Lately I've been watching a lot of Les Stroud's and Bear Grylls' survival series and I'm currently reading Les Stroud's Survive! and this got me thinking.
Our common hobby/profession takes many of us into remote locations where anything might happen. How many actually know a thing or two about survival and does anyone carry around essentials necessary for making a fire, shelter and traps to catch anything edible? How many of you tell someone where exactly you are going?
You might think that since you are travelling by car, then what can go wrong ... well I always like it when TOP Gear's Jeremy Clarkson says "How hard can it be!". If your car breaks down on a desolate road with a hundred kilometers of nothing on either side and you drop your mobile in a puddle or just forgot to recharge the battery and you brought along a bottle of water and a snack to get you by until you get home in the evening then do you know what to do? Heck you might just 10km from a perfectly working car and you get carried away taking photos. You start noticing that something is off when the shutter speeds start nearing 1/30 or 1/10 and if you aren't as far north as Estonia is, then dusk will most probably mean 10-20 minutes of poor light followed by pitch black. You are lucky if you have a GPS and you have recorded your trip, but what if you don't?
Just last week I heard a story about a guy with his son who went to seek out another fellow's deer feeding place. They had first trouble finding the location so they sort of lost track of their bearings. Finally they found it when it was getting dark and even though they were in contact over the phone they somehow managed to take off in the wrong direction leading deeper into the swamp. Luckily the other bloke knew the woods and swamp like the back of his hand and he was somehow able to find the two finally and eventually found their way back by feeling their way through the terrain. Actually those two weren't far off from being lost for the night without food, shelter or a fire.
Granted, Estonia really isn't a country where you'd have to walk hundreds of kilometers to get to anything resembling civilisation but if you are in the dark and lost with a dead flashlight you might walk in a 10km circle (what lost people tend to do if they don't get their bearings) and end up exhausted and soon (in October we might already get temperatures below freezing) also hypothermic. Add to that a badly twisted ankle and your progress will be very limited.
I find this sort of information not only useful but also interesting to read and watch.
Does anyone have any stories of their own or thoughts on the matter?
