LOST IN THE SERRA SURVIVAL SCHOOL TRIP REPORT
This group had very little previous wilderness experience. Moises (28) had served a year in the Brazilian Armored Infantry and had some knowledge of basic wilderness living and orienteering. The other three, Antonio (40), Adison (26), and Ivo (23) had never set foot in the bush nor spent a night in a tent. Moises, Antonio and Adison are local church pastors; Ivo is a pastoral intern at Adison’s church. They get very little time off and don’t get much in the way of vacations so I wanted them to have a good time and not have to suffer too much. I told them this trip would be “Survival Lite”.
All of them are fairly new to Belo Horizonte and they are pastors of churches I’m involved with so my main goal was to get to know them and give them a chance to get to know each other. That goal was well covered.
We arrived at noon, a few hours behind schedule due to late arrivals. Our first task was to edit and distribute the packs. Antonio had brought a fresh change of clothes for each day in the bush. He was told to take only what was on the list. Ivo had brought a full set of personal hygiene products. These were also left behind. He balked at leaving his toothpaste but complied. Moises and Adison had both followed instructions.
Since we parked near the only source of flowing water in the area we filled canteens and treated them with 2% Tincture of Iodine. Streamside, we discussed alternate methods of treating water in the bush, mainly chlorine bleach and boiling.
The group was divided into two teams. Antonio and Moises were paired together as were Adison and Ivo. Each pair had to fill, transport, and take care of a five-liter emergency water bag. This water was left untreated. I wanted to test these bags in the hands of complete novices so I gave them no instruction as to how to handle them. I let them decide how best to carry and store the water bags. I emphasized that if their bag ripped or spilled they would have to repair it with duct tape and refill it in the valley. (I carried a set of Platypus bags as a back up in case of total system failure)
We then hiked to the base of the ridge where there is a large rock. The area there is very rocky and dry, the most inhospitable place in the Serra. I had them drop off their packs and water bags before climbing up into the rocks. I then held the first lecture. I asked them to take a good look around and consider spending the night out there with only what they had in their pockets. I gave them 20 minutes to go find a place within 200 meters of the rock to sit and contemplate what they really needed to survive.
After the 20 minutes were up we discussed what they thought then went over the law of 3’s. This exercise worked very well. They had been thinking that the contents of their packs would leave them in precarious living conditions. Suddenly sleeping in a tent with a sleeping bag didn’t seem so bad. They would eat survival rations, cook over a fire, drink water, etc. In short, they had what was necessary to survive and that was good enough for two nights and three days.
The first-days objective was to cover the most essential elements of survival in the Serra, water, shelter, and fire. Day two was reserved for compass navigation, emergency signaling, and other wilderness skills.
On the hike up to the camping area we discussed natural shelter and how to make a small protected area livable using a large volume of grass as bedding and protection. I led them to a small flat area between two large rocks that created a natural shelter from the elements. We then discussed how to insulate the ground and build a brush shelter over the space. By realistically evaluating the amount of work involved in constructing the shelter, the time involved, and the net result they knew it was possible to spend the night out there with nothing, but they correctly came to the conclusion that they could easily pack in some items to help the process along. The purpose of the trip is not to teach them raw, primitive survival skills but to emphasize the importance of not going into the bush without their basic kit.
The lecture went something like this – “Imagine this space filled with about 50 cm of dry grass and a brush windbreak over top. How would you light a fire to keep warm and keep the mosquitoes off? (of course they drew a blank) Now imagine you packed the basic kit list in a small daypack before your hike and can replace that brush shelter with a 2x2 meter plastic tarp. Your basic kit has a Bic lighter so after collecting some firewood you have a fire going in front of the shelter. There is an aluminum cup with your canteen and a small survival ration of food so now you can cook some rice and bullion. You have a five-liter bag full of water or at least if you locate water you can fill it. You have a small bottle of iodine in the kit to treat all the water you will need and treat any wounds you might have.” Suddenly that basic kit list started making sense.
I had planned to have them construct this “basic kit” camp but due to our late arrival we didn’t have time to do that and set up our actual camp so I reduced it to a lecture/mental exercise. This really bummed me out as I had planned to have them start with the grass bed and then add each piece of kit to the scene. It worked as an “on scene” lecture but lacked dramatic impact.
After this exercise we hiked up to the top of the hill to the only space flat enough to hold two 2-man tents. The area was choked with tall weeds. This ridge had burned off last year and there was very little grass left. The area was now dominated with tall flowering weeds. It took them about 20 minutes to yank all the weeds out of the camping area and clear it for the tents. This created a large pile of weeds that made a good base for insulation under the tents.
I then had them fan out and start ripping up grass to insulate and soften the ground under the tents. I also ripped up a large volume of grass for my own bed. I was sleeping outside with a tropical bag, poncho liner, and bivy-sack.
After they had their tents set up over grass mattresses it was time to collect firewood. There was some well-seasoned Candeia in the campsite from the last time I used the location a year ago. They fanned out in pairs and collected a surprising amount of wood in short order. The fire last year had killed a few more Candeia trees, thus the ridge was well stocked with seasoned wood.
Great story, thanks for sharing it. Sounds like you had matters well in hand and might even have some hiking and survival converts on your hands.