Surviving The Tropics. Around 13 hours into our journey, well into the early hours of the morning, our boat hit a reef and sank

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Sameer Patel, 1001

English Essay- Creative Task/Writing Skills

STRANDED: Survival in the Tropics

Whilst I was stranded on a deserted island for almost a month, I most certainly acquired the skills or essentials associated with ultimate survival. The seven fundamentals that will help you stay alive are: food, shelter, water, optimism, courage, sharp predatorial instincts and a knack of being cunning when it matters. You must always ensure that the situation is under control, and that giving up is not an option. The following contains some advice on how to ensure your survival and how to escape these kinds of situations alive.

So here’s how it went- on the 22nd of December 1976, I set out with my two friends Daniel and Scarlett on a boat to meet my uncle, who was the chief of the Lau Group of Islands. He was a powerful man, known throughout the whole country. Around 13 hours into our journey, well into the early hours of the morning, our boat hit a reef and sank. Thankfully, we all managed to get off the boat and swim to the nearest island, which was around three or four kilometers away. Scarlett and I were empty handed, but we were thankful that Daniel had managed to salvage a large cane knife and a bag full of packets of Maggi Noodles.

When we arrived on the island, we were completely shocked since there were no signs of human inhabitation and no source of fresh water as well. It took us some time to come to terms with the situation, since we slowly realized that we were stranded on a deserted island with hardly any of the essentials required to stay alive. The first week went by fairly quickly. In terms of supplies required for survival, we faired alright. The noodles lasted us a week, but half of the packets were either filled with sea water from the swimming or damaged in some way, which didn’t help. We relied on coconut milk and drinkable sap from palm leaves for hydration, as they were in abundance.

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 The next two weeks were much harder. We were starting to get sick of coconut milk and Maggi Noodles, so we made a point to find some food and a way of obtaining drinkable water. Even though things seemed dismal and hope was hard to find, we were at an advantage to some extent since we all had some skills that would benefit us. Daniel was a Biologist and a qualified Botanist, so he knew what tropical fruits were edible, and which ones weren’t. Thanks to Daniel’s knowledge and expertise, we were able to survive on bananas, figs, pineapples and ...

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