Whether you have crash-landed into the vast tropical jungle or are there by choice, in order to stay alive and well, you will quickly need to become familiar with your surroundings so you can implement a few crucial survival tips for obtaining the basic necessities such as water, food, warmth, and shelter. Read on to discover what life is like without access to running water, packaged foods, and fully-charged cell phones for communication. If you can learn to survive in the tropical jungle, you increase your chances of survival anywhere!
Water
Search for water in streams, lakes, and the water vine, which can hold several gallons at a time. If this isn’t possible, collect rainwater using large leaves. Prior to drinking, you will first need to start a fire and boil the water in a pan to purify it. This will prevent you from ingesting harmful parasites that could make you very ill.
Food
If you aren’t familiar will all the species of plants, it’s impossible to know which ones are edible. This is when the universal edibility test needs to be applied. Rub the plant over your mouth and skin to see if you will react adversely to it or not. Pay close attention to colors, texture, and taste. Yellow and white berries tend to be poisonous. Avoid plants with umbrella-shaped flowers with seeds inside of them, plants with leaves that come in groups of three, and plants with shiny leaves. Many species of mushrooms are poisonous and should be avoided as well unless you are familiar with the fungi of the region.
Edible fruits such as bananas, mangoes, and coconut can generally be found in abundance. Termites, worms, and grubs are a valuable source of protein. Most insects are safe to eat as long as they aren’t brightly colored or unpleasant smelling. Beetles have a good amount of nutrition but need to be roasted or boiled prior to eating to kill off any bodily parasites.
Fire
Depending how far into the tropics you are, you will likely not need a fire for warmth, but you may want one to boil water, cook meat, or signal for rescue. Start by collecting small sticks, dry grasses and weeds, and dead leaves, and create a tight tinder pile. Make sure you gather slightly larger sticks for kindling and fuel for the fire’s duration. If you don’t have a lighter or fire starting tool with you, you can use two sticks to create friction, or reflect sunlight to ignite your tinder pile. For a signal fire, you’ll want to use living branches and leaves, as these will create a thick white smoke with little flame.
Shelter
If you happen to come across one, a cave is an excellent choice for shelter since it provides shade and cool temperatures, as well as protection from the elements and predation by creatures higher up in the food chain, or at the very least, injuries from those that dwell in the open jungle. But a cave is probably going to be low on the list of probable shelter options, so a little elbow grease and ingenuity with palm leaves, fallen branches, vines, and other found materials will likely be your best bet.
Photo from Boudewijn Huysmans/Unsplash
