WARNING!
The instructions in this book are for extreme survival situations only. Always proceed with caution, and ask an adult to supervise – or, ideally, seek professional help. If in doubt, consult a responsible adult.
Contents
Welcome to your adventure
Amazon Facts
Glossary
eCopyright
Welcome to your adventure!
STOP! Read this first!
Welcome to an action-packed adventure in which you take the starring role!
You’re about to enter the Amazon rainforest, where danger lurks at every turn. On each page choose from different options by clicking on the links provided – according to your instincts, knowledge and intelligence – and make your own path through the jungle to safety.
You decide . . .
• How to escape a ferocious jaguar
• Which foods you can eat, and which could be poisonous
• How to survive rivers teeming with piranha
. . . and many more life-or-death dilemmas. Along the way you’ll discover the facts you need to help you survive.
It’s time to test your survival skills – or die trying!
Click here to begin your adventure.
A harsh squawk jolts you awake. You open your eyes: in the dim, greenish light, tree trunks stretch into the distance in all directions. A red and yellow parrot swoops up to the tree canopy far above you.
You try to get up but something’s holding you down. It’s a seatbelt. You’re sitting in the remains of a plane seat.
In a sickening rush the events that brought you here come flooding back to you: the bumpy flight in a small plane, the crash as something hit one of the propellers, then the terrible silence after the engine sputtered and died and the plane began to plummet . . .
You don’t remember anything else. You must have blacked out. But by some miracle you’re the sole survivor. You unfasten the seatbelt with shaking hands and check for wounds: apart from some painful bruises and a few scratches, you are fine.
You were flying from Bogota in Columbia to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. You calculate that you must be somewhere in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. You are completely lost, and, apparently, alone.
You set off with nothing but the clothes on your back, your trusty Swiss army knife and a dented metal container you find in the wreck...
How will you survive?
Click here to find information you need to help you survive.
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, stretching for more than five million square kilometres across the top half of South America. More than 30 million people live in the Amazon – most of them live in towns and cities, but some live in the rainforest itself. Hundreds of thousands of different plant and animal species live there too. It’s so vast and so hazardous that many people have walked into the Amazon never to return. If you’re going to survive you’ll need to have your wits about you.
Perils of the Rainforest
The Amazon is home to several large and deadly predators, including black caimans, jaguars, cougars, anacondas (the world’s largest snake) and electric eels. Small but dangerous creatures include poison-dart frogs, piranha fish, vampire bats, various venomous snakes and spiders, and biting insects that can transmit life threatening diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever. There are also the terrible dangers of poisonous plants, water-borne disease and flash floods, which are common in the Amazon.
Vicious Vegetation
There aren’t many low-growing plants on the rainforest floor. Because of the dense tree canopy, there’s not very much light to make them grow. You’ll have to negotiate tree roots and trailing creepers, but you won’t need to slash through thick undergrowth. There are lots of thorny plants, though, and some of them can irritate your skin as well as scratching, so watch out. You also need to be careful of the leaf litter on the forest floor where slithering snakes can often be found lurking ready to attack their prey.
Night Noises
The rainforest can be a noisy place, especially at night. There are hundreds of different types of frogs that make whistles, shrieks, and even knocking sounds. There are more than a hundred species of monkey – the loudest are howler monkeys, which make an alarming screech that can be heard for miles! You’ll get used to the noises of the jungle if you stay here for a while, but in the short term you’re going to have to tell yourself not to worry about them too much.
Click here to find out some useful jungle survival tips.
Jungle Survival Tips
• The right clothing is essential in order to protect you from thorny and poisonous plants, biting insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies, and snakes. You need stout boots, and as much of your skin as possible should be covered. Luckily, you are wearing jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and walking boots, and have a thin waterproof jacket bundled up in a pocket along with your trusty Swiss Army knife.
• Bacteria breeds quickly in the jungle, so stay as clean as possible. Wash in running water and remember to wash your clothes too.
• Wash and dry out your feet and footwear too. You might get warm water immersion foot from walking in wet footwear, which can be extremely painful and if left untreated can become infected and lead to death.
• Always check the ground for snakes as you walk – many are well camouflaged and some are deadly. Use a stick and swish it in front of you to uncover dangers and alert small creatures.
• Wash any cuts and scratches with boiled water if possible – they can easily become infected if you don’t. Luckily you remember to search the plane wreck before setting off and find a slightly dented metal container that you can boil water in.
Click here to continue your adventure.
The light is failing. Soon it will be completely dark. You can’t begin your journey in darkness, and you need to be safe from night-hunting predators, which will be able to see you far more easily than you can see them. You need shelter. You spot a cave not far away. Should you sleep there, or use some of your valuable energy to build your own shelter?
If you decide to sleep in the cave, click here.
If you decide to build your own shelter, click here.
You make your way towards the cave in the twilight, stepping over gnarled tree roots and pushing past dangling creepers. As you approach the cave, you smell a horrible, musky scent that grows stronger the closer you get.
The cave entrance is completely black, twice as tall as you and about three metres wide. The smell is almost overpowering now. What can it be? As you approach the entrance, the ground beneath your feet becomes very soft, and every step you take releases more of the powerful smell. It must be the droppings of some creature . . . maybe birds . . .
Just as you are about to investigate the inside of the cave, you hear shrill squeaking sounds. Something flaps past your head, missing you by inches. More of the flying creatures swoop past you . . . suddenly you are surrounded by thousands of bats! In a panic you throw yourself against the cave wall, covering your head with your arms. You look up as a great black cloud of bats streams out of the cave. You notice the tiny points of their fangs glistening in the half-light: vampire bats! As they disappear into the evening sky, you shakily go in search of shelter elsewhere, afraid they might return to their cave.
Click here.
Click here to find out more about vampire bats.
Vampire Bats
• Vampire bats live in Central and South America.
• They are only a few centimetres long, and weigh as little as 50 grammes.
• The bats drink the blood of large mammals, and occasionally they bite humans. They feed by
making a small cut in the skin with their teeth, then lap up the blood.
• Vampire bats do not usually harm the animals they feed from, but some carry the disease rabies. If you are not vaccinated against rabies and don’t receive treatment before symptoms start, you have a very slim chance of survival.
• The saliva of vampire bats contains an ingredient that stops blood from clotting. This anticoagulant has been used in human medicine to help patients who have had strokes.
Click here to return to your adventure.
You look at the forest floor and shudder – it’s alive with crawling things you definitely don’t want to share a bed with!
You set to work by clearing the ground between two trees, using a stick in case you disturb any snakes. Next you arrange some fallen logs into a platform, and cut lengths of bamboo with your Swiss Army knife to lay on top of them. You tie a stout bamboo stem between the trees about chest height with liana (long vines that make good rope) – this is your roof pole. Then you cut more bamboo and lean each stem against the roof pole, tying it with more liana. Finally, you cover it with thick, broad leaves to give you some shelter in case of a downpour. Once inside you cover yourself in your thin waterproof jacket and close your eyes, trying not to listen to the eerie whoops and shrieks of jungle animals as darkness descends.
Dawn is breaking when a sound wakes you up. You listen intently, peering outside your shelter into the dim light. There it was again! A low, growling sound, and it seems to be coming from the undergrowth just ahead of you . . .
If you decide to go and investigate the sound, click here.
If you decide to stick your head under your coat and hope the noise goes away, click here.
To find out more about building a shelter in the rainforest, click here.
Rainforest Shelter–Building Tips
• Don’t sleep or make shelter . . .
» near large animal trails (for obvious reasons)
» on low ground, especially swampy areas (which might harbour mosquitoes, or be prone to flooding, which is common in the rainforest)
• Clear a space on the ground to make your shelter. Make sure to do this with a stick, and not with your hands, in case there are spiders, snakes or biting ants.
• Raise your bed off the ground to avoid creepy crawlies on the forest floor.
• Check above you for rotting branches of dead trees that could fall on you in the night, and any animals that might be lurking in the trees.
• If possible, use a mosquito net.
• Bamboo is very useful for shelter building, but clumps can easily spring apart and injure you when you cut them. Bamboo splinters are extremely sharp. Take care!
Click here to return to your adventure.
You tramp onwards through the forest, with no clear idea of where you’re heading. You push through dangling vines, some with sharp thorns that tear at your clothes. Looking up, you see a palm-like tree covered with cascades of juicy, delicious-looking purple berries. Your stomach rumbles loudly and you realise for the first time how hungry you are.
You have no idea whether or not the berries are poisonous but they certainly look tasty . . .
If you decide to eat some of the berries, click here.
If you decide not to risk it, click here.
You look towards the spot where you thought you heard the sound. You still can’t see anything. You decide to creep a bit further forward, taking care to be quiet, but twigs snap and leaves rustle as you move. You part the branches of a low-growing plant, peering into the greenish gloom of the rainforest at dawn . . .
You think you see a movement. There’s something there! You look more closely at the spot and almost cry out in fear: a pair of yellow eyes is staring straight at you! You can make out the rest of the animal now – a huge cat, with spotted fur and a long tail. A jaguar. You gulp. The animal snarls, revealing long, pointed teeth. It looks as though it’s about to pounce!
If you decide to run away, click here.
If you decide to stand your ground, click here.
The bat cave has left you feeling out of breath and slightly sick – you can still smell the horrible lingering odour. Through a gap between the tree tops you can see the vampire bats like a dark cloud in the sky. The light is failing fast, and under the tree canopy it’s becoming difficult to see. You suddenly feel very tired, and your legs are beginning to ache after your run to escape the bats. Then the rain starts - it’s so heavy you feel as though you’re standing underneath a shower.
You spot another cave not far away. By now there’s no time for making a shelter to sleep under. Can you face the possibility of another bat colony? Or maybe something more dangerous has made this cave its home. Should you forget the cave and find the strength to carry on walking as night falls?
If you decide to risk finding shelter in the new cave, click here.
If you decide to keep walking, click here.
You lie very still, with your head underneath your coat and your eyes squeezed shut. You hear the growling again – it sounds like a big animal! You do your best not to imagine what it looks like, wrap your arms tightly around your body and pray that the creature, whatever it is, will go away.
After a few moments of silence, you hear rustling in the undergrowth. The animal is finally moving away! You let out a long breath of relief. However, you don’t risk moving for another ten minutes, to be sure the animal is far away.
In the dawn light, the rainforest looks gloomy and you have no way of telling where you are. It occurs to you that you might be better off climbing a tree – maybe that way you’ll get your bearings. On the other hand, the trees are tall and hard to climb, and you’ll risk falling.
If you decide to walk, click here.
If you decide to climb a tree, click here.
There’s no horrible smell as you approach this cave, and no signs that an animal has been near. Cautiously, you look inside. It’s creepy and dark, but it doesn’t seem to be inhabited, and it’ll offer some protection from the rain, which is falling fast in fat drops.
You break some leaves off a broad-leafed plant and lay them on the cave floor, placing your waterproof coat on top. You curl up on top of them and, exhausted, drift off to sleep.
You wake up with a start! Did you just hear something? Was that a low, growling sound? There it was again! The hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. The sound is terrifying! You stand up, taking care to be quiet, and cautiously step outside the cave to investigate.
Click here.
The snake must be a constrictor, you realise, looking at its massive body. In your hurry to get away from it you almost slip and fall from the tree! You realise you’re panicking, and force yourself to breathe and move as slowly as you can. The snake still hasn’t moved. You swing down to the branch below, then look up at the snake – it’s still motionless.
Finally you jump down to the forest floor, relieved to be back on the ground again. You walk on through the forest, looking at the ground, mindful of snakes that could be slithering across the forest floor, or hiding underneath fallen leaves.
Click here.
It gets darker as you walk, until you can hardly see anything at all. Sharp thorns stab and tear at you in the darkness, and every few steps you find yourself stumbling over a tree root or a fallen branch. Mosquitos whine in your ears. It’s still pouring with rain, and the ground has become extremely slippery.
You scramble over the trunk of a fallen tree. To your horror, the ground falls away in front of it. You try to grab hold of a branch to stop your fall, but it’s dead and snaps off! You hurtle down a steep bank, crashing into trees as you fall, whacking your head on a rock as you tumble down. You lose consciousness . . . and don’t wake up again.
The end.
Click here to return to the beginning and try again.
You heave yourself up onto the first branch of a tall tree, then scramble up to a higher one. You look up and see that there is still a very long
way to go, and already you’re feeling tired in the clammy heat of the rainforest. This is going to be harder than you thought. You’re considering whether to abandon the climb, when you catch sight of something that makes you freeze: coiled around a branch in a patch of sunlight, its head half a metre away from you, is an enormous snake.
The snake is well camouflaged against the tree, greenish brown with a spotted pattern. Its body looks thicker than your thigh! The snake’s coils wrap around the tree branch – it must be at least twice as long as you are tall. The snake seems to be asleep and doesn’t move. Neither do you, as you stand frozen to the spot, deciding what to do . . .
If you decide to step around the snake, and carry on climbing, click here.
If you decide to get down from the tree, click here.
Your heart pounds as you stare, transfixed, into the jaguar’s eyes. You scream, turn and run away as fast as you can through the trees!
It’s a matter of seconds before the jaguar catches up with you and brings you crashing down onto the jungle floor, at the same time biting down on your skull with its powerful jaws. You die instantly.
The end.
Click here to return to the beginning and try again.
Click here to find out more about jaguars.
Lost... In the Jungle of Doom Page 1