Chances are extremely rare, but you may find yourself one day alone and stranded on a tropical island. If you ever find yourself in a ship or plane accident, you could end up on a desert island. Your priority in this case must be to gather survival materials, find water and food, create a shelter and light a fire, after which you can focus on saving. This article describes how to safely find water, food, shelter, and fire, as well as other tips for saving yourself.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Finding Food and Water
Step 1. Gather the items that have reached the shore
Look around for other things that have been brought to the mainland; you may notice some useful things.
- If you have a life raft, you can use the plastic to collect water.
- If there is a first aid kit in the raft, it may be useful in case you are sick or have been injured.
- Any plastic container, tube, torch, mirror, sharp object, and so on can be valuable.
- If there is a flare gun, take it and put it in a safe place; you might need it if you see any ships or planes passing by.
Step 2. Get fresh water
Finding a reliable, safe source of water should be your priority once you have recovered all useful items and collected any items that have come ashore; dehydration is the greatest danger in these circumstances.
- Venture inland in search of some pond or stream.
- If you've gotten stuck on a relatively large island, your chances of finding a freshwater stream or waterfall are higher.
- If you don't find any source of drinking water, you need to collect rainwater.
- Collect it in the containers available to you or that you managed to recover on the shore among the various debris.
- Eventually, you can also collect it in large leaves and then pour it into a container.
Step 3. Build a solar powered watermaker
If you can't find clean water and don't collect enough rainwater or just need another source of water, you can build this plant to get more.
- This can be done using a container and cling film.
- Dig a hole about 90-120cm in diameter and 90cm deep.
- In the center of this hole, create a depression the same size as the container you want to collect the water in.
- Place the bowl in this central hole.
- Put greenery or leaves in the hole all around the container; while the air heats the hole, leaves or vegetation allow larger quantities of condensation to be collected.
- Cover the hole with cling film and block it at the edges with stones.
- Place a stone in the center of the plastic right above the container.
- In the following hours, the heat and the leaves inside the hole allow to accumulate the humidity that condenses on the plastic, falling back in the form of drops into the container.
- The water you collect is safe to drink.
Step 4. Look for food
Don't venture too far into the forest, as you never know what there may be.
- You need to look for fruit, but you need to know how to recognize it to make sure it's edible.
- The ideal solution for eating is fish that live in some shallow puddle on the beach.
- The water must not be too deep and must allow you to walk inside in search of fish.
- The best way to catch them is to use a rod or harpoon; create one by taking a long thin branch with a pointed end.
- Stay on the rocks when you want to catch fish with this method, to avoid disturbing your prey and alarming them.
- When you see one, hit it quickly with the pole, trying to go through its head; if the fish is also immobile like you, you are more likely to hit it.
Method 2 of 3: Create a Refuge and Light the Fire
Step 1. Find a natural refuge
It is important to protect yourself from bad weather and predators.
- You don't know what lives on the island and wild animals, especially predators, can pose a real threat.
- You also need to protect yourself from adverse weather conditions; getting too wet is not good even in hot weather.
- It doesn't have to be luxurious, just safe. Look for natural shelter, like an outcropping rock, that offers you temporary shelter until you can build a better structure.
Step 2. Make a lean-to-type shelter, which consists of a large fallen branch or trunk leaning against a large rock or tree
- Find a large branch and prop it securely against a large tree.
- Place other smaller branches at a 45 degree angle along the larger one.
- Place several leaves and foliage on top of this emergency shelter to cover it up and improve weather protection.
- This can be a temporary refuge until you can make a safer one, like a tepee.
Step 3. Build a tepee
It represents a safer and more lasting shelter, offering ideal protection from animals and bad weather.
- Get 10-20 long branches; the thicker they are, the more robust the structure will be.
- Plant 3 in the ground to create a tripod.
- Place the other branches all around the tripod, giving them a circular shape and leaving room for entry.
- Cover the structure with leaves, shrubs, and other foliage to create protection from the elements.
Step 4. Start building a fire as soon as possible
You need to stay warm, even if the weather is mild during the day.
- It could be cold at night, so it's best to get a source of heat.
- Fire is especially important if you have gotten wet from rain; you need to make sure you stay as dry as possible.
- Also, the smoke might attract some passing ships, but you need to keep the bonfire in check.
- Find material to make the bait, such as small dry twigs, grass, and flammable debris. arrange the smaller twigs so that they take the shape of a tripod in the center of which you need to put the bait.
- Light the fire using a mirror, binoculars or a reflective surface: you need to make sure that the sun's rays are aimed at dry wood.
Step 5. Light the fire with the "plow" method
To proceed, you need a piece of soft wood, bait and a sturdy stick.
- Take the soft piece of wood and make a groove lengthwise.
- Put the wick on the end of the soft wood you want to ignite.
- Take the other sturdy stick and start sliding it back and forth along the groove in the wood to develop friction.
- When the bait catches fire or emits smoke, blow it to create a larger flame.
- Place a few small twigs on top of the burning material to create a large bonfire.
Method 3 of 3: Try to Get the Attention of Rescuers
Step 1. Try to contact other people
If you have a mobile, check if there is a range.
- Try to reach the highest points on the island to look for a signal.
- If you can make a phone call, contact someone at home and let them know what happened and your approximate location.
- If you don't know where you are, look for landmarks on the horizon.
- If you can't find a cell phone signal, carefully explore the island to see if there is any other inhabitant with a radio or a boat.
Step 2. Search the items you have collected on the beach
You may have some very bright colored plastic or a flare gun.
- Make a flag out of brightly colored material; it could be spotted during the day by some low-flying plane.
- Keep the flare gun in a safe and quickly accessible location; you can use it when you see a ship or plane passing by.
- You can also try to make reflective signals using a large mirror that may have reached the shore with you.
Step 3. Write messages in the sand
If the beach is sandy, you can make a huge "SOS" visible from above.
- Find large tree branches that you can arrange to spell SOS in the sand so it can be seen from a passing plane.
- Eventually, you can also arrange large stones to achieve the same purpose.
- If you don't find enough material for the writing, you can trace it yourself in the sand by making large letters using a stick or even your hands.
- Keep in mind that in this case you will have to rearrange it every day, as it may partially disappear due to the tide.
Step 4. Keep the fire burning
Smoke and light may be noticed from passing planes or ships.
- Be careful that the fire is not too big, otherwise it could become potentially dangerous for you and the surrounding nature.
- Turn it on as close to the shore as possible so it can be seen by any ships offshore.
- If possible, keep it on all night to allow aircraft pilots to notice the flames from above.
Advice
- Take care of water, shelter and food in that order; once you've met the basic survival needs, you can start thinking about rescue or an escape plan.
- If you are in a group, help each other and share resources with each other.
- Respect proper hygiene, make sure you don't get sick on the tropical island.
- Have faith.
- Sleep.
- Arrange some moss on the ground to avoid excessively lowering your body temperature.
Warnings
- Control the fire.
- Watch out for animals.
