Chapter Ten

DANGERS AND HAZARDS

The wilderness may be a dangerous place at times, but we tend to play up the hazard in our minds. One of the most beneficial characteristics you can have in a survival situation is confidence. If you believe you can make it through the bad times and you’re not intimidated by the forces of nature, you will increase your chances of survival.

To see yourself to safety, you must play both offense and defense. On the offensive end are proactive measures such as signaling, finding water, making fire, building a shelter, and finding food. The defensive end includes protecting yourself from the many hazards inherent to the wild. In other words, it doesn’t matter how much water is available to drink if you get bitten by a poisonous cape cobra while lapping it up.

The thing to remember about the dangers of the wild (from animals to creepy crawlies to weather) is that they are not, by their nature, malevolent forces trying to do you in. To the contrary, they are just there, doing what they do. Your actions will determine whether these elements affect you negatively.

For example: you are rushing through the boreal forest and not paying attention to where you’re going, only to run headlong into a hornets’ nest or trip and snap your ankle in a hole. Now you’re in some serious trouble, which you could have avoided had you simply slowed down and paid closer attention. The potential for danger was always there, but your actions determined how it affected you.

Or let’s say you’ve been blessed with glorious weather for a few days and have chosen not to make a shelter. Invariably, the bad weather comes, and now you’re in a desperate situation trying to keep your fire going and stay warm in the pouring rain. The weather was coming anyway. Only your choice not to make a shelter exposed you to the danger.

Remember that of all the hazards you’ll face in a survival situation, it’s not the big-impact things (such as predators and poisonous snakes) that are most likely to get in your way. Rather, it’s the little things that you tend to ignore but which exist in abundance that will slow you down; small problems which can snowball if ignored for too long.

Weather

OF ALL THE POTENTIAL DANGERS YOU WILL FACE in a survival situation, none is more formidable than the weather. People can tell all the stories they want about dangerous animals, poisonous creatures, or getting ill from eating the wrong plant, but for me, weather is the most frightening variable of all. It’s the greatest foe you’ll face. I have yet to be bitten by a snake, to be stung badly by wasps, or to succumb to starvation in my travels. But I always have to put up with or hide from bad weather.

It could be too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. It could be too windy or too calm. But no matter what the weather is, it’s going to affect you in some way, whether it’s offering you an advantage by being pleasant and giving you time to accomplish the survival tasks you need to do, or coming down on you hard as something you have to endure until you get respite.

In the Kalahari Desert, my greatest concern was the blistering heat, which I had to escape somehow. Luckily, I found a small tree (the only one for a few square miles), which I huddled under for hours. There was a 20-degree difference between areas in the shade and those in the sun, and that little tree helped me survive.

Ignore the weather and you radically decrease your chances of seeing home again; acknowledge and respect it and you’ve taken the first step toward survival. These are the weather events (in no particular order) that you should be prepared to deal with, depending on your region and the time of year:

• blizzards and wind chill
• extreme heat
• floods
• hurricanes
• sandstorms
• thunderstorms/lightning storms

See “Weather,” Chapter 11, for a more detailed description of how to handle these events.

Predators and Dangerous Animals

NOTHING GETS AS MUCH PLAY IN THE MEDIA as people getting mauled or killed by animals. And while it may be true that people occasionally are killed by animals, in the overwhelming majority of these instances, the death was due not to the actions of a true predator but to what I call an “accidental predator.”

An accidental predator (such as a black bear) is primarily concerned with getting its food, usually small or hoofed animals, fish, or plants. Encounters with accidental predators occur when human beings invade their territories.

True predators (such as great white sharks or tigers), on the other hand, are opportunistic and look at people as opportunities. Sometimes we serve them this opportunity on a silver platter by venturing into their territories unprotected.

Animals of every sort have an uncanny ability to sense your state of mind, whether you feel confident or fearful. Exude fear and they’ll be all over you. Act confident and strong and they’ll think twice about attacking. Sharks, for example, don’t like the idea of their prey fighting back, so the toughest way for a shark to come at you is from the front.

Make sure you’re familiar with the creatures you may meet before you head out on your journey.

Accidental Predators

The majority of the animals we fear when we head into the wilderness—including black bears, poisonous snakes, or elephants—are not predators looking for human prey at all. Creatures such as these are occasionally associated with killing humans, but these deaths are usually the result of circumstance rather than premeditation. Here’s a list of what I consider the most common accidental predators:

• wolves, coyotes, and other similar canine creatures
• mountain lions, cougars, jaguars, pumas, panthers, and other similar small cats
• black bears, grizzly bears, Kodiak bears, brown bears, and other similar bears
• sharks (other than great white sharks)

Have a healthy respect for animals in the wild, but don’t let that evolve into an irrational fear of them. Once your respect becomes fear, you lose your ability to act rationally in a confrontation, and you may freeze, to your peril.

Say, for example, that you have no fresh water, the localized weather conditions are poor, and you have little fuel for fire. You know from your map that there’s a better spot a few miles away, but you’re too afraid to move because you believe you may encounter a bear along the way. Your fear of the bear is actually hindering your ability to survive.

Generally, accidental predators want nothing to do with humans. Problems occur when we present ourselves to them in a compromising position, whether it’s getting between them and their food, getting between a mother and her young, or simply getting too close and startling them. They are bigger and stronger than us, and when they react out of fear, the outcome usually is not in our favor.

Now, there have been instances where rogue animals have killed humans in a seemingly predatory fashion. Though exceedingly rare, rogue animals are dangerous, because they are unpredictable and don’t act the way the rest of their species does.

Habituated animals (bears, in particular) can also prove dangerous because they have become accustomed to humans and do not necessarily see us as a threat. Habituated animals are those that have learned to equate people with food, because people do things like leave garbage lying outside the house, or feed the animals in the backyard or park to get a nice photo.

In Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, there was a time when mothers were seen spreading peanut butter on their children’s faces so that a several-hundred-pound black bear would lick it off, all for a picture! The good news for the adventurer is that habituated animals are rarely found in remote areas.

You can prevent encounters with accidental predators by taking these steps:

• Make your presence known.
• When you’re traveling in an area where you know there are accidental predators, be as noisy as possible. Sing, yell, blow a whistle, wear a bear bell…anything that will inform animals of your presence. If they hear you, chances are they’ll take o?. Early in my days of survival training, I had to walk alone in a remote area of northern Ontario. I knew the area was thick with black bears (there was bear scat everywhere), so I simply played my harmonica as I walked along. It gave me comfort on a number of levels.
• Keep your camp area clean and free of excessive food smells.
• If you come upon a freshly killed animal in grizzly territory, give it a wide berth. Grizzlies will often wander some distance from their kill, but you can be sure they sense when something else is getting close to it.
• Don’t travel alone through the territory of large predators if you don’t have to.

There are as many strategies for dealing with large animals as there are animals themselves. What works in an encounter with a puma may not work with a grizzly bear. However, in general terms, here’s what you should do if you happen upon an accidental predator:

• 1. Don’t panic! Turning and running may well incite an instinctive predatorial response in the animal, since you are telling it that you are prey. So if it wasn’t interested in you at first, it sure is now!
• 2. Calmly and deliberately move away from the animal. Do not make jerky movements, which may startle it. Keep facing it, but do not look it in the eye. Some animals may interpret eye contact as a challenge. (An exception to this rule is sharks, which will take much longer to attack if you keep your eyes on them.)
• 3. Make yourself seem as big and threatening as possible by waving your arms over your head, making lots of noise, or joining arms with your travel mates.
• 4. Remember that you are the visitor! No matter how intent you were on heading in a certain direction, taking a certain path, or making camp in a certain spot, move elsewhere!

Many years ago, I was writing an exam for a job as a river guide on the Nahanni River in northern Canada. One of the questions on the exam asked what you should do if a bear wandered into your camp and would not leave, even after you made as much noise as possible, banged pots, and threw rocks in an attempt to scare it away. My reply was to leave. The examiner told me I was the first applicant in three years to get the answer right. After all, it’s the animal’s home and territory, not ours. We are the visitors.

Years of research and thousands of anecdotal accounts of encounters have shown that the only animals worth fooling by “playing dead” are the North American grizzly and Kodiak bears. For all other accidental predators, human aggressive displays tend to win the day, because these accidental predators can’t afford to get injured. In one case, a woman thwarted a bear attack by reaching out and tweaking the bear’s nose. That’s all it took! The bear was so freaked out, it lumbered away. These animals don’t know if you have the ability to seriously injure them, so they spook easy. Only the grizzly has a good handle on just how much bigger it is than you.

As the character Bearclaw replied in my favorite movie, Jeremiah Johnson, when asked by Jeremiah why they were hiding behind their horses even though the elk could see their feet, “Elk don’t know how many feet a horse has!”

True Predators

Even the most intimidating and dangerous of animals do not come into the world programmed to kill humans, nor are they taught to hunt us. We’re not on the menu of the following creatures:

• African lions
• great white sharks
• polar bears
• saltwater crocodiles
• tigers

Polar bears learn how to hunt seals; lions learn how to hunt gazelles and zebras. Predators are dependent on their physical health and strength to catch their next meal, so they have a great fear of getting injured. When they first encounter you, their instinct is not to attack you and eat you but rather to take off because you present an unknown. And in the wilderness, an unknown is usually a threat. You should be more scared when an animal’s curiosity overrides its fear of you.

So why is it, then, that we hear stories of man-eating lions or polar bears stalking Inuit across the tundra? Because in addition to being predators of other animals, true predators are also opportunistic eaters. If something comes into their world that is soft, smelly, and fleshy (like you and me), these creatures may recognize us as a potential meal.

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself in true predator country:

• Avoid detection: Humans tend to be loud, bumbling creatures in the wild. If you’re in true predator terrain, move as stealthily as possible. To avoid giving the predator an opportunity, try not to attract any attention to yourself.
• Make as much noise as possible: (You’re going to hate me for this contradiction!) Noise can scare animals away. This alternative is likely better attempted when you’re with a group of people, as there’s safety in numbers. (These completely opposite methods indicate just how difficult it is to predict what an animal will do, or how you should behave, during an encounter.)
• Create obstacles: When you’re stationary for any length of time, try to use natural materials to create a buffer between you and the animal. This is particularly important for your shelter. In Africa, I built a corral from acacia thorns around my shelter. It wouldn’t have stopped a lion that was intent on getting me, but it would have deterred one long enough to buy me time to plan my escape.
• Plan an escape route: Even with protection, sometimes the best route to safety is an escape route. In Africa, even with a fence of thorn bushes for protection, I made sure my shelter was built against a tree in case the pride of lions wandering the area decided to pay a visit. I hung a rope from the tree into my shelter so that I had the option of climbing the tree to get out of range.

African lions, polar bears, tigers, sharks, and saltwater crocodiles—they’re all big and can kill us with little effort. It may seem that you have little chance against a 500- to 2,000-pound (227-to 907-kg) animal, but remember that perhaps more than any other wild creatures, true predators (just like accidental predators) cannot afford to get injured. Unlike benign creatures such as rabbits (which can sustain an injury but continue to forage for food), if a predator is seriously hurt, its ability to hunt—and therefore to eat—is impaired. For instance, a wolf that suffers a broken jaw from a tangle with a moose is as good as dead. Animals such as these will often retreat rather than fight.

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STROUD’S TIP

Your fire may not be as effective as you thought in keeping you safe from animals. A small fire will provide warmth, light to see what is going on around the shelter, and burning logs that can be used as “weapons” to scare off animals. But big fires can attract curious predators, and also insects and scorpions. Build your fire using heavy, hard wood that will burn slowly through the night, provide long-lasting coals, and offer strong “missiles” as weapons in case of an attack.

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But if a true predator attacks you, your only chance may be to fight back. If you end up in a body of salt water during a survival situation, don’t create a lot of turbulence by thrashing about, as sharks are attracted to this type of behavior. While filming a TV special on sharks in the Caribbean, I was treading water with a number of lemon sharks beneath me and two tiger sharks close by (accidental and true predators). We posed the question whether it was better to swim as fast as possible to the boat or lie still and let the boat come to get me. When I made my move by swimming quickly and splashing a lot, a huge shark darted straight for me, excited by my movements.

Never enter the water if you are bleeding, as a shark can detect even the smallest amount of blood in the water. Finally, do not throw entrails or garbage into the water, as this, too, may attract sharks. Look behind any cruise ship that throws its food refuse overboard and you will see hundreds of sharks.

If you do encounter a shark, your only option is to defend yourself. A shark’s most sensitive place is its nose; direct your blows there. Remember that sharks like to attack from behind, so try to face the shark at all times. Keep your back against a coral reef or wreckage, if there is any. Go back-to-back with your dive buddy and put any object you have, your underwater video camera, for example, between yourself and the shark. Oh…and get out of the water!

Swimming with Caribbean reef sharks in the Bahamas was thrilling, though intimidating.

Secure Your Shelter from Predator Attack

In making my survival films in the African plains and the Kalahari Desert, I had the wonderful opportunity to learn from Koos Moorecroft, Raphael Gunduza, and Douw Kruger, three of the most knowledgeable survival experts in Africa. I asked Douw to give me his thoughts on dealing with the wild animals of Africa:

Surviving in the African wilderness means that you must take precautions to limit encounters with animals like lions, leopards, and hyenas, especially at night when a survivor in a shelter is nothing more than a sitting duck.

This is not to say these predators will come after you like man-eaters, but they are curious animals and might investigate for an easy meal. Their senses are extremely well developed and they will smell your presence from a distance and see your movements easily at night.

These animals all move very quietly, so it’s not easy to hear them. The best you can (and must) do is secure your shelter or sleeping place, and plan an escape route for an emergency situation. You can also install an early-warning system to wake you up when something is moving around the shelter.

Securing your shelter should be planned and done properly, as you are dealing with powerful and clever predators. If not, you will have nothing more than a false sense of security, which may end up as a nasty surprise. Spending a little extra energy securing your shelter properly will provide a safe place, which will reward you with a good night’s sleep.

Create an Early-Warning System

When alone at night in a survival situation, you’ll have better peace of mind if you’ve put up something that will warn you in advance of a predator’s approach. Use a long, thin piece of string or fishing line as a trip line around the perimeter of your shelter, about a foot and a half (0.5 meter) off the ground. Connect the line to anything that will make noise when moved or banged together.

Even a small rock balanced on a piece of wood over a larger rock will wake you if it’s knocked over in the quiet of the night. You can also use any number of trapping trigger mechanisms to get a big log to fall on a dry, thinner log to create a loud cracking sound.

Tips on Dealing with Dangerous Animals

There are numerous theories as to the best way to deal with dangerous animals, but here are a few tips:

• Prepare properly, as if you are expecting an unwelcome visitor.
• Do not keep meat or other smelly stuff in or near your shelter. Suspend food by a rope from a tree branch 50 yards (46 m) or more away.
• Do not leave anything outside your shelter, as it will be chewed up and carried away by lions and hyenas.
• Do not build a large fire, as it will attract some animals and insects.
• Urinate on the bushes around the outside of the shelter during the day. It can be smelled from a greater distance than if you urinate on the ground, and the odor may help to keep animals away.
• Do not leave your shelter at night!

Angry Ungulates

Despite the bad press animals such as bears, cougars, and lions get, there’s another group that’s rarely written about or discussed in this vein, and yet they can be some of the most dangerous creatures you’ll ever cross paths with in the wilderness (even if they won’t eat you): ungulates, or hoofed mammals.

In the rutting (mating) season, a bull moose can turn into 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of testosterone-driven rage. They’ve been known to attack vehicles. Get too close to one during this time and you may never live to tell the tale. For that matter, all ungulates—even the seemingly gentle elk—pose a significant danger during the rut.

The females of these species can also be formidable foes when they’re with their young and can kill a person with one kick of their hooves.

Other Dangerous Animals

• elephants: Need I say more?
• buffalo, musk oxen, water buffalo: Powerful and very smart, those in Africa are considered to be the most aggressive animals you will encounter.
• hippopotamuses: Surprisingly, hippopotamuses are responsible for more deaths every year than lions.
• rhinoceroses: Nervous and defensive, each of these animals has an oh-so-big horn.
• ostriches: An ostrich protecting its nest can slice open your rib cage with one swipe of its claws.

Creepy Crawlies

CREEPY CRAWLIES ARE ALL THOSE STINGING and biting creatures that give most of us the shivers. This group includes snakes, lizards, spiders, scorpions, ants, bees, ticks, and leeches. It is important to know something about these creatures and how to travel safely through their world.

As nasty as creatures like the tarantula may seem, creepy crawlies abide by the same guidelines as their kin in the animal world: except in the case of rare exceptions like leeches and ticks, they want nothing to do with you and are not on the lookout for you. Solid pre-trip research will tell you what you need to watch out for.

The only ways you will get bitten or stung by creepy crawlies is if you abruptly enter their space and scare them, if they enter your space and get scared (usually in camp or at night), or if you provoke them. For that reason, slow, deliberate movement is essential at all times.

You are at much greater risk from creepy crawlies than from predators and other dangerous animals, due to their numbers. I once spent seven days alone in the jungle and although I encountered no snakes, I saw lots of monster-sized poisonous ants, a couple of spiders, and a poisonous frog.

The rule of thumb when it comes to creepy crawlies is to minimize your exposure to them. In the desert, for example, where there are lots of scorpions around, I build my bed up off the ground so that I won’t find one in with me when I wake up.

Most creepy crawly encounters occur during the night when creatures such as scorpions, snakes, and spiders seek out warmth, and you represent nothing more to them than a large mass of radiant energy. So as ridiculous as it may seem, they really just want to snuggle up with you. It’s only when you move quickly, accidentally or out of panic, that you get bitten. You could literally sleep through the night and not even realize that a number of poisonous creatures had crossed your skin.

A man in Africa once had a black mamba (arguably the most aggressive and dangerous snake in the world) slither down into his sleeping bag to get warm for the night. The man was nearly hysterical when he realized this and was convinced the snake would bite him. His camping mates decided that in one swift motion two of them would yank him out by his shoulders while two others whipped the sleeping bag off his feet. They did just that, and in the few seconds it took to complete the task, the snake bit the man 13 times, killing him. Chances are the snake eventually would have left if the man had lain still and waited it out.

When it comes to avoiding creepy crawlies, a little local knowledge goes a long way. Learn before you head out what you need to watch for and where it lives. Generally, you should follow these rules to minimize contact with creepy crawlies:

• Keep your hands and feet out of dark places such as rock crevices, heavy brush, or hollow logs. If you need to get into such places for supplies or shelter, first use a long stick to probe the area and scare out any problem critters. Indeed, any time you slam your foot down beside a crevice, crack, or hole, you’re risking a bite, because these are the places where snakes like to curl up. Bringing your foot down right beside one might be enough to get you bitten.
• Close up your pants, sleeves, and necklines tightly.
• Get up o? the ground when you sleep. If you have bug netting, wrap yourself in it (rather than just placing it on top of you).
• Don’t leave your clothes or shoes lying around on the ground while you sleep, and always shake them out and check them before you put them back on. Most scorpion stings occur on the foot after a scorpion has spent the night in a traveler’s shoe or boot.
• Wear protective clothing if possible. Most snakebites occur at the ankles, so leather boots that cover this area can help. Bug jackets and pants, as well as general mosquito netting, help fend o? most flying, biting insects.
• Pay attention! Creepy crawlies are not that easy to spot, so stay alert as you move through their world. Look up. You don’t want to walk headlong into a hornets’ nest, or grab a branch that’s covered in stinging ants. Look down if you’re walking through heavy brush or tall grass.
• Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you. In the Amazon jungle, a Waorani man toyed with a spider by poking it with a stick. He just kept poking and poking, and eventually the spider decided it had had enough, jumped 5 feet (1.5 m) at the guy’s face, and sank his fangs right into his nose. He later told me it was one of the most painful things he’d ever experienced.

Poisonous Plants

AS THOSE OF US WHO HAVE SUFFERED THROUGH a bout of poison ivy can attest, coming into contact with a poisonous plant—let alone ingesting it—can be an extremely unpleasant experience. Poisoning from plants can result in anything from minor irritation to death.

An important part of your trip planning and preparation is to learn which plants you’ll encounter when you’re in the wild, especially since many edible plants have poisonous look-alikes. Also, don’t believe the following misconceptions about poisonous plants:

 

Misconception: “Eat what the animals eat.”

Fact: Not true. Animals sometimes eat plants that are poisonous to the rest of us.

 

Misconception: “If I boil the plant, the toxins will be removed.”

Fact: In some cases, boiling doesn’t remove all toxins.

 

Misconception: “Red…you’re dead.”

Fact: Some red plants are poisonous, but not all.

 

Misconception: “White…just right.”

Fact: Many white plants and berries are poisonous.

 

If you don’t know what a plant is, don’t touch it or eat it. Eating the wrong plant can kill you. Nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, depressed heartbeat and respiration, headaches, and hallucinations are all symptoms of poisoning.

If you suspect you’ve eaten a poisonous plant, immediately induce vomiting. This will bring up some of the toxic matter, but not all. After vomiting, if you have an ample supply of water, drink as much as possible to dilute the poison.

When you have no knowledge of a plant, suspect it’s edible, and have no other choice but starvation, then you need to do an edibility test before you ingest any quantity of it. (For more on edibility tests, refer to “Food,” Chapter 8.) However, never eat mushrooms! Identifying mushrooms is a very exact science, and if you eat the wrong one, it can kill you quickly. Mushrooms offer little nutrition in return for the chance you are taking.

My friend in survival Dave Arama has this to add: “In a survival situation, and on an empty stomach, even a mildly toxic plant can kill you. With a full stomach as in our everyday lives, ingesting a mildly toxic plant will probably result in a stomach ache or in the worst-case scenario a quick visit to the hospital.”

If you suspect that your skin has come into contact with a poisonous plant, your first course of action should be to try to remove the oil by washing the area with soap and cold water. If there is no water nearby, use dirt or sand to wipe your skin (but not if blisters have already appeared there).

The toxin and the infection can be spread by touching the infected area and then touching another part of your body, so resist the urge to scratch! Bandage the infected area to prevent any other part of your body from coming in contact with the infection.

Aside from the dangers of touching and eating unknown plants, there is another little-known way that plants can be harmful: if you burn them. People have experienced life-threatening health issues from burning piles of poison ivy and inadvertently breathing the smoke.

Plants can prove hazardous through more than just their poisons, too. Many are covered in spikes, spines, barbs, or thorns that can cause excruciating pain that, if left unattended, can result in festering wounds. One unfortunate hiker who was walking carelessly through the desert tripped and held out his hand to break his fall. He landed on a saguaro cactus, and a 4-inch (10-cm) spine went right through his palm and out the other side.

Some plants can be hazardous because of the insects they host. Certain plants and insects help each other out. For example, there is a bush in the Amazon jungle that is home to a very protective type of ant. Get too close to the bush and the ants will actually jump out and attack you. Grab the bush and all bets are off. For this reason, wear gloves when possible and tuck your pants into your socks whenever you travel in creepy-crawly country, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.

Don’t overlook the importance of footwear as protective clothing. One time in Arizona, I stopped in the middle of a hike because of excruciating pain on the top of one foot. It turned out to be a teddy-bear cactus making its way through my leather boots. The only scorpion sting I ever got was while wearing sandals in the desert. The scorpion also stung me on my index finger as I pulled it off my foot (and the numbness lingered for nearly two years).

Lack of Sleep

IT MAY SEEM BENIGN IN THE CONTEXT OF HUGE WEATHER EVENTS, predators, and deadly plants, but lack of sleep may well pose a more significant threat than any of these other hazards. Though it takes significant sleep deprivation to kill a human, the risk from it lies in how it affects your ability to function in the wild. Lack of sleep has been shown to adversely affect brain function, growth, healing, and general ability.

We tend to sleep poorly in survival situations, but it is important to try to get as much sleep as possible. Sleep keeps you fresh, alert, and well-functioning, and it cuts down on your energy requirements when you are awake.

As survival instructor Dave Arama likes to say, “If you don’t have to walk, sit down, and if you don’t have to sit down, lie down.” To that I add that if you don’t have to be awake (particularly to signal for rescue), sleep. My most restful naps happen at around 2 p.m., during the warmth of the day. It’s the wrong time to sleep if you want to be rescued, but when sleeping at night is often so difficult, I’ll take what I can get to keep my sanity.

Starvation

HUMAN BEINGS CERTAINLY NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE, but most of us overestimate the significance of food in a survival situation. This, I’ve found, is one of the greatest risks you’ll encounter regarding food in the wild: thinking you need three meals a day to function properly.

The truth is, you can survive for a very long time without food, sometimes as long as a month. You won’t be functioning very well after the first couple of weeks, but you won’t necessarily die, either.

While making my survival films, the primary issue I face due to not eating is lack of energy. I work for 20 minutes, then have to sit down and rest for the same amount of time. Then I work again for another 20 minutes until I am exhausted and need to rest again. This continues until I somehow get something to eat. See “Food,” Chapter 8, for more information.

Dehydration

THE DECISION AS TO WHETHER TO DRINK UNPURIFIED WATER comes down to a question of risk. Can drinking unpurified water kill you? Definitely. But with a few exceptions, it can take a week or more before the effects of drinking bad water are felt. Dehydration, on the other hand, will kill you more quickly; after only three to four days your ability to function well is reduced.

Clearly, your first choice should be for clean or filtered water. But if you have no other choice, drink the unpurified water and hope that you can reach safety in time to deal with the water-borne illnesses you may have contracted as a result.

Use some common sense when you see a tainted water source. Can you get to other water? Is it contaminated with something you think could be deadly, or is it just dirty? Remember, sparkling clean water can hide some pretty nasty diseases too. See “Water,” Chapter 5, for more information.

Cold Weather

WHILE FILMING A SPECIAL FOR THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL on surviving in Alaska, I had the distinct pleasure of jumping through an ice hole cut in an Alaskan lake and spending 13 minutes immersed in frigid water with one of the world’s renowned experts in the study of cold on the human body. I asked my friend Gordon Giesbrecht, PhD, professor of thermophysiology, to pen the following sections on hypothermia and frostbite.

Hypothermia

When people play in the wilderness, one danger they commonly recognize is hypothermia, the lowering of the body’s core temperature from its normal level of 98.6^°F (37^°C) to 95^°F (35^°C) or lower.

The onset of hypothermia is slow and usually undetected by the victim. Even in ice water it may take 30 minutes or more to become hypothermic. In cold air, it takes hours or even days.

If you are stranded in a cold air environment, the cold/wet/wind triad can be deadly. Many folks set off on a pleasant day with minimal extra clothing and supplies, only to be overtaken by wind and rain. These conditions can be deadly if you don’t have a day pack with some extra clothing. Traveling partners need to watch each other for signs of hypothermia, which can be described as the “umbles”: grumbles, fumbles, stumbles, and tumbles. Change in personality, loss of fine and gross motor movement, and shivering are potential signs that you are too cold. Get into a shelter, rest, and ingest high-calorie drinks and foods until you feel better.

Frostbite

Frostbite is the freezing of tissue. Mild frostbite involves freezing superficial layers—skin—while severe frostbite involves freezing flesh below the skin. Obviously, the deeper the freezing, the more damage is done.

Water within tissues freezes and forms ice crystals, and these sharp fragments damage the tissue (one reason why you should never rub the site of frostbite). The major problem resulting from frostbite is the destruction of capillaries. These small vessels are responsible for the exchange of oxygen and nutrients between the blood and tissue. Once tissue is thawed, the frostbitten area can become flushed as blood flow returns to it. But because the capillaries have been destroyed, the blood cannot provide life-giving oxygen.

Our advice to outdoors enthusiasts is this: Never accept numbness. As nerves get progressively colder, sensations progress from cold, to pain, to numbness, to nothing. Numbness is a warning that tissue is nearing the freezing point. At that point, you must get the numb body part out of the cold or add insulation. Simply putting your hands in your armpits can all but guarantee that they won’t freeze. If your fingers freeze even when they are in your armpits, your biggest problem isn’t frostbite.

“Professor Popsicle” Gordon Giesbrecht and I spent nearly 13 long minutes submerged in the frigid waters of a remote Alaskan lake to test my body’s reaction to hypothermia.

Region-Specific Hazards

Arid Regions, Deserts, and Canyons

By far the worst danger in the world’s warmer and drier regions is the sun, but it’s not the only hazard. You will also find yourself exposed to poisonous creepy crawlies, thorn-covered plants and cacti, contaminated water, and eye irritation from the constant dust and blowing sand.

Extreme heat can affect you in several serious ways. Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are caused by a shortage of water and salt in the body. Symptoms include headache, profuse sweating, weakness, dizziness, irritability, cramps, and sometimes even mental confusion. If you experience any of these symptoms, get into the shade to cool off. Sprinkling water on your body may also help.

Heat stroke is more severe than heat exhaustion and begins to impede the body’s natural ability to cool itself. If not treated quickly, it can lead to death. Symptoms include hot, dry skin and a visible lack of sweat, as well as headache, dizziness, confusion, nausea, and vomiting. If you suspect heat stroke, get into the shade and pour water on your body if possible (even if the water is contaminated). Consume water every few minutes, but only in small quantities; large amounts will bring on vomiting.

My most dangerous survival moment occured in the Kalahari Desert. Two days of drinking hot water and having the sun and wind suck the moisture out of me brought me frighteningly close to heat stroke. It was 117°F (47°C) in the shade and 142°F (61°C) in the sun. By midnight I actually had the sensation that I was getting hotter, though the sun had long since disappeared. Only careful attention to staying immobile and constantly wiping my neck and head with a damp bandana kept me alive. Heat stroke can hit you fast and can kill.

Dehydration is another risk in these regions, particularly when there’s wind. The combination of heat and wind will suck the moisture right out of your body. Seek protection from the wind as well as the sun.

The most significant weather event you’ll encounter in the desert is a sandstorm. If you have the misfortune of being caught in one, try to get downwind of a shelter. Cover your mouth and nose, and wait. Sand in some deserts can be alkaline and irritating if it finds its way into your many orifices. Breathing in the salty air that blows up from the salt “pans” in a place like the Kalahari Desert can cause serious sinus and lung irritation.

Finally, remember that mirages can and do occur in these regions and they present a hazard (they’ve also been known to occur in the Arctic). The greatest risk is that a mirage will create optical illusions of what seems to be water in the distance. These illusions can entice you to travel in a direction you otherwise wouldn’t or shouldn’t go. Be skeptical of the big lake you see in the distance.

Boreal and Other Temperate Forests

Forest fires have become more frequent in the last few decades. The upside of finding yourself close to one is that fires attract firefighters, increasing your chance of rescue. The downside is that you may die. Move in the opposite direction from the fire by determining the prevailing wind. If possible, make your way to a lake. Remember that fire travels faster uphill than downhill.

Underestimating the difficulty of travel in a forest can be a real threat as well. It might seem like your destination is only a mile away, but a mile through some types of thick forest can be hours of pure hell.

The Arctic and Polar Regions

At the top of the list for polar dangers is the weather. Blizzards have taken the lives of many very experienced Arctic travelers. Do not, under any circumstances, travel in a blizzard. If a blizzard strikes (or is imminent), return to your shelter immediately. If you don’t yet have a shelter, build one right away. If you don’t have time to do this, at least get out of the wind.

Frostbite is another ever-present danger in the world’s cold places. Proper clothing is your first line of defense in preventing frostbite, but protecting yourself from the elements—especially the wind—is equally important. See “Survival First Aid,” Chapter 13.

Snowblindness, which is essentially a sunburn on your retina, is also a real hazard in these parts. On sunny days, the sun’s rays reflect off snow and ice and come at you from all directions. Snowblindness causes excruciating pain and can leave you without proper vision for as long as three days. Protect your eyes in any way you can.

On the Sea or Open Water

As with snowblindness in the Arctic, sunblindness is a sunburn of the retina caused by the reflection of the sun’s rays on the water.

Seasickness is a malady that affects some people and doesn’t touch others at all. If you’re prone to it, bring seasickness medication in your first-aid kit. When you’re on the open water in a sizable vessel, staying above deck may help. Some say that looking across the horizon instead of at the waves can help. Focusing on small, dexterity-associated tasks, on the other hand, may promote seasickness.

If you do get seasick, allowing yourself to vomit may provide almost immediate relief.

Jungles

Freshwater rivers and lakes in the jungle can host a number of dangerous creatures such as alligators and crocodiles, not all of which are visible from the shore or your boat. Many of these animals have been known to attack boats and other vessels, so plan your trip carefully by avoiding proximity to them whenever possible.

You’ll find many smaller, though no less hazardous, critters along the way. The black piranha is the most dangerous freshwater fish in the world. Limited to northern South America, they are small but have very big teeth, and they travel in large schools capable of devouring a person in minutes. They are most dangerous in shallow waters during the dry season.

Electric eels—which can be 6 1/2 feet (2 m) long—are usually found in South America and are capable of generating up to 500 volts of electricity. Large freshwater turtles may seem like an easy meal, but the snapping turtles of North and South America have been known to bite the fingers and toes off unsuspecting people. Even the platypus, which is found only in Australia, has a poisonous spur on each hind foot that can inflict intensely painful wounds.

Far less dramatic but no less a hazard are falling coconuts, silly as that may sound. More people are killed in the tropics every year from falling coconuts than from shark attacks. Victims are usually at the base of a palm tree when it happens. Be careful where you decide to sleep; most of these deaths occur at night.

Rising river levels pose a real threat in the tropics, even if a storm is not apparent in your immediate area. Jungle rivers can rise by as much as 20 feet (6 m) in a few hours, even though the rise is caused by storm systems many miles away.

I think the jungles of this planet are home to more dangers than any other region. An entire book could be dedicated to the subject. From caterpillars to freshwater stingrays, from a deluge of rain to killer ants, from roaming jaguars to wasps as long as pencils, jungles are home to a bewildering array of events and creatures that can hurt or kill you. Yet, jungles are amazingly beautiful places to experience, and they are still my favorite ecosystem for adventuring. They can be for you too, if you’re careful.

Coastal Regions

Oceans rival jungles for the most hazards to travelers. Salt water is home to numerous threatening creatures, none as feared as the shark. Shark attacks are rare, however, and usually considered accidents. You can best avoid shark attack by avoiding shark habitat.

In shallow waters, you’ll find many creatures that can inflict pain and cause infection to develop if you happen to step on them. Invertebrates such as jellyfish are capable of injecting venom by biting or stinging, or through spines located in their fins and tentacles. Although jellyfish-related deaths are relatively uncommon, invertebrate bites or stings can be fatal. Wear protective footwear when wading near the shoreline. Shuffle your feet along the bottom of the water body (rather than raising them up and stepping), as most of these critters sting from the top rather than from the side. Stingrays, especially those of the tropical variety, can be quite nasty in the shallows.

If you are fishing in these areas, remember that not all fish can be eaten. Though there are no hard-and-fast rules to distinguish edible from poisonous fish, most of the poisonous ones live in shallow water around reefs or lagoons, have box-like or round bodies with shell-like skins covered with bony plates or spines, and have small, parrot-like mouths. As is often the case, being informed about the potentially dangerous creatures in a region can go a long way toward preparing you.

Like mountain areas, coastal regions can be susceptible to fast, violent weather changes. Storms can blow in seemingly without notice; be prepared to seek appropriate shelter.

If you’re planning on traveling by water, you should have a working knowledge of local tide patterns, including currents and rip tides. If you’re on land, make sure you build your shelter beyond the high-tide mark.

Very low on the probability scale but high on the danger scale are tsunamis, series of waves generated by undersea disturbances such as earthquakes. Tsunamis can cause waves to travel as fast as 450 miles (724 km) per hour, reaching heights of 100 feet (30 m). Tsunamis are sometimes preceded by rapid changes in water level; they typically arrive as a series of successive crests (high water levels) and troughs (low water levels).

If you suspect a tsunami is approaching, move to higher ground immediately. Stay away from the shore. Finally, do not assume that the danger has passed if a lengthy period of time elapses between waves. Tsunami crests can be 90 minutes apart.

Mountains

Full-blown rockslides and mudslides are significant hazards in mountainous country but are fairly rare. Much more common is the rockfall, which can occur at any time. Take extra care when traveling at the base of rock walls, cliffs, or rocky slopes.

When snow is present, the risk of an avalanche occuring is a real one. Stay away from open, exposed slopes that are bare of vegetation, as this is a sign that avalanches regularly rip through the area. The most dangerous slopes are ones that are 34 degrees to 45 degrees, as these hold lots of snow but are steep enough to let it go frequently. The more trees that are present (and the larger they are), the more likely it is that the area is relatively safe from avalanches.

If you get caught in or near an avalanche, seek shelter (if possible) on the downhill side of boulders or trees. Crouch low, face away from the slide, and cover your nose and mouth. Experts recommend using a swimming motion, which may keep you near the top of the slide. If you have the ability to do so, try to make your way to the top of the slide while it is slowing down but still moving. I highly recommend wearing an avalanche beacon when traveling in the mountains.

The upper regions of mountains can also be prone to sudden weather changes. Lightning may also be present; if so, seek shelter and stay off ridges.

Group Versus Solo Survival

AS WITH MOST AS PECTS OF SURVIVAL, being in a group helps because you benefit from the combined knowledge of the members. Somebody in the group may know about the specific hazards present in a region, which should help you stay well away from the danger.