How to survive on a desert island

On a desert island, the first thing we must do if we land is not to worry and value everything we have. If you are on an island because, for example, you were traveling by plane and it has fallen, you must take advantage of all the elements and materials of the device that can be useful and make your life easier. For example, there may be something that helps you start a fire, there are ropes or materials with which you could build a basic shelter. This is the first thing I would do when I got to the island.

If you remember the priorities of survival, the top priority is protection. But I think that on an island this changes and the main priority, due to the heat it usually does in these places, is to find drinking water.

One of the most screwed up things is that, if you find yourself on an island in the sea, you are surrounded by water that you cannot drink, if you don’t treat it to desalinate it and make it drinkable. This is one of the methods to get water on a desert island. If it is a tropical island, the safest thing is that there are palm trees where coconuts are abundant. You must be clear that the coconuts that have fallen from the tree are ripe and their milk has very strong laxative properties, so if you drink it, you will lose more fluids. So you will have to collect them from the tree. Some may be low and comfortable to hold, but others will be located in the highest palm trees and you will not be able to reach. The solution is to cut a long branch to throw them on the ground. If you have tools, you will not spend a lot of energy to fell the tree, but if you have it (which would be the most normal in a survival situation), you will lose a considerable amount of energy that you will have to replace with food. If you have a plastic bag, you can extract water from the plants. You can also collect rainwater. Rainwater is totally drinkable and therefore it is not necessary to purify it. The only thing you will need is to collect it in natural deposits, using a canvas or other elements such as shells, that the larger they are, the more water you will be able to retain.

After the water, I think the most important thing is to find shelter. If you find a natural shelter like a cave or a fallen tree, congratulations, but if not, you will have to build one to protect yourself. If you have plenty of time and energy, you can dedicate many hours to it and build a great one. But the best thing is to make a basic one that protects you from the rain and heat. I would build a shed, because of the slope of the roof, so that I can effortlessly collect rainwater. If you have bamboo poles, you can place some channels at the bottom of the roof, which direct the water to a larger container.

With the water and protection already under control, you should do your best to spend as little time on the island as possible. And for that, you will have to post distress signals. If you are on a small island, my recommendation is that you fill the coast with all kinds of signs. You can make a very large SOS, use sheets for other types of signals and, especially at night, make the signal with fire.

In fact, fire is also one of the obligations on the island. Without a fire, you will not be able to cook, make water drinkable, warm yourself or signal at night. If you have a crystal, you can light one using the magnifying glass method. By the way, if you wear glasses, you are lucky! In case you cannot light a fire with these elements, you will have to invest time and energy making fire by friction.

After the fire comes the food. You can fishusing traps like the one in the small fish bottle. If you want bigger fish, you can make other types of traps or make tools such as the harpoon, and if you want to improve the launch power and speed, you can combine it with the spear thrower. You can also search for food in the interior of the island. Look for edible plants or wild animals, which you can hunt, for example, with a bow and arrows or traps.

What I would do in case of being on a desert island, is to have a routine and combine all the necessities to survive. I would spend some time finding water, another to build and another to look for food.