SCENARIO - SOMETHING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

In order to assist your understanding of what survival is, we've developed the following scenario to help you understand what it's all about. This scenario is totally fictitious but provides a perspective into a plausible survival situation that could and does actually happen in real life.

Groups of 4 are better than 3. If someone gets hurt 2 members of the group can go for help in support of each other whilst the remaining member can stay with the injured person to assist with first aid, water, food, shelter and emotional support (very important when facing this type of situation).

What is survival? This scenario should help explain what it is

Say for instance you are going for walk in the bush with 3 friends. You arrive at your destination at 10.00 am in the morning and park the car. The four of you grab your stuff out of the car boot and start walking along a dense bush trail that is totally unfamiliar.

The group takes a few turns to left and a couple of turns to the right, nice and simple. You spend the day walking with your friends and taking a few photo's of the good old Aussie Bush. The time is now 1.00 PM and the group has been walking for about 3 hours. Everyone is starting to get tired so, the group decides to stop and eat some lunch. Your break out the sandwiches you made the night before and a some water. Now that all the food has been eaten your group decides to call it a day and head back to the car.

You head back in the opposite direction for 40 minutes or so and you arrive at a fairly distinct tree that borders a forked intersection. The particular tree looks similar to one the group passed earlier, but something strikes you as odd, there is a fallen tree close by where there wasn't one before.

You discuss what way to take with your mates and decide to turn left at the fork and go that way, you figure as you turned right at this fork the first time that surely you must turn the opposite way on the way back. You're still walking for another 2.5 hours when one of your mates says "Are we going the right way guy's, this is all starting to look very unfamiliar now?" The group decides to stop and draw a map in the dirt to help you all figure out what is going on.

Opinions amongst the group members start to differ and an argument starts. Some signs of stress have now started to show as two of your friends have started yelling at each other. Thankfully, as your a pretty cool headed guy you jump in and break the pair apart bringing calm to the situation.

Its now getting late in the afternoon, the sun is starting to disappear behind the horizon. Your visibility is now becoming somewhat limited with the impending darkness.

Your group discusses all available options. Opinions amongst two of your group members are leaning toward splitting away from the group and trying to find a way out. 

You do not agree with this decision as you know it is getting dark and trying to find your way through the dense dark bush will probably only spell disaster, meaning your group will only get lost even further.

You try your best to convince the other two to wait until next light and reassess the situation then but to no avail, they are intent on getting out tonight. Impatience sets in as the two are becoming quite worried and feel they must do something now. One of your two friends claims to have been in the boy scouts as a child and knows what to do, he is adamant that he knows which way to go. 

You and your remaining friend are little skeptical as to their findings and decide to stay put and wait till morning. You give one final effort to try and convince them not to leave but stubborn as they are, they leave anyway. 

You say goodbye to your mates as they head off along a dark dense bush trail and out of sight.

You and your remaining group member construct a temporary camp site by clearing some ground and preparing a small fire to keep you both warm. It's starting to quickly cool down and that fire is coming in handy. 

The two of you sit up until the late hours of the night, twitching and jumping at the slightest sound. The two of you soon huddle together putting aside your fears of the same sex having realised your body warmth is a great thing to share. Keeping in good spirits you crack a couple of jokes to keep the mood positive. The realisation of what is happening is setting in. Thoughts of hopelessness and despair are now entering your minds and you are a little worried if you both will make it through the night. You both keep up the emotional support by reassuring each other and eventually manage to get off to sleep on your temporary bed made from leaves on the cold hard ground.

As the sun rises you awaken to the sound of the bush and you wake your mate. Nothing has been heard from your friends that split from the group earlier, in addition you have not heard any distant sounds of helicopters or human voices. The only noises you hear are those emerging for the bush around you.. Its now time to figure out what to do next.

What do you do?

Heres 3 basic options you may choose from:

1. Do you carry on walking and hope that you find your way back to your two mates and the car?
2. Do you walk back the way you came and try to re-trace your steps?
3. Do you stop, look around your immediate vicinity for water and something to build a shelter and stay put?

You could do any one of the above or another, or you could choose the last one. Why? Keep reading.

In all honesty, you could choose any one of the above or more. But, if the thought has entered your mind that you are LOST then choose number 3:

3.  STOP, look around your immediate vicinity for water and something to build a shelter and stay put?

In order for a search party to locate you, they must have some idea where to start looking. If you have chosen to take the option to keep walking into the unknown you risk getting even more lost or worse by possibly falling down a cliff.

Here's a simple diagram to explain why this may be so:

As you can see, you have done the right thing and STOPPED IN ONE SPOT, whereas your friends have decided to try and find their way back. Unfortunately they have only got themselves lost even further away.

Depending on how your noticed missing, your vehicle will provide a good starting point for a search party.

Q. Who is now further from the vehicle?

A. Your friends

Unfortunately owing to your friends decision it may now be considerably longer or even not at all before they may be found!

To explain the question at the top of this page, what is survival?, now that you have become lost and detached from your world, you are now without an easily obtainable means of respite from the situation - You are now in a survival situation

YOU NOW NEED TO STOP AND THINK:

• How do I survive this situation and make it back to see my family and friends again?
• What essential items do I have in my possession like water and protection from exposure?
• Do I have some means of signaling a rescue party if one passes by like a signal mirror, whistle, flares, torch, anything that will raise attention from a distance

If you think you're lost STOP where you are. You may only make matters even worse if you carry on walking. For instance, like what has happened to your friends in the picture above. They are now even further away from the car.

Clearings provide an ideal way for search partys to see you, especially from the air which is often the case.  If you become lost try and find a clearing close by, remember not to go too far away from the point you realised you were lost.