Rinaldy Adventure

SURVIVAL SKILL

Survival skills are techniques a person may use in a dangerous situation (e.g. natural disasters) to save themselves or others (see also bushcraft). Generally speaking, these techniques are meant to provide the basic necessities for human life: water, food, shelter, habitat, and the need to think straight, to signal for help, to navigate safely, to avoid unpleasant interactions with animals and plants, and for first aid. In addition, survival skills are often basic ideas and abilities that ancient humans had to use for thousands of years, so these skills are partially a reenactment of history. Many of these skills are the ways to enjoy extended periods of time in remote places, or a way to thrive in nature. Some people use these skills to better appreciate nature and for recreation, not just survival.

Shelter

Shelter is anything that protects a person from his/her environment, including dangerous cold and heat and allow restful sleep, another human need.

A shelter can range from a "natural shelter"; such as a cave or a fallen-down (cracked but not split) thickly-foliaged tree, to an intermediate form of man-made shelter such as a debris shelter, a ditch dug next to a tree log and covered with foliage, or a snow cave, to completely man-made structures such as a tarp, tent, or house.

Fire

Making fire is recognized in the sources as to significantly increase the ability to survive physically and mentally. Lighting a fire without a lighter or matches, such as by using natural flint and steel with tinder, is a frequent subject of both books on survival and in survival courses. There is an emphasis placed on practicing fire-making skills before venturing into the wilderness.

Fire is presented as a tool meeting many survival needs. The heat provided by a fire warms the body, dries wet clothes, disinfects water, and cooks food. Not to be overlooked is the psychological boost and the sense of safety and protection it gives. In the wild, fire can provide a sensation of home, a focal point, in addition to being an essential energy source. Fire may deter wild animals from interfering with the survivor, however wild animals may be attracted to the light and heat of a fire. The light and smoke emitted by a fire can also be used to work at night and can signal rescue units.

Water

A human being can survive an average of three to five days without the intake of water, assuming sea-level altitude, room temperature and favorable relative humidity.^[1] In colder or warmer temperatures, the need for water is greater. Need for water also increases with exercise.

A typical person will lose 2min.-4max. litres of water per day under ordinary conditions, and more in hot, dry, or cold weather. Four to six litres of water or other liquids are generally required each day in the wilderness to avoid dehydration and to keep the body functioning properly.^[2] The U.S. Army survival manual recommends that you drink water whenever thirsty.^[3][4] Other groups recommend rationing water through "water discipline".^[5]

A lack of water causes dehydration, which may result in lethargy, headaches, dizziness, confusion, and eventually death. Even mild dehydration reduces endurance and impairs concentration, which is dangerous in a survival situation where clear thinking is essential. Dark yellow or brown urine is a diagnostic indicator of dehydration. To avoid dehydration, a high priority is typically assigned to locating a supply of drinking water and making provision to render that water as safe as possible.

Many sources in survival literature, as well as forums and online references, list the ways in which water may be gathered and rendered safer for consumption in a survival situation, such as boiling, filtering, chemicals, solar radiation / heat-SODIS, and distillation. Such sources also often list the dangers, such as pollutants, microorganisms, or pathogens which affect the safety of back country water.

Recent thinking is that boiling or commercial filters are significantly safer than use of chemicals, with the exception of chlorine dioxide.^[6][7][8]

The issues presented by the need for water dictate that unnecessary water loss by perspiration be avoided in survival situations.

To thus avoid these problems, culinary root tubers, fruit, edible mushrooms, edible nuts, edible beans, edible cereals or edible leaves, edible moss, edible cacti and algae can be searched and if needed, prepared (mostly by boiling). With the exception of leaves, these foods are relatively high in calories, providing some energy to the body. Plants are some of the easiest food sources to find in the jungle, forest or desert because they're stationary and can thus be had without exerting much effort.^[9]

Also, many commentators discuss the knowledge, skills, and equipment (such as bows, snares and nets) necessary to gather animal food in the wild through animal trapping, hunting, fishing.

Some survival books promote the "Universal Edibility Test".^[10] Allegedly, one can distinguish edible foods from toxic ones by a series of progressive exposures to skin and mouth prior to ingestion, with waiting periods and checks for symptoms. However, many other experts including Ray Mears and John Kallas^[11] reject this method, stating that even a small amount of some "potential foods" can cause physical discomfort, illness, or death. An additional step called the scratch test is sometimes included to evaluate the edibility of a potential food.

Focusing on survival until rescued by presumed searchers, The Boy Scouts of America especially discourages foraging for wild foods on the grounds that the knowledge and skills needed are unlikely to be possessed by those finding themselves in a wilderness survival situation, making the risks (including use of energy) outweigh the benefits.^[12] Given that most people have enough body fat to carry them through several days, using the energy to procure water, fire and shelter is a better use of available time and energy.

Navigation

Survival situations are sometimes resolved by finding one's way to safety, or one may need to move to find a more suitable location to wait for rescue. The sources observe that to do either of these safely requires some navigation equipment and skills. Types of navigation include:

• Celestial navigation, using the sun and the night sky to locate the cardinal directions and to maintain course of travel
• Using a map and compass together, particularly a topographic map or trail map.
• "Navigation by observation" of terrain features on a map or otherwise known
• Using a GPS receiver, if one is available
• Dead reckoning

In the Northern Hemisphere at mid-day, the sun is directly South of any observer. In the Southern Hemisphere at mid-day, the sun is directly North of any observer. Mid-day can be calculated by planting a stick or other upright structure in the ground as close to 90 degrees as possible and marking with sticks or rocks or any other feature, as often as possible, the length of the shadow it casts during a single daylight period. Wherever the shadow is the shortest during a daylight period, that direction is South if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, or North if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. In lieu of a compass or natural terrain features to aid in navigation, this method will give a survivor a generally correct impression of direction. This method of orienteering is not useful when the survivor does not have a pre-existing general impression of the local environment (knowing which way is south will not help you if you don't know what should be south of you).