What will you do when you get to a desert island? How to find water in extreme conditions Food that can be found on the uninhabited

God forbid anyone to be on a desert island. However, if this happens, you need to learn how to survive and be prepared in advance. Death awaits an unprepared or weak person.

First you need to calm down, collect your thoughts and examine everything around. You need to come to terms with this situation and not wait for help from anyone.
A person can be two weeks without food, but without water he will not live more than 3-4 days. The first step is to look for sources fresh water rather than food. If you are on the seashore, then this should be done as quickly as possible. In no case should you drink seawater. It is a slow and painful death. Most people die in the early days precisely because they cannot find water. This is the main mistake.

What needs to be done first

Now find a safe place to live as close to fresh water as possible. You mustn't panic. You need to think clearly. Panic and loss of control in such a situation will immediately lead you to death.

Maybe silly, but you can make yourself a fictional buddy to talk to. This will help you calm down.
Assess your resources. Do you have a fresh water source? Do you have a telephone, radio, walkie-talkie or other means of communication? Are there other people? People are always good. It will be easier that way. If there are people, then everyone should work together. There should be one goal for each person. A close-knit team will get out of any difficult situation.

Fire. This may seem like a trivial thing on a desert island, but fire is always necessary. He can even just support people morally. Fire is used to distill water, to cook food, to scare away wild animals, etc. If you can't start a fire, don't worry, it will definitely work when needed. Life will teach. Read on for now.

Build housing. Housing should be in a safe, warm and shady place to sleep, rest, store resources, and hide from animals. Try to make the shelter above the ground so that none of the insects, snakes, etc. could not crawl in there.

Look at the water. Any source of water is good as long as you have one and you can purify and desalinate it.
If you find sources of fresh water, it is recommended to boil it for the first time to make sure it is safe. If you have a dedicated filter, that's great.

If there is no fresh water on the island, you need to do the distillation and desalination of the sea water. To do this, you need to find a container and fill it with sea water or even urine in case of emergency. Place a smaller container in the center of the container and make something like a funnel. Now you need to cover the whole thing with a lid and keep on fire. The water will evaporate (steam is clean water that you can drink), hit the lid, condense, and end up in a smaller container. Here this water can be consumed and not be afraid of the consequences. This is the purest water.

You can also do this in the sun, but then you need the widest, flat and not deepest surface, the water from which will quickly evaporate. However, in this case, the wait will take a very long time.

What to eat on the island

Find a permanent power source. There are many edible roots and berries, but watch out! Some of them are poisonous. Only eat if you are confident that the food is safe. Eat small meals and find the right food by trial and error.

Observe what the animals are eating. This is most likely safe. Create traps and catch animals. All animals can be eaten. Be sure to fish. You will always find a stick, a fishing line can be made from clothes, and a hook can be carved out of wood.

Try to make contact. Build a large, unnaturally shaped element using bright colors and shiny objects. With the help of a walkie-talkie or telephone, if any, contact everyone with whom you can. If you don’t find lifeguards, people will definitely tell you about you. Make a rock or dig a sign on the ground that is visible from afar and from above. These distress signals will help you escape if others notice them. If you can make a bright flash or explosion, do it all the time when you see planes, helicopters, or ships. Use mirrors, fire great height, flashlights, fireworks, and anything else that might attract attention.

If you know you will be rescued, just relax. You have done everything. Support yourself and rest while waiting for help. Try to relax and make the best of this scary time. If you have someone to have fun and play with, then good. If there is anyone to bury, bury it. There are all kinds of situations in life.

Never give up. Desperate actions can be deadly for you and others with you. Errors and weaknesses should not be allowed here. Willpower is what allows people to survive without food for weeks. Without the will to live, you won't last even three days.

Undoubtedly, each situation is unique and requires an individual approach. Take the time to think about what you have, who is with you, what you need, what you can do, and so on.

Warnings.

Never drink salt water as a last resort. Salt dehydrates you and makes you worse. Better not to drink at all. Relief can only come for a while. Drink urine as a last resort. However, do not store urine in a bottle. Only fresh urine is sterile. Later, you can no longer use it. In addition, you can only drink the first pass of urine. Drinking your own urine a second time can lead to kidney failure. You need to make a desalination plant. You should get clean water, leaving behind salts and impurities. Otherwise, the effect will be even worse than with the use of salty sea water.

• Do not eat jellyfish or fish that puff up, with spikes, beaks, and so on.
• Do not eat snakes and various animals with bright colors, they can be poisonous.
• Rub the leaves and taste their juice. If it burns your hands or tongue, it is most likely poison.

Things you need to survive on a desert island.

1. Knife. The knife is the most versatile tool ever invented. You can do almost anything with a knife. Also find stones to sharpen it.
2. Toothbrush or floss. Remember to take good care of yourself and brush your teeth. Toothache is one of the worst. You can flatten wood to make a toothbrush.
3. Cloth. Find warm clothes or make your own from animal or tree skins.
4. Water and food, respectively.

Now you know what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation. Hopefully this doesn't happen!

How to get food in the rainforest if you are in a survival environment? Despite the fact that the tropical climate is favorable for the biological diversity of flora and fauna, it is often difficult to get food in such a forest. Especially if you're pretty picky.

In dwells a large number of species diversity of organisms, but not all forests are the same, and not everything in them is edible. Many of you think that the jungle is a supermarket for food, but it is not. The most necessary ones grow there only due to the fact that someone had planted them there earlier.

For example, the well-known one grows most often on the shores of the islands. And if you meet her in the depths of the forest, large islands or the mainland, then you should know that these palm trees were planted by people. The same is with bananas: if you stumbled upon a grove of wild bananas in the jungle, then it was previously someone's plantation, or is still one to this day. In the depths of dense tropical forests, there is very little to eat. And some uninhabited islets do not have a single coconut tree at all, and the reserves of resources on them are very scarce.

Take, for example, the inhabitants of New Guinea - these are Papuan tribes who live by traditional methods to this day. They live in dense jungle and their diet is based on the sago palm.

They extract sago from it, grind the wood and, when soaked, extract the starch-containing component. Sago is pure starch that they store in a powdery state and eat it as an instant puree. The finished product looks like this:

Due to its high starch content, sago is a carbohydrate product instead of our potatoes or tropical cassava. Due to the great distance from coastline Papuans do not have good ocean fishing opportunities. They are forced to be content with what they have. They catch frogs, small fish in the stream, small river shrimps. To do this, they build dams on the stream, blocking the way for water, and, therefore, for fish. Then they scoop up water from the pool until all the inhabitants can be simply collected by hand or with a special net. The average catch is usually very small - you can hardly fill your belly with such food and you have to be content with what you have.

In addition to the sago palm, the pandanus (pandanus) grows in the wild. Its leaves are suitable for the roof, and the fruits for food. The pandanus fruit cannot be confused with anything else. It grows everywhere.

Among other things, in dense tropical forests you can feed on various larvae, but you should avoid those that do not inspire confidence in you. For example, all creatures with a bright, poisonous color clearly look suspicious. Carpenter larvae are the most famous delicacy of many aborigines. They contain a lot of protein, and, unlike meat protein, it is absorbed much better. You can use them both raw and heat-treated, as you like! Here they are, beauties, in the photo:

For larger game, you will need traps, loops and a bow. You will see about this in another article. And now let's move on, get out of the dense thickets of the tropical forest of the mainland / large island and go to the coastline, to the coral beach. Actually, let's look at how to get food now on a small coral or volcanic-coral origin.

Well, I won’t write about coconuts, you’ll guess. Just do not climb the palm tree, otherwise you will fall again suddenly. You can get food on the coral atoll without going into the sea. For example, various birds like to nest on such islands and leave their eggs. Some are left directly on tree branches and can be picked by hand.

Also on such islands live the largest representatives of crustaceans: the palm thief crab, or coconut crab. They feed on the flesh of fallen coconuts and are a large shell with the most delicate crab meat.

Just look at these mouth-watering claws! Here, really, a welcome guest to the table!

Out of hopelessness, you can catch hermit crabs, they are easy to catch, especially at night. But it is not worth spending time on them without the need, since there is very little meat in them, due to their small size.

Going into the sea, walking along the coral reef of the lagoon, you can find other inhabitants of this ecosystem. For example, sea cucumbers, which look extremely unappetizing, but are quite edible even raw. By the way, they make sushi from them.

Also edible sea ​​urchins having broken off the needles, they are neatly opened, like an egg, and the entrails are eaten. Only small young individuals are suitable for food!

In addition to bird eggs, you can catch the birds themselves using loops. And there is also a chance to see chicks falling out of the nest. Some species of birds reach quite decent sizes.

You can eat various bivalve molluscs, but some of them are poisonous, and some reach such sizes that you cannot eat alone at a time! For example, a giant clam - sea tridacna:

To hunt for larger fish, we need a spear. Walking along the shallow lagoon, you can see many fish that can be stabbed with a spear. A spear for fishing should be made with at least 3 points, but larger is better, since with such a spear it will be easier to hit our target.

As you can see, only two points pierced the fish, and if the spear had been single, it might not have been pierced at all.

Among other things, you can find on sandy coast wild almond seeds. They are edible, grow all over the place and look like this:

Remember the 4th kind. If you are walking along sandy shore, you will find such balls under your feet - then in them you can find almond seeds. They are edible, eaten personally.

Where to get water in case of war

I don’t want to touch upon such a terrible event as the war, but everyone should know the general nuances. During the first bombings, the water in the taps may disappear due to the destruction of the water supply system. The main life-saving reservoirs and life-giving sources in cities are mainly fire departments, hospitals, sanitary and epidemiological stations, military units and reservoirs. The listed objects always have special underground storage facilities in their planning. The water in such hidden storage facilities is pre-disinfected and constantly renewed. As you can imagine, our advocates of cleanliness - sanitary and epidemiological stations - have the highest quality water supply of these "establishments". If you are outside the city, it is better to direct the search for moisture towards wells, springs and wells.

Reservoirs and wells - available water sources

Find water in the wild. Survival guide

And how, then, to survive in the wild? Let's go into the forest, let's say, in an unfamiliar area. Well, our people have a craving for adventure, or a neighbor said that mushrooms there are the size of an elephant. I'll run ahead and say that if the fifth place itches in anticipation of trouble, you can't leave the house without a plastic wrap! You never know, maybe a shopping trip will bring you to the dense forests of Siberia or to the white sands of a little-studied island in the Indian Ocean.

How to get water in the forest

As experienced people say, a big role is played by which forest you find yourself in. If the forest is deciduous, then you should not be upset, there should be a sufficient number of various sources of water, such as streams or underground springs. Lucky, you will also find some kind of rivulet. The coniferous forest is already a little alarming, but there are no hopeless situations. You should not panic, finding yourself among the many trees and pines. It is better to strain your memory and remember what Sergei Leonidych told about this at the OBZhD lessons in the 9th grade. Does not work? Then I will help you.

Lost in the woods, try to find fresh water

So, we look under our feet and look for slopes - we are going down such a descent, since, in theory, water should accumulate in the lowlands. You can observe the behavior of birds, insects and other living creatures. In principle, the very fact that, besides you, there is still someone alive in the forest should already please. All these forest dwellers have a natural reference point to the sources of life-giving moisture. We follow them, and then we carefully pursue them so that they do not notice the “tail”. To do this, in addition to polyethylene, carry a squirrel or ant suit with you. More seriously, animal behavior can be very effective in finding clean water.

Dew and green leaves - will help collect water

Dew and grass are considered good "suppliers" of drinking water in the forest. And here, our friend - polyethylene comes into play. If the weather is clear and rain cannot be collected, we will try our luck with dew. In the morning, you will be able to save an average of 200-300 grams. And by stuffing the bag with grass, or tying it on top of the leaves on a tree on a sunny day, we get a liquid that is quite drinkable.

Birch juice

In pursuit of spectacular photography, a modern girl is ready to endure even discomfort. wildlife... During a photo session, in search of a successful shot with the most beautiful birch, you can easily get carried away and wander into a deaf thicket. However, a pleasant surprise awaits you here - the legendary Soviet drink, 100% birch sap. First, this "fresh" must be removed, for this any pointed object is useful, with which we make a hole or cut in the tree. It is also a good idea to have a small container to collect the dripping juice. Voila, the eco-friendly thirst quencher is ready! As a result, birch sap will not only replenish the necessary moisture in the body, but also enrich it with vitamins B6, B12.

Birch sap will help quench your thirst

Disinfection of natural water

Finally, having found water in the forest, do not rush to drink it right away. It is definitely a product of the wild, but crystal clarity is far from guaranteed. But all sorts of unpleasant consequences, which become even more unpleasant, being far from civilization, are quite real. Therefore, disinfect the extracted liquid with any possible way... Matches and a lighter make the task much easier - you can boil the water. If you are a very prudent person or an experienced tourist, then perhaps there is iodine or potassium permanganate in the medicine cabinet. A few drops of such "rescuers" will make almost any water conditionally safe.

The extracted water must be disinfected.

Adventure on a desert island. Or where to look for drinking water

Next situation. You are flying, then, to rest after hard working days. But fate and the pilot of the plane have disposed of your free days differently - now you will have to spend the long-awaited vacation on a desert island. This, of course, is not a forest and the situation promises to be serious, however, do not hang your nose here either. It is quite possible that you will be found faster than you will find your "Friday". In these unknown lands, the main thing is to find a fresh source to quench your thirst. To maintain the body in a relatively tolerable condition, it is necessary to consume at least the minimum amount of water per day - 0.5 liters; and such a frighteningly small amount of liquid, like 0.05-0.06 liters (50-60 ml.), will allow you to live more than 10 days.

Coconuts are a good substitute for fresh water

Coconuts

So, let's go. To begin with, we explore the island for the presence of at least some body of water with fresh water... Wasn't it? It's a shame, but don't even try to use seawater for drinking. we do not need anything, you are already in extreme conditions... If the island is rich in palm trees, the situation becomes much simpler: you can drink coconut milk. Moreover, one medium coconut contains 1 liter of water, plus, it can enrich the body with important salts and minerals. As if they drank and ate - two in one.

Polyethylene to help

If the island turns out to be different from the one in the advertisement for "Bounty", you can use the following trick (but, again, you need polyethylene). Dig a hole in a sunny place, place a container in the middle, and put any grass or leaves around it. We close this simple structure tightly with polyethylene, and place a weight in the center of the film so that the condensate formed due to the sun would drain and fall into the vessel. A completely "sad" island may be caught, without greenery and tropical fruits. In this case, place 2 vessels under the polyethylene - one empty, the other with sea water. Soon, in an empty vessel, you can see the long-awaited water.

Ways to get water in the tropics

Bamboo

Another great one in the wild is bamboo. The accumulation of bamboo fluid occurs in the lower segments of the stems. By tapping on them from top to bottom, the characteristic sound will make it possible to understand where there is water and where there is emptiness. We carefully introduce an improvised tube from scrap materials into the filled areas and enjoy. Or, punching a small hole in the bamboo, drain the liquid into a bowl. Another salvation will be the rainy season, from which you definitely should not hide. Take out anything that can become a container for filling water as soon as possible.

And remember - the main thing is not to give up. After all, a person is a creature that can survive in any situation!

P.S. The most resilient person on the planet has a better understanding of how to find water. Recommendations from Bear Grylls. The faint of heart is better off not looking!

On an uninhabited island, it is almost impossible to be alone, despite the clichéd stories about the brave Robinsons, but nevertheless, once in such a situation, it should be considered an unprecedented success that a person managed to survive after a plane or ship crash. Knowing how to survive in the wild can help dampen panic and make it easier to settle in your temporary new home.

What it takes to survive

Going on any trip, it is better to play it safe once again and take the essentials with you. Such a set is called a nesseser (from the English necessary - necessary) and fits into any large pocket.

It includes:

Drinking water source

Survival on a desert island primarily depends on water. To maintain normal metabolism, the body needs to receive 1.5-2 liters of fluid per day.

In the conditions of autonomous survival, the physical load on a person increases many times due to the fact that he is constantly in search of food, sleeping equipment, making weapons and all kinds of devices, so the required volume of water increases to 3-4 liters.

In addition, most of the islands are often located in the equatorial and subequatorial zones in places where coral reefs accumulate, and, therefore, there is a high temperature all year round, at which the body will actively sweat and give off liquid. Pure water Is the most important factor in survival on a desert island.

In theory, a person can stay alive without her for about two weeks, but a living and a viable state are two different things. After a few days, dehydration will begin to draw out the last forces from the body and make a weakened person an easy prey for predators. Therefore, the search for a source of water should be done first.

Sandy coral islands often do not have their own sources of drinking water, but if there are mountains on the island, most likely it is of volcanic origin, and there is water there. You can either go around the coast in a circle in search of a stream flowing into the sea, or go inland, but it is not recommended to do this without weapons - in the depths wild animals can live that are unlikely to come ashore.

The closer to the stream, the more saturated and dense the vegetation becomes, the soil becomes moistened, the more animals (birds, insects) come to drink.

If the island has coconut trees, the issue with water can be considered resolved for a while: one nut contains up to 500 ml of milk. Palm leaves and empty coconuts can collect rainwater. To do this, you need to dig a small depression in the sand, put a bowl or other reservoir at the bottom to collect water, and densely cover the entire space around with plant leaves.

In no case should you drink seawater. To remove the huge amount of salt it contains, the kidneys need to spend more water than was drunk. So a vicious circle is formed: a person drinks, but the body becomes dehydrated, draws water from cells, trying to remove salt. If the situation is critical, and the body is already dehydrated, sea water can extend life by a couple of days.

But it is worth taking such a step only if there is a guarantee that help will arrive in time within these few days. What if the weather on the island is clear and there are no streams? You can assemble the simplest desalination plant, which is guaranteed to produce up to a liter of fresh water per day.

Even if the island has drinking water, it is recommended to make several such devices anyway, just in case; if the predators occupy the stream, it will be impossible to approach it and the person will be "evicted" ashore for a long time.

Instructions:

The whole structure should be in the sun. The water poured into the pit will evaporate and condense on the polyethylene, flowing into the bowl due to the pebble, which presses the stretched sheet. Fresh water will accumulate in the tank, and salt will remain in the pit. Water from the stream can be drunk in its original form, but rainwater, desalinated or extracted from the river is better to boil first.

If the water is cloudy and dirty, you can clean it using a multi-stage filter. To do this, you need to put several sticks, making a small "wigwam" out of them, and pull pieces of fabric across them to make something like several small tents.

Sand can be poured on the upper level, and charcoal on the lower level. Pour water on top and wait until it clears up and falls into the tank under the structure.

Asylum

Survival on a desert island in an open area is fraught with trouble for humans. A roof over your head will protect you from bad weather, shelter from the scorching sun, keep warm or cool when necessary. For the first time, you can build an unpretentious, simple shelter, but if help does not arrive within a few weeks, it will need to be improved.

Of greater importance is not even the shelter itself, but the place where it will be located. On any island, you need to survive only on the coast. There are several reasons for this.

The simplest temporary shelter on the island is a hut. It is advisable to place it above the ground to protect yourself from insects and snakes. To do this, put several sticks at a distance of 2-3 meters from the palm tree, they must be securely fixed in the sand. From them to the supporting tree, you need to draw two more sticks and tie them.

You will get something like a triangle, the inner part of which must also be laid with sticks to make a "mattress" and covered with palm leaves. From sticks and leaves you will need to build a canopy, in addition, you can add a few more "piles" below for the stability of the structure.

If survival takes place in conditions of absolute unpreparedness, palm leaves can be used as a covering, but this does not mean that other materials cannot be used: plastic wrap, cloth or tarp.

A variety of garbage is constantly beaten to the shore by waves, if a plane or ship crashed, having developed a little on the island, you can build a boat and float there to pick up useful things.

Such a built hut can only serve as a sleeping place and shelter for the first time.

From branches and scrap materials, you can build a whole hut where food and weapons will be stored. The main purpose of the shelter is weather protection. You can easily die from a cold on a desert island, the human body does not tolerate such a climate, so you need to insulate and lay your home with high quality.

Fire

Survival on a desert island is much more difficult without a lighter, matches, or other means to ignite. Fire is the second most important survival factor after water. Wild animals will never approach it, you can cook food and boil water on a fire, near it you can warm up and dry things. Dry twigs or moss are perfect for lighting a fire.

Since it is humid in the tropics, dry fuel will be more difficult to find than in a regular forest, but you can simply dry it in the sun. It is necessary to prepare tinder - a flammable material, from which the fire can then be transferred to the fire.

For this, ground dry grass, cotton wool or fluff (can be taken from the lining of the jacket) is suitable. Then make a bow - it is not necessary that it be of high quality, its use will end on lighting a fire.

As a bowstring, you can use a lace from a boot or a sweatshirt:

1. Take a block of dry wood, carve a small depression in it.
2. Wrap the bowstring around a stick (just place the stick behind the bowstring and turn the bow 180 °).
3. Put the prepared tinder into the groove on the bar, put a stick in it.
4. Move the bow quickly, making "sawing" movements so that the bowstring rotates the stick (from above we press it down with our hand for reliability).

The stick will rotate and heat the tinder by friction. First, a small smoke will go - this is not yet fire, friction needs to be increased. When the first sparks appear, the tinder must be carefully inflated and put in a pile of dry branches that were previously prepared for the fire. The islands do not have the usual good wood, such as oak or beech, which burns for a long time, with high quality and gives a lot of heat.

You will have to make a fire with improvised means, the grass and moss will quickly burn out, so you need to keep the fire constantly, around the clock. In order not to return to this anymore, it is better to collect branches from the forest in advance and lay them on the shore: this way, firstly, they will dry out in the sun, and secondly, they will always be at hand. Fire can be obtained through a magnifying glass.

The mechanism of this method is simple, the magnifying glass collects the sun's rays at one point, and their high concentration literally sets the tinder on fire. A random Robinson is unlikely to have a magnifying glass with him purely by accident, but lenses from glasses or binoculars can be used as it. Only collecting lenses are suitable for producing fire, scattering lenses are useless in this matter.

This means that glasses should be for correcting hyperopia, not myopia, with plus diopters. It sounds strange, but if there are no lenses, you can replace them with a regular condom. You need to pour about 1-1.5 liters of water into it (of course, sea water, so as not to transfer drinking water) and tie it tightly.

The lens is placed at a distance of 15-20 cm from the tinderbox kindling perpendicular to the sun's rays.

The distance and angle of inclination can be adjusted and changed, focusing on how the tinder behaves. When the kindling ignites, it will simply need to be transferred to the prepared fuel for the fire. The main advantage of this method is that it is not necessary to exert physical efforts to produce fire, the disadvantage is that not every person may even have glasses made of glasses.

Each of these methods will help to guarantee fire in clear weather. In the rains, which can last for weeks on the islands, all dry kindling becomes unusable and can no longer ignite from a small spark.

So, going on a trip by plane or liner, you should always have in your pocket at least one good lighter, which will be enough for a month of use.

Food

On a desert island, food problems usually don't make survival difficult. On the shore you can get fish, mussels and other edible shellfish. Before entering the water, it will not be superfluous to make “slippers” from the leaves and ropes. The reefs are inhabited by wart (stone fish), the back of which is covered with poisonous thorns.

It disguises itself as a stone and lies at the bottom, and it is almost impossible to spot such a fish. The poison can be fatal to humans, so it's better to protect yourself once again. If there are coconut trees on the island, this is a guarantee that you will not be able to die of hunger here. Coconut pulp is very nutritious, water can be collected in the shell, and the hairs on the surface of the nut burn well.

Bananas, mangoes, papaya can grow on tropical islands. Watch out for poisonous fruits such as aki or carambola. Hunting large animals alone is like signing yourself a death warrant. There are herds of wild pigs on many islands, but they can be very dangerous.

It is only possible to hunt such animals with firearms and a good supply of ammunition, to ensure that there is always ammo for self-defense. Meat provides energy that cannot be obtained by eating fruits and shellfish, so sooner or later you will have to think about how you can include it in your diet.

The safest way to get meat is by setting traps.

Animals on uninhabited islands are unaware of the danger that humans carry and are unlikely to avoid looping them. Rats live on the islands, and you should not disdain their meat here - in large cities these animals carry dangerous diseases, but on uninhabited islands they are no different from ordinary rodents.

Self-defense and safety

There should be a constantly maintained bonfire near the shelter. Wild animals, at the level of natural instincts, are afraid of fire and will never come close, so you need to notice how long a particular fire has been burning, and, based on this, put enough new fuel into it every evening.

At night, forays into the depths of the island, or even just from a shelter, are extremely undesirable, the search for food and household chores must be started before dark in order to finish them by darkness. But even during the day you can encounter a wild animal in the forest. In case of such a meeting with yourself, you need to have a weapon.

You can make a homemade knife from a sharpened piece of stone, a pocket knife will be useless against a large animal. You can carry a burning torch with you in the forest. Clothes will help from insects; you need to try to keep it in its original form, not to spend it on the manufacture of filters or awnings.

Finding ways to return to civilization

As soon as the first issues with the organization of survival are resolved, it is imperative to lay out the international distress signal "SOS" by branches on the coast. The larger the coastal area, the larger the letters should be, no need to spare time and effort, this is the main hope for salvation. Another way to be detected is by lighting a signal fire.

It is unlike the usual one in that it consists of several long sticks. It is better to put it on some rock, on a hill, but this option is convenient only if there is not the only survivor on the island.

People can distribute responsibilities and assign several people to watch the signal fire at the top, but one person will survive on the shore, and, accordingly, having seen the ship, he will not have time to reach and light the fire. Restrictions on size and height - no, the more, the better, the main thing is to light it up quickly.

You can maintain a regular small fire next to it to transfer the fire.

A passing ship will hardly be able to see the fire and fire, but it will definitely see the smoke. The fire should smoke very strongly, and simply dry branches cannot achieve this. At the top, you need to stock up wet leaves (if the sun is shining, cover them with a canopy so that they do not dry out), they smoke perfectly on fire, but the strongest source of smoke is plastic.

If there are bags or any unnecessary plastic items, you need not take care of them, but feel free to throw them into the fire. A person endures survival on a desert island only out of the hope of an early rescue, but a ship or a helicopter cannot be a guarantee of this. The vessel may simply not notice the signals and pass by, or not pay attention at all.

Volcanic uninhabited island with dense vegetation can provide the possibility of an indefinite existence. If you properly settle down, cultivate wild plants and animals, then it is quite possible to stay on the island for a long time. But not every person is capable of making such a decision and abandoning the benefits of civilization, society of people and favorite work.

Many are willing to take risks to take matters into their own hands for the sake of illusory hope. If you know in which area of ​​the ocean the uninhabited island is located, you can estimate the distance to big land and try to swim to it yourself. For this, a raft is built from logs. You should not rush to construction, this is the most extreme and last step that Robinson can take.

Several times you should test the raft in shallow water, check how much load it can withstand, make oars and make a test swim around the island, build a sail. The maximum speed of the raft is 10 km / h, this is not the most quick way return to earth, especially in the ocean, where there is not a current in all places.

In 1947, the Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl sailed about 7 thousand kilometers in 100 days on the Kon-Tiki sailing raft, so it is possible to swim off the island. Everything real stories about the people who survived on a desert island, they boil down to the same fact - they all had an idea of ​​how to look for water, make fire and make the simplest tools.

The story of a boy who spent several years on the island is known, and he himself claimed that if he did not remember in detail "Robinson Crusoe", he would never have been able to hold out for so long. For the sake of his safety, each person should have minimal skills, and then - the work of the wild, which can help a person.

Article formatting: Lozinsky Oleg

Desert Island Survival Video

7 Tips for Surviving a Desert Island:

In fact, there are not so many cases of survival on a desert island compared to other regions of the Earth. This is because uninhabited islands, as a rule, are located far from inhabited cities and settlements. After all, it is still necessary to swim to them somehow, so that the very falling of a person on such an island, with its subsequent survival, is a rather rare phenomenon in our life. People visit such islands for some purpose, but usually everything gets along well with them.

However, if there is a question, then let us answer it with you. Let's analyze all the features of human survival on a desert island. So that if you and I someday find ourselves in such conditions, we could act calmly and think soberly.

Most of you romantics consider tropical islands to be an earthly paradise. In part, of course you are right, but not everything is so simple. It's one thing when you come to rest in Thailand on a tour, or on your own, and another thing when a survival situation took you by surprise. The fact is that in the first case, you are in control of the situation, you can do whatever you want at your resort, and in a critical situation you find yourself locked in a cage, in this tropical prison, surrounded by a sea with sharks and big waves.

Therefore, when you have lost control of the situation, as time increases, your psychological state will change from euphoria to panic. All these colorful landscapes: palm trees, white sand, blue Lagoon- will even cause you something similar to disgust. In addition, the hot sun will hit your body like a laser burning through paper.

Water extraction

Therefore, the very first and most important thing in terms of survival on a desert tropical island is to get water. Water is the key to your salvation and survival. If you own an unlimited source of fresh water, consider the rest to be applied somehow. In the article How to get water on a desert island, I have already described the methods of obtaining fresh water, but let's talk with you again:

Look for fallen or low hanging coconut fruits. Do not climb the tall palms, you can fall off them!
see if there are old wells on the beach, since the island was probably inhabited earlier (albeit temporarily) by people.
the island may have rocky outcrops in any part of it, there may be rainwater in cracks and crevices, look for it. You can drink and / or draw it with the help of any tube, hose found among the garbage on the beach (which, I assure you, is a lot).
try to build a solar watermaker by digging a hole and covering it with a waterproof film (if you can find it). Never drink sea water!
Place all the rainwater collection containers you find on the beach.

Shelter construction

After the water, there is the next point of survival - the shelter. Due to the fact that it is already warm in the tropics, there is no need to fence anything serious and capital. It is enough just to build a canopy, i.e. a roof over your head and a bed. The canopy will protect you from both rain and direct sunlight, creating shade and making your survival more comfortable. Place the bed at some distance from the ground so that insects do not climb towards you.
The canopy can be built in a variety of ways. If you already have a piece of some kind of film, then stretch it, while making sure that the rain moisture from it drains into some container. If you do not own any kind of film, then you will have to make a roof from plant materials. Coconut leaves are well suited for these purposes. Do not settle in the jungle of the island, but do your camp on the beach. From the beach you will have a good view of passing ships, and the breeze will drive away mosquitoes from you. Remember that mosquitoes in the tropics carry various diseases such as malaria and Dengue fever. And also know that all the monsters and babies of the island that scare you at night with their rustles are in the jungle, do not settle there!

Food extraction

The next item on our program is the production of food. As well as with water, I have already taken care of you, dear friend, and wrote an article: How to get food in the rainforest, so read it, but we will analyze the main points here:

coconuts, both fallen (even better) and dangling.
snails and molluscs on coastal cliffs and coastline.
coconut crabs (palm thief) are hiding in the jungle of the island, they are obtained by traps.
shark-tailed ray and stingray ray (or whatever) are caught at shallow depths with the help of a spear. Be careful with the sniffer!
fish if you find ways to fish.
there may be mice and rats on the island, they can be caught and eaten. There are no cellars, so the rats are not as dirty as in the city, you should not disdain their meat!
at a relatively shallow depth, you can get a sea tridacna from the bottom if you know what it looks like. (the sea tridacna is an endangered species!).
in the bark and wood of trees (especially rotten ones), you can look for larvae. Also use them for fishing, as bait.
depending on the soil of the island (either a coral or volcanic island), you can look for earthworms, which are rich in protein, in the fertile soil.

feral domestic pigs and goats can live on the island, you can try to catch them. However, this luxury is unlikely to be present on your island!
birds nesting on the island. Look for their eggs, so try to catch them yourself. Can be obtained using traps.
on the island there may be old plantings of taro, cassava, banana, mango, papaya, cucumber. If you find traces of a long stay of a person on the island, then examine the island for old plantings. Perhaps the island is still being used by people who are temporarily absent. However, one should not hope to find a vegetable garden.
There are not many edible wild plants on the islands. In addition to coconut, pandanus and black berries, similar (in appearance and taste) to bird cherry, also grow there. Other edible wild plants are unlikely.
The main rule of food extraction in the conditions of survival on a desert island is to try to spend less calories in search of food than you consume. Save your strength, do not waste it on various unnecessary physical work, do not climb these damn palms!))

Lighting a fire

With water, shelter, and at least some food, we need fire. With the help of fire, you can boil questionable water, killing bacteria, as well as subject to heat treatment of caught food of animal origin. In addition, food can be smoked, while prolonging its preservation. Like food, fire is difficult to produce. Despite the hot climate of the tropics, the humidity in the air makes any tinder and any dry foliage slightly damp, making it much more difficult to start a fire. Locals for cooking in the hearth, kerosene is often used as an igniter. There is a lot of humidity on the islands of non-tropical zones.
Therefore, you should not think that now, as in some movie, you rub two sticks and immediately get coals. I assure you that you will face big problems in getting fire on the island. I believe that the surest way of getting fire can be a bow. Extraction by friction using a bow. Other friction methods are much less effective than bows. Take the time to make it (the aunt can be made from any rope, shoe lace, bark of trees, etc.), but then you can use it constantly, like a lighter, because one day your hearth will go out and you will have to make fire again. With even the smallest embers, you can inflate them to real fire. Keeping coals in a constantly burning state is very problematic, you need a lot of firewood, for the preparation of which you will have to spend a lot of calories, firewood has the ability to quickly burn out, especially at night when you sleep. Therefore, it is important to get access to make a fire over and over again, this will provide you with the bow.

Island safety

One of the most important factors in survival on a desert island is safety. However, there are not so many dangers on the island, but the very moment of isolation can increase the risks from these dangers. Let's try to list them.

Physical hazard. The attack of large mammals is excluded, they are not on the islands, only the possibility of a shark attack on the high seas. Island rats are harmless but can spread infections (such as Dengue fever). Stingray stingray prick is very painful. The ability to step on the stone fish. Injury on sharp edges of corral, and coral stones / rocks, which can also lead to infection and high temperatures. Fall from a tree / palm tree. A blow to the head with a falling coconut can be fatal, be careful especially during a storm!
Bacterial hazard. Possibility of picking up bacteria that will cause severe diarrhea and / or fever. The possibility of malaria and Dengue fever from mosquitoes (up to death). Tetanus in the wound (use anti-tetanus solder).
Bites. The centipede can sting painfully, it is active in rainy weather, it can crawl into the home. Snakes, at night they can converge on fire, be careful. Mosquitoes, especially in thickets.
Non-healing wounds. Wounds in such a climate tend to not heal for a long time, fester and continue to be fresh, increasing in size, the cause of them is bacteria. A common pimple can begin to fester and, in a peak case, even lead to gangrene, followed by amputation! This is the harsh truth of the tropics.

Getting out of the island

We have provided the most basic conditions for life, but any act of survival in the wild is an attempt to get away from this state as soon as possible, i.e. withdrawal to civilization. You can sail away yourself, by building a floating facility or with the help of other people. For these purposes, it is necessary to equip signaling components on the island with which we could attract the attention of passing ships.

The most basic condition is to make you visible and stand out from the same landscape of the island. Prepare dry palm leaves and twigs for a quick signal fire if needed. The fire should be made in the form of a hut, while the fire is not important, but the smoke from the fire, which develops many meters to the top. To do this, throw damp foliage on a flaring fire - it will not burn, but it will give out thick smoke. It is the smoke that will attract people. Practice lighting signal fires

Using my knowledge of the uninhabited islands of the world, I concluded that in our (real) situation, if suddenly you, or I, find ourselves in a situation of survival on the island, then sail from it on your own on a homemade floating device, like Tom Hanks in the movie Rogue or Bear Grills on a popular show - doesn't make sense. Therefore, we are most likely to be noticed by someone in a passing boat, rather than we will be able to get to civilization on a homemade floating vehicle. After all, it is not known how long we will have to drift in the open sea (ocean) before someone picks us up. However, if you have no hope at all, then you can try this method as well.

Just in modern times there are much more boats than in the days of Robinson Crusoe, so no, no, but someone will sail by. Yes, and all the islands are someone's property, fishermen fish in the lagoons, coconut palms are grown on the islands. Therefore, even uninhabited islands are visited by people from time to time. The plot of the film Outcast, where the hero spent (in my opinion) on the island for 4 years - absolutely