Naked and Afraid!

Have you guys seen the television show, Naked and Afraid? It’s basically a reality show that takes a man and a woman with survival skills or endurance then puts them into the wilderness alone without any clothes.  Both are giving tests to figure out a base survival rate, PSR (primitive survival rate), then they are reevaluated after to see if their survival skills have increased or not. They are each allowed only one object such as a knife, fire starter, pot, rope, etc. (What would you choose?) The show is actually pretty interesting. I found myself caught in a marathon the other day. The two contestants thrive to survive alone without food/water and must find a way to live alone for 21 days and then journey to an extraction point where they will be rescued. It is interesting to not only see the human survival but the dynamic between the two strangers. The man and woman team sometimes clash but when it is only the two of them and their survival is based on teamwork, any argument becomes detrimental to their survival. Then some of the contestants are expert survivalist, some even teach classes on surviving in the wild. They are put to the test when they are stranded in the wild and the class is no longer a class but “real life”. Crews will only interfere in the event that someone is in serious need of medical care. Out of all the episodes I watched, they only interfered once when a guy drank unpurified water and caught one of the jungle viruses.  Which tells you the most important lesson, DO NOT drink unpurified water! Other lessons I learned was that fire is the game changer. You figure out how to get fire, you can boil water, cook food, get warmth and it is a moral boost of comfort and relative safety. Another thing, having a shelter, especially in the jungle is a definite comfort. But when you are in the jungles, the shelter needs to be raised to protect you from the snakes and crawlies. Some of the ants, rats, and other bugs can be quite vicious. When stranded, you have to use your wits and improvisation in order to figure out a way to live until you get rescued. There’s no sure fire way to ensure survival and even professional survivalist face the same difficulties trying to thrive in an inhospitable environment without any resources. No one can be 100 percent ready in an emergency situation but learning small survival techniques may be the difference between life and death. So maybe one day learn some survival basics because you never really know when you may need them. Even if you are lucky not to ever need them, teach your children. The longer one can survive, the closer to a rescue they can be.

Quite frankly, if there are mosquitoes which there probably is, I am a goner. All the buzzing and bites . . . nope not the life for me. I’m just going to watch them from the comfort of my home and stay clothed and safe!