Day 3 :: Judgement Day

Every digit of every hand pains. They all either have nicks, scratches, splinters, cuts, burns, blisters (or any combination of) or just have chunks missing from them! My back is real stiff (probably from the night before last), I feel tired and weary and my mouth feels furry. Oh what fun!

Anyhow, after waking from a comfy slumber I plan my days activities;

1. Water,
2. 1st Aid,
3. Trap / Snare making,
4. Firewood

No sooner had I made a mud slide down the embankment to the river and iodined some water... Hark! Is that the rescue team I hear? Bugger, I've not set me snare yet. So I race back into the jungle, grab me a bendy tree, cut some rope, whittle down a trigger from a stick and rack my brains to recall how the release mechanism works. But it's too late, the rescue team are here, Ian and Lionel walk over with chocolate bars. They look over my shelter and give it a nod of approval - Lionel even remarks that it's the best of the lot! He inspects my trap. I apologise for not having to time to set it but says it's okay as all the right triggers and release mechanisms are there and it would work when set. Cool! It seems I pulled it off just in time. All 4 survival objectives met!

I kiss my home (shelter) goodbye and am taken to join the others. They both made it through too - although Graham, after being drenched, cold and wet all through last night decided to call it quits and radioed in - only to be told the rescue team were on their way anyway! It also transpires they both found shelter remains on their first night and just re-built it! Grrr... Ian is adamant that in future all used shelters are going straight in the river!

Back to the survival scenario. We may have been found but we've still got to get ourselves back to civilisation and what better way than to paddle ourselves upstream for 4 hours to another campsite! The guy up front in the canoe is mainly the engine whilst the guy at the back uses his paddle strokes to steer. Luckily we had Richard, the yachtsman, who was well practiced in boat steering. I tried it for ½ hour and quite frankly, I was crap! Even under Richards expert guidance! I found powering the boat from up front was actually less tiring!?

Ian, who's on a canoe with the local lads just messes about on the river and has him a little hunting practice (while watching us struggle!). He even mortally wounds a baby Kapibary through the lungs after Lionel pointed it out through the bushes. Harry then swiftly delivers a fatal shot to the head and pulls it out of the water. Lionel finds it all very amusing that Ian managed it hit something and claims it was just the law of averages. With all the shots Ian was putting into the bush, he was bound to hit something sooner or later!

Our new campsite is absolutely stunning once again. We empty the canoes and set up our basha / hammock sites. Ian gets a guilt complex over killing the cute, 2 month old baby and reckons his girlfriend Sarah would never forgive him! Never the less, we de-fur it, gut it and roast it on an open fire for dinner. The meat is tender, sorta porky and delicious, especially as it was still feeding off its mothers milk before it met it's early demise.

I survived. Nuff said.

Posted by Steve Eynon