I'm not sure where i should post this, because it is more of a survival post than a bushcraft post. If possible could it be moved to the right place if this isn't it.
I have occasionally caught a few episodes of when expeditions go wrong and todays subject was of a 150 mile race through the sahara. I just had to watch it because earlier on today i was talking to some of my friends from the athletics club I am a member of about how I think it would be good to have a go at when i get older.
anyways, this episode was called sahara nightmare! (the man survives
)
Image of the surviver: Mauro Prosperi
"When a seven-day, 150-mile race through the Moroccan Sahara was hit by a desert storm, many of the exhausted runners became disorientated and lost. When one of them failed to return to base, the military set out to find him."
"A sandstorm strands an ultra-marathoner in the Sahara Desert, with a day's bag of dry food and only a few gulps of water. Searchers give up when they find his bloody shoe laces. Yet Mauro Prosperi refuses to dieor stop running. This Italian cop seeks the most extreme tests of his endurance and Morocco's Marathon of the Sands grants his wish, but at what cost?"
[edit] I have found some more links about him which will give a better account of his experience than my text:
[url="http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200409/top_survival_stories_8.html[/edit"]http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200409/top_survival_stories_8.html[/edit[/url]]
a very brief sumamary:
In 1994 Mauro Prosperi of Sicily got lost in a sandstorm and wandered the desert for nine days, living off captured bats before being found 125 miles off course and some 40 pounds lighter. Calling the experience both "terrible" and "great," Prosperi returned to compete in 1998, only to be felled by a severely stubbed toe.
As you can see a storm hit the desert and he was the only one not to manage to return to base.
He did what he was told not to do and he started to run to where he thought the base was, he ran in the wrong direction and he slowely began to realise as he saw no signs of anyone anywhere. He still continued to run and was beginning to run out of his last half litre of water. When he had ran out he took a wizz in the bottle because he thought he may need it. He continued to run in search of help and he occasionally took sips of his urine (i am going to ask questions later on in the post about this). The rescue copter missed him in the desert dispite his efforts to catch the pilots attention.
He eventually saw on the horizon a building. He ran towards the building hoping for civilisation, however he found out it was a tomb and was only occupied by bats. He seeked shelter in this tomb and went to sleep for the night. He awoke to the sound of a plane and he ran outside and had a decision to make. He had eaten all of his supplies and used all his water, so he could either burn his back pack to increase chances of being seen, or not. He burnt his bag and he spread a reflective blanket across the desert floor to hope the pilot would see the reflection. The pilot failed to see him.
He went into the tomb again and decided that he was going to die anyway so he wanted to help on the process and he slit his wrists and went to sleep, however, he woke up in the morning (apperently he survived the slits because he was dehydrated and the blood was thicker) and he thought to himself, he will decide to fight on, he wants to get home and see his family!
He was exhausted and needed food, therefore resorted to the bats in the tomb. He reached out at them in the corner, killed them with his pocket knife, then he ate them. He said ate about 20, raw! This gave him energy and he set off into the desert to carry onhis survival (this was i believe his 7th day in the desert, according to scientists he had survived this long because of his intensive training, he could cover more ground and use less energy because of his fitness)
He had remembered they said to head towards the clouds to find water, so he set off to find water. Along the way he ate lizards and snakes raw (this apparently would have had no effect but would have helped him mentally. The food he ate could not be digested because his liver and intestines had stopped functioning so that the more important organs could survive longer.)
He eventually found water and he sipped it (not gulped) from the small puddle. Eventually he moved on and saw goat prints, he thought rightly that goats would be beside men as there cattle so followed them and he saw a small shepered girl who saw him and got scared and ran from him, he managed to follow her back to where they were and the kind people gave him goats milk to drink and contacted the army who came for him.
He didn't know he was being rescued by the army as one of them pointed a gun at him and they also blindfolded him and took him to there base. I believe he was rescued from there, I havent seen the end yet (as I went training for athletics). He was a very lucky guy to survive that ordeal.
Ahah, one more thing, the desert did not defeat him:
In 1994 Mauro Prosperi of Sicily got lost in a sandstorm and wandered the desert for nine days, living off captured bats before being found 125 miles off course and some 40 pounds lighter. Calling the experience both "terrible" and "great," Prosperi returned to compete in 1998, only to be felled by a severely stubbed toe.
I have a few questions:
Would eating the animals raw helped because of there water content?
Surely drinking urine is worse than no water because of its salt?
Thanks, Emdiesse
I have occasionally caught a few episodes of when expeditions go wrong and todays subject was of a 150 mile race through the sahara. I just had to watch it because earlier on today i was talking to some of my friends from the athletics club I am a member of about how I think it would be good to have a go at when i get older.
anyways, this episode was called sahara nightmare! (the man survives
)
Image of the surviver: Mauro Prosperi
"When a seven-day, 150-mile race through the Moroccan Sahara was hit by a desert storm, many of the exhausted runners became disorientated and lost. When one of them failed to return to base, the military set out to find him."
"A sandstorm strands an ultra-marathoner in the Sahara Desert, with a day's bag of dry food and only a few gulps of water. Searchers give up when they find his bloody shoe laces. Yet Mauro Prosperi refuses to dieor stop running. This Italian cop seeks the most extreme tests of his endurance and Morocco's Marathon of the Sands grants his wish, but at what cost?"
[edit] I have found some more links about him which will give a better account of his experience than my text:
[url="http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200409/top_survival_stories_8.html[/edit"]http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200409/top_survival_stories_8.html[/edit[/url]]
a very brief sumamary:
In 1994 Mauro Prosperi of Sicily got lost in a sandstorm and wandered the desert for nine days, living off captured bats before being found 125 miles off course and some 40 pounds lighter. Calling the experience both "terrible" and "great," Prosperi returned to compete in 1998, only to be felled by a severely stubbed toe.
As you can see a storm hit the desert and he was the only one not to manage to return to base.
He did what he was told not to do and he started to run to where he thought the base was, he ran in the wrong direction and he slowely began to realise as he saw no signs of anyone anywhere. He still continued to run and was beginning to run out of his last half litre of water. When he had ran out he took a wizz in the bottle because he thought he may need it. He continued to run in search of help and he occasionally took sips of his urine (i am going to ask questions later on in the post about this). The rescue copter missed him in the desert dispite his efforts to catch the pilots attention.
He eventually saw on the horizon a building. He ran towards the building hoping for civilisation, however he found out it was a tomb and was only occupied by bats. He seeked shelter in this tomb and went to sleep for the night. He awoke to the sound of a plane and he ran outside and had a decision to make. He had eaten all of his supplies and used all his water, so he could either burn his back pack to increase chances of being seen, or not. He burnt his bag and he spread a reflective blanket across the desert floor to hope the pilot would see the reflection. The pilot failed to see him.
He went into the tomb again and decided that he was going to die anyway so he wanted to help on the process and he slit his wrists and went to sleep, however, he woke up in the morning (apperently he survived the slits because he was dehydrated and the blood was thicker) and he thought to himself, he will decide to fight on, he wants to get home and see his family!
He was exhausted and needed food, therefore resorted to the bats in the tomb. He reached out at them in the corner, killed them with his pocket knife, then he ate them. He said ate about 20, raw! This gave him energy and he set off into the desert to carry onhis survival (this was i believe his 7th day in the desert, according to scientists he had survived this long because of his intensive training, he could cover more ground and use less energy because of his fitness)
He had remembered they said to head towards the clouds to find water, so he set off to find water. Along the way he ate lizards and snakes raw (this apparently would have had no effect but would have helped him mentally. The food he ate could not be digested because his liver and intestines had stopped functioning so that the more important organs could survive longer.)
He eventually found water and he sipped it (not gulped) from the small puddle. Eventually he moved on and saw goat prints, he thought rightly that goats would be beside men as there cattle so followed them and he saw a small shepered girl who saw him and got scared and ran from him, he managed to follow her back to where they were and the kind people gave him goats milk to drink and contacted the army who came for him.
He didn't know he was being rescued by the army as one of them pointed a gun at him and they also blindfolded him and took him to there base. I believe he was rescued from there, I havent seen the end yet (as I went training for athletics
). He was a very lucky guy to survive that ordeal.Ahah, one more thing, the desert did not defeat him:
In 1994 Mauro Prosperi of Sicily got lost in a sandstorm and wandered the desert for nine days, living off captured bats before being found 125 miles off course and some 40 pounds lighter. Calling the experience both "terrible" and "great," Prosperi returned to compete in 1998, only to be felled by a severely stubbed toe.
I have a few questions:
Would eating the animals raw helped because of there water content?
Surely drinking urine is worse than no water because of its salt?
Thanks, Emdiesse
