Learn essential survival skills including shelter building, fire lighting, navigation, first aid, outdoor safety and practical skills to survive in the wilderness.
Sprains and strains are common outdoor injuries. A slip on a muddy path, an awkward landing, a twisted ankle or simply pushing a muscle too hard can leave someone in pain and unable to carry on normally. A sprain affects a ligament, which is the strong tissue connecting bones around a joint. A strain affects…
The recovery position is used when someone is unconscious or has a reduced level of responsiveness but is breathing normally. Placing them on their side can help keep their airway open and allows fluids such as saliva or vomit to drain away rather than blocking the airway. It is a useful first-aid skill to know,…
CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an emergency first-aid skill used when someone is unresponsive and not breathing normally. It helps keep blood moving around the body while you wait for professional medical help to arrive. Emergency Disclaimer This article is for general first-aid education and is not a substitute for recognised practical first-aid training or…
When someone is injured or becomes unwell outdoors, your first instinct may be to rush straight over and help. That is understandable, but the first thing you need to do is stop and check that the situation is safe. A casualty who needs help is already in a difficult situation, but rushing into danger can…
When you’re navigating outdoors, you don’t always need to follow an exact bearing from one point to another. Sometimes it is easier and safer to use features that are already in the landscape to guide you. Two particularly useful navigation techniques are handrails and catching features. They are simple ideas, but they can make navigation…
There is a big difference between recognising a plant or fungus and knowing that it is safe to eat. When you’re learning to forage, the safest habit you can develop is being comfortable leaving something alone when you cannot identify it with certainty. Some poisonous species are surprisingly common, and some can look very similar…
Foraging can be a great way to learn more about the plants around you, but the most important skill is not knowing how many wild foods you can eat. It is knowing when you have identified something confidently enough to eat it — and when you haven’t. There are edible plants growing in many familiar…
When you’re outdoors for longer than expected, one of the most useful skills you can have is knowing how to manage the food and water you’ve already got. Running out is rarely caused by one big mistake. More often, supplies gradually disappear because you’re drinking whenever you feel like it, eating larger portions than planned…
Water purification tablets are a useful way of treating water when you’re camping, hiking or travelling somewhere that you cannot rely on the water supply. They are small, lightweight and easy to carry, which makes them particularly useful as a backup to a filter or as part of an emergency water-treatment kit. The important thing…
A water filter can make collecting water outdoors much easier, particularly on longer walks, camping trips and adventures where carrying all the water you need isn’t practical. Rather than carrying several litres from the start, you can collect water from a suitable source and filter it as you need it. However, using a filter isn’t…
