Something you should know about the jungle!

[golok]

For those who are contemplating on trekking in virgin tropical jungle, here are a few tips.

No. 1 - If you have been into one, never try it alone. Always get an experienced guide, two preferably (both of them experienced, in case one falls sick).

No. 2 - No fancy branded "jungle" shoes please. Just ordinary rubber sole shoes which you can buy cheap at the local market and a pair of rubber slippers. The idea is the jungle is wet in most places. You don't want to get bogged down by water-logged shoes.

No. 3 - Don't carry rations that weighs 100lbs. You are not going to live in the jungle for 2 months. The weight will kill you, or nearly kill you even if you are Rambo. Moving in the jungle is a killer for those who are saddled with tinned food and other bulky rations.

No. 4 - Carry a packet of salt with you. These will come in very useful when the leeches descend on you like raindrops from heaven. Leeches can "smell" human blood from a distance. Nothing to be afraid about, leeches are born like that.

No. 5 - If you smell something "fishy" or "rotting", stop immediately. A tiger may be nearby. You could just be its breakfast or dinner.

No. 6 - Don't fool around in the jungle. It is always dark and you will lose your bearing quite easily. That compass is not going to help you if you panic. People have been known to wander in circles for days, not knowing where they are going.



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Make Love your strongest weapon. Compassion your shield and forgiveness your armour.

 

[Yvsa]

:
Golok that's the 1st time I recall ever seeing salt for leeches. How do you use it?


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>>>>---¥vsa---->®

Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.

---- Samuel Butler.

Khukuri FAQ
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[golok]

Two ways.

One, you can coat a thin layer on the palms of your hands and rub them lightly over part of your clothes that you think the leeches will fasten on you.

Two, when you find you have the uninvited guests on parts of your body, just take a pinch and sprinkle on them, and they will drop off.

It's the ones you don't see that have sneaked up into the dark nooks and corners of the insides of your clothes that are a real nuisance.

Befor you know it, you are bleeding from all the odd places. A bit yucky if you don't like the sight of your own blood.

Actually cigarette ash is a good alternative. Somehow smoking in the jungle is not kosher, so they say.



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Make Love your strongest weapon. Compassion your shield and forgiveness your armour.

 

[Joel Stave]

Why is smoking in the jungle particularly worse than smoking at other times? Does it tend to attract large predators or something?

 

[golok]

Hi Joel, I have no particular reason for saying that smoking is a no-no in the jungle.

I am just saying it as an environment lover. Anyway, jungle is a pristine place with all its natural scents. Nicotine is very foreign element in such a surrounding.

Who knows what creatures, cigarette smoke may attract? It's bad enough to watch out for those creepy-crawlies.

One more thing, if you ever kill an animal, big or small, and there are blood stains on the site itself. Never cross that path again.

The reason: Blood tends to attract the bigger creatures like tigers and panthers, or even pythons. If you backtrack and cross that path where the blood stains are, you could just be the "live one" which the tiger is looking for.

Humans are such slow creatures in the jungle. The ferocious beasts know it and they love it.


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Make Love your strongest weapon. Compassion your shield and forgiveness your armour.

 

[matthew rapaport]

The jungle may be pristine, and I've never been there, but I have been in many wet environments that supported large human-biting insect populations. In those days I smoked a pipe (tobacco), and found the best substitute for mosquito netting was a nice cloud of tobacco smoke around your head at all times.