On 13th July 2024, I went to Serock, north of Warsaw, for a survival course. I knew it would be fun. I also knew I would learn lots of practical survival stuff, but the amount of information I learned was beyond my expectations!

We met in a forest, in Serock. There was only 5 people (including the instructor). We started the course by marching across the forest couple of minutes after 10 AM.

The instructor asked about our experience and the course expectations. This was everyone’s first time trying the survival stuff. I actually got the voucher from my friends as a birthday gift (such a great one, as I would say later🎁).

First, we learned about the animal paths.

  • The animals walk in paths (didn’t know the paths I see in the forests are actually from animals. I though everything is made by us, humans! I mean, you would not say those smaller paths are being visited mainly by rabbits, would you?).
  • The paths can be recognized by the “gates”. The gates are the plants on one and the other side of the path.
  • You can recognize from where the animals are coming/going to by the “cut corners”.
  • The animals are of course recognized by their poops and urine (especially in winter).
  • The marks of the animals can also be observed on the trees.

Then, we went to where we would actually be camping. How do you identify the best place to camp?

  • It needs to be close to the water points (rivers, lakes, ponds, etc.). But, it cannot be too close! The animals (predators as well) are coming to the water places.
  • We should be avoiding the animal paths.
  • Forests are preferred (of course, if there are storms, then we need to be careful), as there is more shade and the wind is not that strong.
  • We need to look around to make sure there is no trees, or other things that could fell on us.

How do we actually setup the place where we could sleep?

  • this needs to be a flat area, where we would put our temporary “tent”.
  • It’s good to test the ground, by laying on it for 1 minute (trying to fall asleep). If we’re good and nothing bothers us, that should be a good spot. If we’re using the paracord, we could install it between the 2 trees. We can then put the “poncho” on the cord. If we don’t have “poncho”, we can use the NRC foil (be careful with the foil – it’s strong, but once ripped, it will fall apart). It’s better to add a little stick to the NRC foil (on each corner) and install a cord carefully, not to rip the cord.

Right, then, what’s the best way to start the fire? It’s not a problem to start it when the weather is good, but it becomes a challenge when it’s raining or super cold in the winter.

  • The best kindling is the birch bark. It has the essential oils that are easily flammable. You need to scrabe the bark. Then, use the flint (the recommended one is the “american” one), to start the fire.
  • The other, very good kindling is the piece of the root, from the fallen tree. It should have a lot of tree resin, that is super flammable as well.

There are different types of fires you could start, but the one that is popular and good is the “well” fire type. When starting the fire, you need to get prepared first. Prepare enough wood so you won’t be disappointed when you barely started it and suddenly run out of the wood. Collect 5 “sizes” of the wood – first size could even be thinner than a match. So, when starting fire:

  • Have the fire platform ready, so you won’t be working in the mud, etc.
  • Have the sticks (all 5 sizes) + the wood that you would use for the fire later, ready and close to you.
  • Prepare the “wind catcher”, also from the sticks, to protect the construction from too much wind or to catch the wind when it’s weak.
  • One, good move with the flint should do the trick – make it strong. Of course you make it with your kindling and have the extra birch bark piece ready (you keep adding the bark, so it’s enough to start the fire from the 1. size of the sticks you collected).
  • Once, the fire is good, you just keep on adding the wood, making sure you don’t run out of it. Make sure you have enough for the night.

When the night was there, the instructor allowed us to have our first meal that day (I must admit I secretly ate my chocolate bars and “kabanos”). He told us later that it was intentional, to simulate the survival conditions (luckily, I cheated a little with the chocolate).

Right, it was super fun so far! After midnight, we went into the forest. The instructor told us to leave any lamps in the camp – We would walk in the complete dark. As it turned out, the eyes can get used to the dark pretty quickly. We needed 5 minutes to see what we’re walking on. We learnt how to find the polar star, that indicates the north.

When we came back to the camp, we stayed a little longer by the fire and went to sleep, in our provisional tents. The night was quite comfy and warm, the only thing that bothered me was mosquitos.

In the morning, we learnt how to filter the water. It’s really important, if you don’t have a lot of water supplies with you.

  • Prepare the plastic bottle, cut the lower part of it.
  • Take the wood coal from the fire place, from last night, crush it in the plastic bottle.
  • Add the crushed juniper as 2nd layer – make sure it’s crushed really well.
  • Add sand as the 3rd layer.
  • Your filter is ready, you can now add the water and wait for it to be filtered.

That was one of the last activities. The course was really good and the time we spent in the nature was super relaxing as well. I would recommend anyone to learn the basics of the survival. I’m hoping I would not need to use the knowledge in the real case scenario, but I’m pretty sure I would use some tricks in the camps, during the future adventures.

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Adventure