Survival Skills When Lost in the Deep Forest

“With over 20 caves explored, we've encountered dangers, difficulties, and unforeseen challenges,” shared Tạ Nam Long.

Travel Tips: Survival Skills When Lost in the Deep Forest

The departure of British adventurer Aiden Webb left sorrow for his family, friends, loved ones, and the young community passionate about experiencing Vietnam.

Tạ Nam Long, leader of the Vietnam Cave Exploration Society, experienced an accident when falling into a 40m deep hole while exploring Cống Nước Cave, Lai Châu. He suffered spinal injuries, a fractured thigh bone, and had to remain immobile for a day and a night until the rescue team brought him out of the cave.

Reflecting on Aiden's tragic story, Nam Long stated: “With over 20 caves explored, we've encountered numerous dangers, difficulties, and unforeseen challenges. Therefore, to protect ourselves and our team, we must regularly train and share experiences with each other before every trip.”

Tạ Nam Long's Insights on Ensuring Personal Safety When Embarking on Adventure Travel

What to Do When Lost in the Deep Forest?

1. Stay Calm, Limit Movement

In times of danger or accidents, it's crucial to remain calm. If lost, sit tight, use a whistle to signal teammates, limit movement, conserve energy. Some members should stay with the victim, bringing along food and drinks, while others search for help.

Take deep breaths and stabilize your mindset. This will help you think clearly. Then, don't succumb to fear but rather immediately start planning and taking actions to ensure survival.

2. Find a Safe Shelter

To protect yourself and avoid jungle rains, find a safe shelter. Look for natural shelters like rock crevices, stay near streams but above them to avoid flash floods. Avoid venturing out at dusk, as you might encounter dangerous snakes.

3. Find a Source of Food

If you run out of food supplies, seek out streams, rivers... or find ways to collect dew from leaves. Only eat forest plants you know are safe; otherwise, it's best to endure with water. Remember to avoid colorful mushrooms in the forest, as they're often poisonous.

4. Make Signaling Marks

To help searchers locate you easily, create noticeable signs like lighting fires, hanging clothes, hats up high, or in conspicuous locations.

Lighting fires also helps warm your body and repel wild animals in the jungle. If lost in dense forests, this method is challenging for rescue teams to spot you, only observable from helicopters. However, be cautious when lighting fires, as they could cause forest fires.

Therefore, during preparation, ensure to carry specialized waterproof flashlights with SOS and beacon modes, capable of illuminating up to several hundred meters at night.

Make loud noises like blowing a whistle, tapping hollow tree trunks, or burning bamboo to create loud explosions.

5. Find a Way Back if Physically Fit

If you're physically fit, you can also attempt to find your way out of the lost area. My advice is to follow forest trails, avoiding densely wooded areas as it's difficult to determine directions. Following rivers and streams will lead you to a way out.

3 Things to Do Before Setting Off

1. Join a club or group to share experiences, knowledge, skills, and explore locations from easy to challenging together.

Embark on conquering familiar mountains and forests, previously explored by many. While they may seem less thrilling, this builds experience, preparing you well for the next journey.

2. Know your limits and never blindly follow your group or act impulsively. It concerns your own and your companions' life safety.

Take a serious look at your mental and physical capabilities, knowledge, understanding, training, and learn skills like orienteering when lost, assessing situations, task delegation, rescue, first aid, mountaineering, rope climbing, knot tying...

For this activity, participants need sufficient health, free from cardiovascular diseases, hypertension.

3. Gear preparation: Before setting off, thoroughly research your destination, check your equipment, monitor weather forecasts to guard against floods, getting stuck, carry medical supplies to prevent blood loss injuries.

During the journey, the team must leave contact information and the estimated completion time. Members should cross-check gear, equipment, techniques for each other. Especially, members shouldn't split off or venture alone in caves without the consent of the expedition leader.

Additionally, when preparing gear, avoid wearing denim pants (they become heavy when wet, hindering climbing) or tight clothes; opt for quick-dry clothing, long-sleeved shirts to prevent scratches. Also, refrain from wearing flip-flops or backless sandals prone to slipping.

Important items such as phones, electronics should be securely wrapped in plastic bags, then placed in waterproof pouches or backpacks. Avoid using water from caves as it may contain parasites and disease-causing agents.

Finally, pack lightweight but high-energy foods, carbohydrates such as raisins, dried jackfruit, chocolate, condensed milk, canned goods...

Source: Zing News

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Reference: Travel handbook Mytour