How Not to Get Lost in the Woods – My Experience
I have traveled half a year and a half months of this time I spent in the Malaysian part of Borneo Sabah. Tropical rain forests, orangutans, crocodiles, giant snakes… well, I along with a Belgian, whom I have met there, attended a orangutan sanctuary. There where some trekkers on paved trails, they have walked through the jungle around the sanctuary (sounds small, but it’s not). There were four ways, but only one was allowed for a visitor to the time when we were there. We did not want to go that way, because the other way sounded much more interesting to meet with mangrove swamps and orang-utans.
Just as no one looked, so we sneaked to the forbidden paths. It quickly became clear to us why he was locked: the bridge leading over a small jungle river, was in some places so incomplete that you have to jump over gaping holes between their slats, many trees lay on the road, the road itself was overgrown of plants and hard to detect. That did not detract from our sense of adventure, however. We walked and walked through the jungle, at the same time watching the animals. We saw a lot of beautiful, huge and colorful tropical insects and civet cats, but our major goal, the orangutan, had not been seen at that time. Then the Belgian suddenly saw in the distance a Mammalian sitting on a tree, he could not yet see exactly what it was.
We left so quickly the way to explore the animal, it quickly jumped off, we were behind and then it disappeared at once. Well. And the route was also gone. We stood in the middle of the rain forest in Borneo, no phone, no way, no orientation. We took a sequoia as a starting point. One of us waited there while the other has a circle around it looking for directions – to no avail. We’ve really almost crazy. In that moment we have greatly regret, that did not take a search and rescue gear, that was in our camp. We could wander for days in the jungle without having a chance to get out of there. Not to mention wild animals.
And then we found a dried-up river bed! And a river we had crossed already. So we followed the dried-up river bed and ran and ran and ran – until the river began to slowly fill with water, we walked along the shore, and finally came to a bridge, which of course had a way at both ends. So we were back to civilization!:) That could end a lot worse.
So the first tip, if you get lost in the woods (or jungle): find a large and visible as far as possible starting point, then make a circle around it with increasing radius until you find something somewhere, that you have already seen. Because in any case you have come somehow there and there is something that is known at some distance from the place where you have lost the way.