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Travelling by night more than doubles your chances of survival
If you can conquer the fear
and that sense of isolation that comes with the darkness
Anything could be out there
And you need to use all your senses to make sure that you are not stepping into danger
It takes about 45 minutes to get your night vision
But when it does come, especially with a full moon like this,
it is almost like walking in daylight. Walk with a heavy footfall
so the vibrations let any snakes know that you're around.
Hopefully , they'll get out of your way.
But even if you avoid the creepy crawlies, you won't make it very far without water and food.
Coming up, some cool tactics for satisfying those basic needs.
It's one of the fundamentals of survival
Without water you're gonna die!
Even in the cold weather, you need at least half a gallon of water a day
to keep you from getting dehydrated.
Now, the difficulty is... there is no running water up here
and the only way I've ever been able to do this
it is just when I'm walking along
I keep just stuffing snow into my water bottle.
like this...and just...
stuff it down my jacket...
where it is nice and warm...and let that melt
It's tempting to eat the snow,
but that would cool your core body temperature even further.
There is water at the bottom of this gorge, but to be sure it is drinkable
you first have to find out where is come from.
All I've got to do is keep following the stream up here...
and this...yeah...this is the source of it.
The spring water is filtered through the rocks to emerge clean.
That means it doesn't even need to be boiled.
Especially in a hot climate, you've got to keep drinking.
But first you need to separate the swamp water
from all the rotting debris
Look at this...
make it into...like a...
sack
Now, see this water is now coming out all...nice and clear
That's what I'm trying to keep out of my water bottle.
The water now looks clear
but it still contains parasites and bacteria, so always boil it!
In the desert you can loose nearly a litre of water an hour
If you don't drink, you don't have a hope.
You need water whenever and wherever you can get it.
Search for low-lying places where water might have pooled during a rainstorm
Then... start digging!
Even to find this sort of stuff,
cool pretty moist sand is a real result
wrap that up...and then just start
to wring it
When your life's on the line, you can´t afford to be picky about where water comes from
even if it's a camel's carcass
And the bit that I want is called the rumen, where it keeps the fluids.
Look at that! That's amazing!
And if water can't be found, you can actually drink your own pee.
There's no getting away from it. That really is pretty horrible, it's like...
warm and it is salty!
Not my favourite! Urine is actually ninety-five percent water
but only drink it when it's fresh. Wait too long and
it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.
It's the people who push the limits
who stand the best chance of survival.
And desperate times call for desperate measures.
One thing you can do is actually drink the fluid
from a fresh elephant dung. Pretty disgusting but it could save your life.
Not one of the better drinks I've ever had.
You can go longer without food than you can without water.
But food equals energy and if you're able to keep yourself nourished,
you'll have a much better chance of survival.
Many times the choices aren't that bad after all,
like these mussels I dug up in Alaska. With no pan to cook them in,
I surrounded the muscles with two layers of seaweed.
This effectively steams them.
And this should take about 10 minutes to cook. Wow! Those really are good!.
And other times you're faced with less appetizing and more primitive options.
Look at this. A dead zebra. This, definitely, a lion kill.
There could be come good leftovers here.
provided the meat isn't rotten. Vultures are a good sign,
as they will only eat fresh meat. Check also for maggots!
The lack of maggots tells me that this kill is hours, rather than days old.
And if the carcass smells rotten, then move on.
But this meat is fresh and an excellent source of protein.
Cooking meat is safer and you won't get a better looking steak than that.
And turns this camel meat into a rare desert feast.
Fresh fish is a welcome food source
When you don't have a fishing line and hooks in your pocket, you can try
trapping the fish.
What I'm going to do is see if I can dam this little bit of stream low down.
And also the other stream. Let's see if I can get there.
The dams will stop the fish scaping and always build the lower one first..
They'll find it harder to spot you. Stay out of sight as you move upstream and
once your next dam is built, you're ready to go fishing.
Other helpful fishing tools are a spear made from wood.
And a makeshift net.
And all I need to do is bend this round and then tie it...
and put my shirt over it and then
you are ready for a bit of fishing.
You'll need something for bait.
I'm using termites. OK, just come above my net
It's all about being patient. I'm notoriously impatient.
A long piece a string is all that's needed to catch small game.
One thing I did notice was a lot of animal traps
And especially for hares. If I can make snares from my parachute lines
I've got some chance of catching some food.
And all I need to do is make like a bite in one end, just a really simple overhand knot
that gives you a really nice simple little loop, then I just thread
the other end through that, when it comes under pressure,
it tightens on itself.
And I'm also gonna take one of these and just smear
the scent of the cowpat all over my hands.
All that the animals are gonna smell is cowpat...
and not human.
Survival is all about learning to live off what you're able to find in the wild.
And having the nerve to put it in your mouth.
I've got my piranha. That I've caught.
And here are those nasty teeth
grinning away at me.
There is some maggots feeding off this
That is like the freshest Alaska salmon.
I love sushi!
This eyeball is going to be ok to eat.
That seems good to eat.
(...) never eaten raw goat testicles before.
Coming up: Finding shelter
in the most extreme places on earth.
In extreme environments will increase your odds of survival
if you can find or create shelter.
I'm on a glacier in Iceland. A blizzard has come in,
night is falling and your priority is to find a safe haven.
When the wind blows over these sort of ridges, if you look up here,
it builds up a load of snow on the leeward side of it, on the side out of the wind.
And I can use that snow then to dig into and create like a little snow cave.
Try not to overexert yourself as you work.
If you work up a sweat, it could freeze on your body
and hypothermia will come on twice as fast.
And the next thing I need to do is dig a little bit of a pit down.
And the reason I do that is that cold air sinks,
so I don't want this cold air around me and want it to go down
into what they call a coldwell down here.
It's tempting to seal the entrance completely to keep the wind out,
but that could be lethal. I need to make sure that I keep putting my hand through
to keep that ventilation hole otherwise you can suffocate in these things.
The branch of this fallen tree can act as a backbone for a half-dome shelter.
It is the best shape as it has no corners, the air keeps circulating
and that will keep you warm. And all I then need is a load of pine bowels
just to drape over the top of this.
Thick pine branches provide insulation and waterproofing.
It just gives it a bit of strenght!
One thing I can do to cool myself down even more is just dig down into the sand.
And maybe like a trench to lie in.
And actually if you just dig down just literally half a foot
it can be up to 60 degrees cooler.
It certainly is a real difference in the temperature of the sand, you know.
This stuff is roasting,
This is cooler, but this is significantly cooler.
When you are making shelter, one of your most important goals must be
just to try and raise yourself up off the jungle floor.
Because the last thing you want to do is have to share your bed with all of the snakes and scorpions and ants.
And these two trees would be pretty good place, about the right distance apart to make a hammock.
And first thing you need to do is make like two crosses
at each end that's gonna support the hammock, and you can just use
a bit of bark that will act as good lashing.
And tie this tight.
And that then is going to be the outer frame of the hammock.
And then interweed crossed ones all the way the lenght of this.
And hopefully this will take my weight.
One little snap, but that is not too bad.
Getting out in a swamp at nightfall is absolutely vital,
if you don't want to be an alligators late night snack. And what I can do
is run and find a few more uprights like these and latch one like that and
and then another one here and then lay some branches along it
that will lift me up out of the water. Construct a base to sleep on.
It should be longer than your body and wide enough that you won't roll off.
Ideally, pick straight timbers and remove the offshoots.
And I just need a load of these across here
and this will make a good platform. Once you've built a shelter,
your next priority is to build a fire. It will help keep predators away
and also dry your clothes. But to light it
I need to fnd some tinder. This stuff is great!
It is really really dry and stays pretty dry even when it's been raining.
The key to turning that spark into flame is a well-prepared tinder bundle.
I want to really break this up and get it really light and fluffy,
and it is this that will eventually going to tip the embers
into here to try and get the flame going.
Once you started the fire you need kindling to keep it going.
And wood is not the only thing that burns well.
I´ll tell you what: the fumes of elephant dung are not relly nice.
A flint is the ideal tool to light a fire,
and I always try and carry one with me.
Put the flint right down low and as I strike it up
blasting all that spark straight into it.
And look! First time!
But if you don't have a flint, the old-fashioned spindle method
can do the trick.
And that's gonna be my base and
out of this, just make like a spindle.
Smooth off the spindle, nick a hole at the base
and start spinning to generate heat.
And once it smokes like this, I need to keep it going for a couple goes.
And then I'll have a coal. You can see it coming out of the notch there.
Here it goes, smoking! Put that straight into the bundle!