the ripe fruits of the huitu tree is used, and green ones are used to prepare resistant black paint: they paint the body with it, escaping midges and mosquitoes. Soaked bark and renaco leaves are applied to wounds and cuts. With the white milky juice of the ohe tree, the Indians expel worms and treat anemia. From the crushed root of the yuquilla plant, juice is extracted, which helps with eye diseases. For this, two or three drops are instilled into each eye. The blood-red juice of the sangre de drago tree - "dragon's blood" - is used in the jungle to treat stomach ulcers, as well as all sorts of wounds, cuts and bruises. This juice is mixed in small quantities with honey, water and drunk or applied to a sore spot.

In addition to plants, Indians and mestizos use a variety of medicines of animal origin. So, the fat of a freshwater stingray restores the strength of a weakened body. It is used for asthma and bronchial disease, and rubbing is practiced when muscles hurt.

Smelly crested hoatzin meat - amazing ancient bird- Eat only those with asthma, because a healthy person will vomit. Fat extracted from the anaconda is used for acute and chronic muscle pain. Moreover, it is believed that the most effective medicine is given not by yellow, but by black anaconda.

Caiman fat is also considered a good remedy for asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis, which also has restorative properties and helps with rheumatism. True, finding a fat caiman is not so easy.

The fat of the wood turtle helps with dislocations and bruises, and its bile restores the liver and treats other diseases.

The fat of a spectacled bear is cured of rheumatism and rubbed into the muscles to strengthen them.

Iguana fat soothes muscle pain.

The ovaries of male capuchin monkeys and other small monkeys contain a large amount of hormones that contribute to prolonged sexual activity, even in advanced years. To do this, testicles are cut off from a recently killed male and eaten raw, drinking something with it. How effective the last recipe - I do not know, because there are raw monkey eggs. Although what the hell is not joking!

In exotic markets in cities and towns hidden in the jungle, all of the above is available to everyone who suffers. For example, I regularly drop by myself and take expedition mates and clients with me to a large market in the Peruvian enclave city of Iquitos, which is located on the Amazon itself. This colorful sights and smells market - in Spanish Belen, and in Russian Bethlehem - offers full line traditional for the Amazonian region medicines from marijuana, ointments and lotions to dozens of varieties of life-giving tinctures on herbs and honey, healing immediately and from everything in the world. The composition of some of them is impossible to determine and you have to rely on catchy names that clearly read the humor of the Amazon inhabitants. If desired, in the shopping malls, under the curious glances of hundreds of black vultures, everyone can purchase a glass container of 0.75 liters with a promising label "SVSS", which translates into human language as "Seven times without taking it out." Well, you guessed it, huh?

That, perhaps, is all that I would like to talk about regarding "survival" in the Amazon jungle. If you look at it, life in these godforsaken lands is no more dangerous than our existence in cities, in waterless deserts, in mountains or in the expanses of the Arctic tundra. You just need to study it, understand it, feel it and not neglect the elementary norms of behavior. As the wise proverb says: "Stop fighting with the environment, and it will stop fighting with you."

Now, having dealt with the real and imaginary dangers, let's talk about the signs in the jungle that have come down to us thanks to the centuries-old experience accumulated and preserved by the Indians.

In the jungle - as, indeed, in other places - there are many animals, peeping at which it is easy to determine your location, navigate and find out how the weather will change in the near future, and whether it will change at all. It's easy if you know and can. I will name only some of the most common representatives of the animal kingdom, whose clues are used not only by forest Indians, but also by whites, by chance thrown into the endless jungle of the Amazon.

Here are small emerald piuichu parrots, otherwise - lorito. They are always rushing about in noisy restless flocks, always visible. These birds never fly far from the water, nesting near rivers and lakes. Therefore, if I heard the cries of piuichu without even seeing them, then most likely it was not far from the river. The same is true for herons. These birds constantly stay near the water: as a rule, on lakes and along rivers rich in fish. Therefore, when you see a heron, you can be sure of the proximity of a reservoir.

But when I heard the loud, sharp cries of a small predatory black and white caracara - atatao, the destroyer of wasp nests, I will know that I have wandered into the very depths of the jungle. "To the center", as they say in the Peruvian Amazon. The fact is that ata-tao settles far from rivers and from human habitation. Truly, she is the herald of the rainforest, as she begins to scream loudly and persistently if she sees a person or a predatory beast in her possessions.

If, wandering in the jungle, I hear the cry of a red cuckoo-chikuan or a small sonorous predator - a hawk-huancahuai, then I can be sure of the coming bad weather. It is not for nothing that the fame of predictors of bad weather has been entrenched in these birds. Also, the continuous dreary song of a large toucan foreshadows the imminent start of rain.

Near large and medium-sized rivers, a giant frog lives, popularly called kono-kono. Sometimes between six and eight o'clock in the evening, as soon as the night is enveloped by the jungle, loud cries of this amphibian are heard: "ko-ko-ko-ko-ko ... ko-ko-ko-ko ... ko-ko-ko-ko-ko". Having heard them, one must prepare for a long drought and, as a result, for the shallowing of rivers. In other words, kono-kono warns: amigo, get ready to drag dugout canoes over the rifts on your own hump.

Dog tracks, which, unlike tracks wild cats, have claw prints, indicate the proximity of clearing and human habitation. These eternal companions of people never go far into the jungle alone. The main thing is not to make a mistake and not to confuse the tracks domestic dog with traces of his wild relatives, "forest dogs" sacha alku.

If you get lost and find the path that the white-lipped huangana bakers left behind, you can follow it. She will certainly lead either to the river, or the lake, or to where these animals live, similar to large pigs. In the latter case, it makes sense to go along one of the paths leading to a watering place. And from there, if the bakers go to drink water to the stream, moving downstream, sooner or later you will go to more major river where people are likely to live. Or, at least, going down the river, sooner or later you will find their traces.

Finding the corpse or remains of an animal in the jungle and carefully examining them, I find out whether it was killed by "semi-civilized" Indians or "wild", by a predator, or died a natural death. It is even possible to establish with greater or lesser accuracy the time of death and in which direction the hunters left. An experienced eye will understand for what purpose the animal was killed. The Indians take the meat, while the white skinners skin the prey, and most of the meat is thrown into the forest.

Having stumbled upon an empty human parking lot in the jungle, it is not difficult to establish how long ago it was abandoned. In this, the ubiquitous ants, great hunters for salt and sweets, render an invaluable service. Intrusive insects appear on bivouacs as soon as a person leaves them. And often even with him. Therefore, looking closely at the number of ants, I will understand how long ago those who rested here left.

You can endlessly list animals that will help a hunter lost in the jungle. However, I will stop and thus give you, dear reader, the opportunity to learn the secrets of the jungle from your own experience, to show personal observation and ingenuity.

Not only animals and birds serve us as signs and clues. No matter how you look at it, people live even in the most remote areas of the rainforest. And where there are people, there you will certainly meet traces of their life activity. First of all, these are trails. They are of two types: well-trodden, connecting Indian villages, and others, barely noticeable, used by hunters. Looking at the trail, it is not difficult to understand whether it belongs to "civilized" people or "wild" Indians. In the latter case, bare footprints with clearly visible toe prints and toes widely spread apart remain on the ground.

On the trails - if you are attentive - the eye notices all sorts of "hints" left by a person. These are notches on the roots and trunks of trees made with a machete, and broken branches, and plucked or cut leaves. According to them appearance it is easy to know when a person has passed. Rarely, on the trails, you can stumble upon areas densely covered with branches and leaves. In such cases, it is useful to be vigilant: under this heap, perhaps, a wary trap is hiding.

"Wild" Indians - there are still such tribes that do not enter into peaceful contacts with outside world, - rarely use open, well-marked trails. They move through the jungle without leaving such obvious traces, and do not advertise their presence, marking the path only with bent or twisted branches that only a trained eye will notice. And only if he knows what to look for.

In the palm swampy jungles - aguahals, having found traces of a person, it is very easy to determine by the turbidity of the water when he was here. As a rule, the turbidity settles to the bottom of the trace-depression within one or two days, depending on whether the water is running or stagnant.

As elsewhere on earth, in the jungle people leave behind fires, as well as empty tin cans, spent cartridges, worn-out plastic bags and many other unnecessary things. By the type of garbage, it is determined with greater or lesser accuracy when it was thrown out, whether the parking was long or for one night.

If I stumble upon a seeded clearing in the jungle, I will be sure that there are people nearby. The same is true when you find an abandoned clearing - purma, on which planted by the Indians still grow. fruit trees. In the latter case, human habitation may be far away.

If the purma is very old and completely abandoned, then there is no point in looking for people nearby. They could have left these places five, ten, and twenty years ago. But in any case, having found a clearing in the jungle, one should prepare for the fact that it could be done by both "civilized" or "semi-civilized" Indians, and "wild" tribes.

Having found a trap in the forest, it is useful to find out if it is working and how long it has been alert. If the latter is true, then this is a sure signal of a person's proximity. By the way the trap is made, I will understand who its masters are: Indians or whites. Knowledgeable people by the design of the trap, they can even determine the hunter's belonging to a particular tribe.

Well, if, going out to the river bank, I see a tied canoe or raft, then - cheers! Its owner will appear shortly.

Fires in oversaturated jungles are extremely rare. Therefore, if I smell burning or see clouds of smoke in the distance, I will understand that the Indians are burning the forest for their gardens. The barking of dogs and the crowing of roosters, along with the smell of smoke, are indisputable evidence of the closeness of man, "civilized" or not.

Occasionally there are funny things. Most often, the sound of a gunshot is heard. However, by all indications, there should not be people nearby. The Quichua Indians living in the jungle say in this case that this is Ilyapa Supai, that is, the demon of the gun. I won't argue, maybe that's the way it is. But, most likely, they take for a shot the characteristic noise that the anaconda rushes at the victim, jumping out of the water with its whole mass and flopping back with all its might. Therefore, you should be especially careful about "shots" if you are sure: there should not be people nearby.

Constantly living in the jungle or traveling through wild forests, no less important than being able to navigate the terrain is to be able to predict the weather. I will list just a few atmospheric phenomena. It is important to know them when planning hiking, hunting, fishing and much more.

Low leaden clouds, diluted with fog and motionless, are a sure sign of the approach of rain. However, if the clouds rush across the sky, driven strong wind, and are torn to shreds, then, most likely, the rain will either pass, or will be short.

When the sky is covered with a whitish translucent cloud, which either hangs motionless or moves barely noticeably, then rain will almost certainly fall, but this will not happen too soon. But it will rain for a long time, and the weather will deteriorate for the next few days.

When, wandering in the jungle, you hear distant peals of thunder, see lightning or flashes of lightning, then the probability that a thunderstorm will capture you is small. But if the sky turns black, a tropical downpour cannot be avoided, and it will cover in the next hour.

A black-clouded horizon and dangling "legs" of rain, while part of the sky is clear and the sun is shining overhead, means that precipitation will fall in the distance. If the curtain of rain is rapidly and inexorably approaching, then you should hastily put up shelter or be ready to get wet.

The red sunset, flooding the entire western horizon, with clouds elongated, as if blazing with fire, is a harbinger of a long drought. Almost certainly not a drop of moisture will fall in the next week or two.

Dense fogs in the mornings promise hot and sunny days, which are especially difficult to endure when traveling along rivers and lakes. And on the contrary, if during the day or at night the heat begins to intensify and the stuffiness becomes unbearable, then this is a sure sign of impending bad weather.

Tree trunks, branches, leaves, flakes of foam and any rubbish floating down the river in sunny weather are a sure sign of those that fell in the upper reaches. heavy rains. In the foothills it often happens that the rain falls only on one side watershed range. And then the influx main river it swells and becomes so stormy and furious that it is sometimes impossible to cross to the other side at the confluence of two streams. Once, due to my own stupidity, I almost drowned, risking crossing a raging river at night.

Finally there is one more surest sign, by which you can find out about the approach of rain. If you are not lucky, you caught scabies somewhere and the itching suddenly became unbearable, then you should know that the weather will change for the worse. However, it is not at all necessary to acquire a scabies mite yourself: you can watch the animals affected by it.

And for this you need to go deep into the jungle, not be afraid to open yourself up to adventure. Feel the breath of life.

For a person who has entered the tropical selva, there are two happy day- the first, when he, struck by the beauties of nature, blinded by the magnificence and power of colors, thinks that he has landed in paradise, and the last, when he, close to madness, in horror, breaking branches, runs through the thicket and finally breaks free from the green hell that swallowed him up.

A boundless ocean of gigantic trees growing so closely that their tops are intertwined and form a solid green dome overhead. Fanciful creepers and rattans entangled the already impenetrable jungle with a dense net. Everywhere there is moss, no grass, mushrooms, ferns, orchids and trees - dwarfs and giants crowd in the fight, climb on top of each other, intertwine, twist hopelessly, forming an impassable thicket. A green twilight dominates all around, neither sunrise nor sunset is visible, no wind, not even the faintest breath. The air is motionless, as in a greenhouse, saturated with vapors of water and carbon dioxide. It smells like rot. The dampness is incredible - up to 90-100% relative humidity. And the heat! The thermometer during the day shows almost always 40 degrees. Hot, stuffy, damp! Everything around is covered with shiny perspiration.

The fluff of the insidious creeper blinds animals, the pringamosa wrapping around the creeper burns the skin, its fruit looks like a rainbow ball on the outside, and inside it is like caustic ash. Wild grapes cause diarrhoea, and nuts bind the whole mouth to the larynx with a tart vise. Selva, virgin and bloodthirsty, catches up with a person obsessive thought about imminent danger... The senses confuse the mind: the eye touches, the back sees, the nose recognizes the road, the legs calculate, and the blood screams loudly: "Run, run!"

One cannot find a more expressive description of the depressing impression that a virgin forest makes on a person. The author of this excerpt, Colombian José Riviera, knew the wild selva well, participating in the armed conflict between Colombia and Venezuela on duty, proceeding along and across it and seeing horrors that will not be shown on TV in the most chilling films.

The contrast between this gloomy description of the rainforest and the delight in front of its beauties, which one often encounters in the pages of adventure literature, is striking. We are more accustomed to enthusiastic stories about the nature of the tropics - a bizarre interweaving of vines, huge bright flowers sparkling like gems, butterflies and hummingbirds, painted like Christmas decorations, parrots and kingfishers. Everywhere bright sun, wonderful colors, animation and sonorous trills. Beauty is enchanting!

That is how it is, only one should neither lie down, nor sit, nor stand on this earth full of life. You can only keep moving. “Try,” writes African researcher Stanley, “put your hand on a tree or stretch out on the ground, sit down on a broken branch and you will comprehend what power of activity, what energetic malice and what destructive greed surrounds you. Open a notebook - immediately a dozen butterflies land on the page, a bee spins over your hand, others strive to sting you in the very eye, a wasp buzzes in front of your ear, a huge horsefly scurries in front of your nose, and a whole flock of ants climbs up your legs - beware! Soon they will reach the gate and plunge their jaws into your skin, crawl into your ears and nose!

Everywhere insects, land leeches that sting, bite, prick and drink human blood. Countless wasps sting in such a way that they lead to a frenzy, and if they attack in a swarm, then to death. A tiger snail falls from a branch and leaves a poisonous smoking trail of its presence on the skin, so that you writhe, roll on the ground in pain and shout a good obscenity. And, of course, there are ants everywhere. From their bites you experience the torments of hell. Shout: "Ants!" more terrible than the cry of the beginning of the war. This means that people need to leave their homes, stop working and fire their way to retreat, seek shelter anywhere! This is an invasion of the bloodthirsty Tambocha ants! "Save, save!" - poor natives prefer leeches to terrible billions of ants and plunge into the backwater.

But even in the water there is no salvation. Numerous crocodiles and water boas are not yet the most dangerous inhabitants of reservoirs. Step on an electric eel and you will receive a current discharge of up to 500 volts! Disturb the stingray - poisonous and merciless, and you will instantly jump out of the water, stunned unbearable pain, right into the mandibles of the terrible tambocha! Funny? And it's far from Full description all the circles of the green hell, where there is so much beautiful, bewitching, bewitching and at the same time false, deceiving, enticing and killing.

How to be? Don't go to the jungle at all? No, there is a way out! First of all, a space suit can save you from many troubles - insects, stuffiness and temperature imbalance and humidity. Yes, yes, the spacesuit! This apt nickname came up with local old-timers in Mombasa (Kenya). The polyurethane suit is equipped with tubular temperature balancing using moisture obtained in abundance from the jungle atmosphere - refreshing not only the surface of the body, but also the air - drier and cooler, released through a valve, just like a deep-sea suit.

The material of the costume is not afraid of any interference of insects up to direct mechanical attacks on its integrity and is equipped with a net that covers the face, fixed on the brim of the hat and on the chest and collar. The color of the costume should be chosen based on the characteristics of the flora that make up the main background of the forest area that we are going to visit. The costume weighs only 2.5 kilograms! Do not forget about weapons - preferably a large-caliber carbine, with which it is customary to hunt thick-skinned elephants and rhinos. Obstruction is not an absolute attribute of the jungle, and there are still dangerous large predators, capable of killing despite the supersuit.

Despite the suit, we are still exposed to noxious tropical fumes. The swampy area is fraught with the threat of contracting yellow fever, malaria, typhoid fever - diseases cannot be counted. The best weapons are vaccinations and the correct selection of medical equipment in the first-aid kit. And let's not forget about hygiene - not only personal, but also public. Stanley, well known for his cruelty towards the natives, however, went through all the horrors without much harm to health, precisely because he strictly monitored what the people participating in the expedition were drinking and eating, whether their hands were clean before eating and what kind of water they were washed with. , because if you wash your hands in swamp water, you can pick up smallpox with such “clean” hands - a ferocious disease that only bubonic plague can compare with in insidiousness!

Both food and drink - at best, it is worth eating pre-prepared concentrates - for the duration of the expedition, you can sacrifice taste, preferring nutrition. If not, then the food should be cooked on the least slow fire with the longest cooking time. Very often, Dr. Livingston, the famous explorer of South and Central Africa, sent forward a team of "cooks" and hunters, and the expedition was "all ready." The same with water - only distilled and disinfected.

In case of illness, one should not neglect the local sorcerer's recipes, as part of the expedition there must be a "shaman" doctor, although his actions are accompanied by numerous rituals, however, they do not lose their effectiveness. Navigation is equally important when trekking through the jungle. The guide must take the utmost care of the least threat from viruses, tsetse flies, poisonous insects and any similar "evil spirits". And first of all - always be vigilant! The eyes see, the nose smells, the hands touch, and vice versa. It is important not to lose your head and act with maximum precautions.

The lodging for the night must be accompanied by a fire and a person on duty who supports it and as far as possible from the water. Night life forest reservoirs are fraught with the greatest danger. The choice of site should be determined not by the convenience of the terrain and relief, but by safety. Death is like going to bed under a baobab tree. The thicker the trunk, the more various living organisms that can cause this or that harm live in it. the ideal option is to camp in tents made of the same polyurethane. If they could not be obtained, then a hammock stretched between several small trees- also a good way out. In no case should you settle down for the night on damp, moss-covered ground - in the morning you will itch until you bleed. These are the larvae of insects living in the ground, they will find you by changing the temperature of the soil, crawl under your clothes and you will etch them out of your skin for a long time, and there are also deadly ones among them.

But that is not all. Costume, weapons and everything else are just the most general measures. The most powerful weapon virgin forest explorer is knowledge! Only with the help of it you can be absolutely sure of a favorable outcome of the expedition. The study of the habits of the local fauna, the landscape of the area, the topology, geological and meteorological characteristics will give an almost complete picture of what awaits us in a particular area of ​​the jungle. Knowledge - that which separated us from the animal world, now saves us from it.


Many people imagine the tropics as a huge and impenetrable jungle in which you have to constantly wave a machete. But this is far from true. Surviving in an uninhabited tropical zone is not as difficult as it seems. With a compass and common sense you can try to overcome the jungle.

Many areas of primary jungle are punctuated by large clearings and cleared for Agriculture sites. However, when such areas are abandoned, dense thickets of shrubs appear here. This is a secondary jungle, much more difficult to cross than the primary.

Usually animals and reptiles in the jungle do not pose such a danger as insects. It is the latter that are the real threat, many of them carry deadly diseases, one of the most deadly is malaria, transmitted by mosquitoes. For example, very large mosquitoes are found in the jungles of Costa Rica. Of course, if you are bitten by a mosquito, then you do not necessarily get sick.

After the emergency landing of the plane and the first aid to the victims, you need to decide whether you will stay near the plane or will get out on your own. If you find yourself in an area where your aircraft and your signals are not visible, you do not have any wounded, then it would be wise to go on your own.

But first, you must treat any wounds right away. In the tropics, the smallest scratch can turn into an ugly wound within a few hours.

When leaving the scene of an accident, leave visible markings on the trees so that in case of emergency you can return back, as well as indicate the direction of possible rescue teams.

Night falls quickly in the jungle, so be prepared to go to bed early. In the jungle, you need to rest more and sleep more in order to maintain your strength and be more resistant to illness. Try to camp on a hill or high ground as far away from the swamp as possible.

Then you will suffer less from mosquitoes and other insects, and the soil will be dry. You can make a kind of bed by placing wide leaves on the branches. You can build a waterproof dome with a thick layer of leaves, bark, and turf.

If you spend the night near the plane, then use it as a shelter. Most likely, the inside will be dry even during wet jungle. Try to stop mosquitoes by covering the door with a parachute or other cloth.

Do not set up camp near a river or swamp, especially during the rainy season, you may be flooded. Don't sleep under a dead tree or coconut tree. The coconut can fall and kill you.

Make sure your clothing covers as many areas of your body as possible. Drop your sleeves, fasten your buttons. This will protect you to some extent from insects and scratches. Even a small scratch can become a source of infection.

In those moments when you undress, inspect the skin for insects. Also check your clothes regularly. Keep your clothes clean, dry and good condition. Dirty clothes wear out faster and can cause skin diseases. Helpful Hint: You can wear a second shirt on a stick that dries out while you walk, and change it when you rest to avoid malaria.

In the jungle, a fire will keep you warm, help cook food, and keep mosquitoes and curious animals away. Fuel is usually plentiful, but dry wood can be hard to come by during the rainy season. However, it is possible to find an old tree with an empty trunk, from which dry parts can be cut. After lighting a fire, you can add damp wood to it.

"My Planet" collected seven incredible stories salvations that prove that you should never give up and give up. The fate of these people formed the basis of books and films about the rules of survival in the ocean, snowy mountains, jungle and caves.

75 rub. for a life

The name of Larisa Savitskaya was included in the Russian edition of the Guinness Book of Records as the only person who survived after a fall from a height of 5200 m, and as the person who received the minimum amount of compensation for physical damage - 75 rubles.

The plane crash happened in August 1981. A 20-year-old student was returning with her husband to Blagoveshchensk from honeymoon trip and accidentally sat in the tail of the plane, although she had tickets in the middle of the cabin. At the time of the An-24 passenger collision with the Tu-16 military bomber, which occurred due to an error by the dispatchers, Larisa was sleeping. Waking up from a strong blow, she felt a burn, as the temperature dropped sharply to -30 ° C. When the fuselage broke, Savitskaya ended up on the floor in the aisle, but managed to get up, run to the chair and squeeze into it, before “her” fragment glided onto a birch grove.

After landing, she was unconscious for several hours. Waking up, she saw the body of her husband and, despite grief, broken ribs, arms, concussion and spinal injuries, began to fight for life. From the wreckage of the plane, she built herself a semblance of a hut to escape the rains, warmed herself with seat covers and covered herself with mosquito bags. Rescuers found her two days after the disaster.

How the survivor Larisa Savitskaya was given 75 rubles. (According to the standards of the State Insurance in the USSR, 300 rubles were supposed to be compensated for damages for those who died and 75 rubles for those who survived in plane crashes). Soviet press reported the incident only in 1985 as a test disaster aircraft. Larisa herself claimed that at the time of the crash, she remembered the Italian film “Miracles Still Happen” about a heroine who survived in the same situation.

Nine days in the jungle

Peruvian schoolgirl Juliana Margaret Koepke is exactly the same girl about whom the film "Miracles Still Happen" was shot. At the age of 17, she happened to survive after a plane crash on a domestic flight to Peru: lightning hit the plane, it fell from a height of 3 km, and Koepke was the only one who survived from 92 passengers.

For nine days, the girl, despite her injuries and concussion, made her way to people alone through a tropical forest. By a lucky chance, Juliana's father, to whom she flew with her mother for the Christmas holidays, taught her the skills of survival in the jungle.

She went on a hike through the forest after waiting four days for rescue at the crash site, taking some sweets with her. Along the way, she met animals and snakes, due to wounds and insects, Juliana hardly slept, larvae wound up in her abscess - she got rid of them only when she reached the fishing boat and doused the wound with gasoline. On the tenth day, the girl met the fishermen, who helped her. Juliana told her story in the book When I Fell From the Sky, and then the movie mentioned above was made based on it.

127 hours in the canyon

American climber Aron Ralston spent more than five days in a canyon in Utah: during a solo ascent, a large stone fell on him and crushed his right arm.

The 27-year-old athlete went on this trip alone, without warning anyone, and knew that he had nowhere to wait for salvation. On the fourth day he ran out of water and had to drink his own urine. On the fifth day, he began to prepare for the worst: he made a farewell video on camera and engraved his name and the date of his alleged death on the wall.

When there was nothing left to lose, Aron decided to make one last attempt to survive: cut off his hand to free himself. First he had to break it with his own weight, then he proceeded to the operation with a penknife. The painful amputation lasted an hour. Freed, Aron, despite bleeding, descended from the 18-meter wall and walked through the desert area for about 13 km before meeting people. About these events, which occurred in 2003, director Danny Boyle made the film "127 Hours" based on the book of the same name by Aron.

76 days on an inflatable raft

U.S. yachtsman Stephen Callahan was about to take part in a single race through Atlantic Ocean on the Napoleon Solo sailing ship, but the unexpected happened - according to the athlete, the ship was rammed by a whale and the ship went to the bottom.

Callahan managed to save an inflatable raft and a bag with a survival kit from a sinking ship, for which he had to dive into a flooded cabin. In this bag was a book about survival in the ocean. A yachtsman has speared fish and eaten it raw, fought the waves, survived a shark attack. He saw nine ships pass by, but none noticed the small raft.

The raft made its way from the Cape Verde Peninsula (Senegal) to the island of Marie-Galante in the Caribbean Sea (Guadeloupe archipelago): when it was washed ashore, local fishermen found an emaciated traveler with salt water ulcers on his body.

In total, Callahan spent 76 days at sea and covered 3,300 km. The events described took place in 1982, you can read about them in the memoirs of the yachtsman "In the drift: Seventy-six days in captivity by the sea." Stephen Callahan was a consultant on the filming of Ang Lee's Life of Pi.

Three weeks in the Amazon jungle

Israeli Yossi Ginsberg went with three friends to look for an aboriginal tribe in the jungles of Bolivia. On the way, the company split in two due to a quarrel, Yossi stayed with his partner Kevin, they began to go down the river on a raft and stumbled upon the threshold: Ginsberg's friend immediately swam ashore, and he himself became involved in the flow of the waterfall and miraculously did not die.

Yossi spent the next three weeks surviving alone in the Amazon jungle. He had to eat raw eggs birds and fruits, fend off the jaguar - he managed to scare away with the help of insect spray, which Yossi guessed to set on fire, and at the end of the journey he almost drowned in the swamp. “The most difficult moment was when I realized that I was all alone,” Ginsberg later recalled. “At some point, I decided that I was ready for any suffering, but I would not stop.”

When the traveler was finally found by a local search party, he was covered in insect bites and sunburn, and a whole colony of termites settled on his body. About this unforgettable journey, which happened in 1981, Ginsberg wrote the book "Alone in the Jungle", the documentary film "I Shouldn't Have Survived" was made by the Discovery Channel, and will soon be made Feature Film The Jungle starring Kevin Bacon (scheduled for release in 2016).

41 days in the ocean

A young couple's journey from Tahiti to San Diego was disrupted by a sudden hurricane. 12-meter waves overturned the sailing ship in which 23-year-old American Tami Ashcraft and her Briton fiance Richard Sharp sailed. From the impact of the wave, the girl lost consciousness. When Tami woke up a day later, she saw that the boat was broken, and her friend's life belt was torn.

Tami built a temporary mast, bailed out the water from the cabin, and continued her journey, guided by the stars. Her voyage alone lasted 41 days, supplies of water, peanut butter and canned food were barely enough to keep from dying of exhaustion.

As a result, the girl alone swam 2,400 km and independently entered the Hawaiian harbor of Hilo. About her sad journey that happened in 1983, Tami Ashcraft told only in 1998 in the book "The sky is purple with sadness."

72 days in the mountains

In 1972, a rugby team from Uruguay, their friends and relatives, flying to the match in the capital of Chile, became victims of a plane crash. The plane crashed on the rocks of the Andes, out of 45 passengers, ten died during the disaster, seven more died some time later. The remaining 28 were forced to survive in the mountains in conditions of cold and lack of food at an altitude of 3600 m.

Among the survivors were two medical students, they made medical splints from the wreckage of the aircraft and treated the passengers as best they could. On the 11th day of the disaster, people learned from the radio that their search had been stopped: the white plane on the snowy peak had gone unnoticed.

When food supplies ran out, the difficult decision was made to eat the bodies of the dead, since it was impossible to get food in these places. Water was extracted from snow: it melted in the sun on metal plates. After some time, an avalanche descended from the mountains into the valley, eight more people died, and the rest were buried under the snow. Only after three days of snow captivity, people were saved by one of the team members - Nando Parrado, who broke the window into the cockpit, and everyone managed to climb inside.

After three months of living in the mountains, only 16 people survived. All of them were saved thanks to the courage of Nando Parrado and his friend Roberto Canness, who made a 12-day passage through the Andes without equipment, maps and warm clothes. After walking 60 km, they went out to the people. More information about the tragedy can be found on the official website of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, from the book of Nando Parrado's memoirs and its film adaptation called "Alive".

How to survive in the jungle

But by taking into account all the guidelines listed below, you can not only withstand the wild conditions of the jungle, but also return home safe and sound.

No matter how sad it sounds, but, alas and ah, you are lost in the jungle. As they say, tears won’t help the cause, it’s time to move on to decisive action to survive:

3. Find/Build a shelter.

4. Move in one direction.

5. Provide security.

Let's talk about each of the points in more detail.

1. Find a source of drinking water.

Unlike the dry desert climate, jungle forests have high humidity, so finding water is not difficult. So the sources drinking water will be:

Rain in the jungle is not uncommon. From large leaves of plants, you can make a funnel to collect rainwater. But before using it, it is better to boil the water in order to kill all the bacteria contained in it. A tin/aluminum can works well for this.

When it rains, bamboo accumulates some water. Tilt the bamboo stalk so that water enters the container provided for this.

Solar Water Collector:

Step 1: Dig a hole in the ground.

Step 2: Place a container in the center of the hole to collect water.

Step 3: Fill the area around the container with something damp, such as wet leaves.

Step 4: Cover the hole with a plastic sheet, placing stones around its edges.

Step 5: Place a small stone in the center of the sheet just above the water container.
Step 6: Condensed water will accumulate on the inside of the leaf and move down to its center, filling the container with distilled drinking water.

2. Find food:

As you know, it grows in the jungle great amount plants and an equal number of animals, so anything can become a source of food for survival. The only thing you need to decide is how to get it. Here are some good tips:

Don't waste your energy on hunting if you haven't done it before. It is better to set traps, and save energy for other moments of survival. To increase your chances of having something edible on your table for dinner, let's place a few traps in different places like this:

Step 1: Find three branches and a heavy rock.

Step 2: Make several notches on the sticks, as in the picture below.

Step 3: Hold the stone with your hand while installing sticks "A" and "C".

Step 4: When the stone has been propped up with sticks "A" and "C", install the descender stick "B".

Step 5: Carefully release the structure.

Step 6: When a bird or small animal tries to take the bait, the trigger stick will fall, and the stone will cover the victim with a fatal blow.

If you find a river or stream in the jungle, consider that you have another food source in front of you, which is full of fish. And in order to catch it, it will be more convenient to use a spear with four prongs, which we will try to make now:

Step 1: Choose a suitable bamboo stem for your future spear.

Step 2: Using a knife, cut the end of the bamboo stick into four pieces, forming four prongs.

Step 3: Using a string or climbing stem, separate each prong from each other. Your fishing tool is ready!

Before eating any fruit, you should rely on your own experience: eat only the fruit that you are sure is edible and safe. Fruits and plants that you have not seen before may be poisonous.

3. Find/Build a shelter:

Needless to say, how important the role of the refuge is if you find yourself alone under open sky. Therefore, we will not rant for a long time on this subject and will immediately get down to business.

How to build a canopy shelter:

Step 1: Find a large branch and lean it against the tree.

Step 2: Place the smaller branches at a 45-degree angle along the entire length of the large branch on both sides.

Step 3: Cover the structure with foliage.

4. Movement / Rest:

If you are not sure that they will soon start looking for you, start your own rescue operation yourself. To do this, move in the jungle only during the daytime, sleep at night. For the purpose of survival, try to go only in one direction and memorize any objects along the way to avoid wandering in a circle.

Also pay attention to whether any animal has left traces. If you see any, see where they lead. Often they can lead you to a source of water or an open area where it will be easier for the rescue team to locate you.

By the way, to move through the dense thickets of the jungle, it would be good to stock up on a cane made from an ordinary tree branch. It will come in handy not only for clearing your path from encountered plants, but will also become a lifesaver and help you get out of loose sands.

5. Security

In the jungle, regardless of their location, predatory animals are found, so it is wise to always be on the alert. It is best to move through the jungle slowly, without sudden movements and creating unnecessary noise. Do not forget to look under your feet, so as not to accidentally step on a snake. If you did not have any weapons, you can use a spear made by yourself as a self-defense weapon.

Danger in jungle survival is also threatened by mosquitoes and other poisonous insects. For example, mosquitoes are carriers of diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever.

If you do not have insect repellent, you can use the following methods to protect yourself from bites:

  • wear clothes with long sleeves and pants;
  • Apply dirt to unprotected places;
  • Build a headdress from a shirt;
  • Before putting on a shirt or shoes, carefully check them for the presence of spiders and insects.