Survival

I was watching Man vs. Wild recently, a survivor type television show where they drop a guy off into the most remote places on earth and his objective is to make his way back to human civilization. I've seen two or three episodes, one where he was dropped onto a glacier in Alaska, one where I think he was in a jungle somewhere, and one where he was dropped into the Kimberley in Northern Australia, basically an outback-like environment.

I enjoy watching the show, but I can't help but feel that the host is simply showing off, in addition to trying to survive. On the Australia show, he mentioned that he had some sort of military training, but he seems more like surfer dude than a Navy SEAL.

The last show I watched, the Australian one, he was dropped into the Kimberley without water, food, or shelter, and I thought they said he was 150 miles from the nearest town or city. In the intense heat of the outback, he keeps talking about how important it is to stay hydrated. There is no readily available water, so he proceeds to start drinking his own urine. At this point, he isn't even exactly thirsty, he just knows he has to stay hydrated. They show him urinate into his water bottle, then immediately begin drinking it. He complains about how salty and warm it is, saying "there is no getting around this". Later, when it does start raining, he didn't exactly run over to fresh water. He says "I'm so thirsty right now, and all I've had to drink is recycled piss." Then, he doesn't even wash out his water bottle, which up to this point, had been filled with urine. He just fills it up and starts drinking.

Later on in the show he is talking about how hungry he is. He puts himself in danger by climbing a tall tree to get some figs, then once he is up there, eats a few figs on camera, puts a few in his pocket, and climbs back down. If he was so hungry, why wouldn't he grab handfulls of figs, especially when he didn't know where his next meal was coming from?

Well, then he finds it. He comes across a spider web and notes that the spider is only "moderately" poisonous. He grabs it out of the web, crushes its head, and eats it whole, commenting on how it tastes like "brains and guts". The whole thing seemed pointless. If he is starving, why eat one tiny spider instead of a bounty of figs?

So is this show just entertainment? Don't get me wrong, I'm entertained. If this show were truly about survival and he was truly in danger of perishing in the wilderness why does he do things the way he does? Why wouldn't he walk and travel at night in the outback, instead of in the heat of the day? If he knows he has to drink 1.5 liters of water a day as a bare minimum, why carry a water bottle that only holds about 20 ounces, especially when water sources are scarce?

This show got me thinking about some things. Back when Lana and I were casually talking about walking the Pacific Crest Trail, I bought a survival style book, can't remember the name of it right now. It had a lot of useful information in it, and it was geared more towards actual survival techniques and things to do, rather than information on how to go on extended hikes. I did find the book to be a good read, though, even if I can't remember much from it and would benefit little from it in a survival situation.

Even now that I haven't thought about the Pacific Crest Trail for awhile, I feel like I wouldn't be able to go six months with few showers, few toilets, few cooked meals, and little time spent on a mattress. I amazed that I thought I would enjoy it. Well, I would once I was out there, but sitting in comfort makes me think I wouldn't like it.

The show reminded me of less than desirable foods and beverages, too. Lana wants to go overseas and visit countries where there aren't too many grocery stores. I was reminded of the beggining of The Poisonwood Bible where a family of missionaries first enters the village they will be staying out. The villagers made a welcoming stew for them and the family eats the soup that has hairy chuncks of meat in it. That made me think of the group from my church that went to Panama two summers ago. They were welcomed with chicken soup, except that the chicken soup had feet, chicken heads, beaks, and eyeballs floating around in it. The Panamanian people laughed at the Americans when they looked scared at the soup, and made another batch without the heads.

So, this post started talking about Man vs. Wild the TV show, but kind of turned into me vs. wild, and how I used to think I wanted to try to challenge myself out in the wilderness. I think now I'm at the point where instead of wanting to see if I could "rough it", I'd rather just sit back and think that I could "rought it", but the truth is, once I was out there, I'm not so sure.