BE PREPARED, OR THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU TOO!
by Henk Kraaijvanger
Getting lost in nature happens more often than you think. Usually, though not always, it ends well. You can prepare to prevent it, and if it does happen, have enough training, drink & food and equipment to spend a night outdoors. Read the short newspaper report below from last weekend.
THE 42-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO WENT MISSING ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE POLDER NEAR HOOGERHEIDE HAS BEEN FOUND.
The search for a missing man who had become unwell in the Hoogerheide polder was successful. Police believe he became unwell during a walk. On Sunday, he phoned home to say he was feeling ill and did not know where he was. His wife then called the emergency services.
A major search began immediately on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday and Monday, a police dog searched the area around De Groene Papegaai, and searches also took place near the Noordpolder. A police helicopter was deployed too. Police also enlisted Burgernet, an online partnership between police, local government and citizens.
At around quarter to ten on Monday morning, police received a report that someone had seen a man lying in the woodland. Officers and an ambulance went to the location and found the missing man. He was unresponsive but still breathing when found on Monday morning. The ambulance took him to hospital at around ten o’clock.
Source: BN De Stem.
This is a recent incident from our own country (2014). Every year brings reports of Dutch people getting into trouble abroad, sometimes fatally. They expected a simple walk but found themselves in serious difficulty through underestimating the situation, getting lost, sudden weather changes and similar problems.
EVEN ON HOLIDAY, KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU NEED TO GO.
THIS HAPPENED TO US.
I was walking a long, waymarked route in the Sauerland with my family. Our car was in a woodland car park at the start. The unpaved path ran along a hillside that was difficult to climb or descend. About halfway along the route, we had to cross a busy main road, a Bundesstrasse. Beside the crossing was a car park and school-bus stop. Several kilometres beyond it, we suddenly could not continue. Tired? No! Forestry workers had felled the conifers and deciduous trees above the path, blocking it for hundreds of metres. THERE WAS NO WAY THROUGH. My family’s safety was priority-1, so what should we do? Safety came first. I climbed uphill to find a detour, then tried downhill, but found no route suitable for the whole family. I climbed back to the path, panting with my backpack on, to my wife and waiting children. After a family council, we decided to return to the car park and school-bus stop.
They would wait there with a supply of drinking water, while I hiked cross-country to fetch the car and collect them. Walking along the main road was too dangerous and prohibited anyway.
I opened my backpack, took out my navigation equipment, map and compass, and plotted a compass bearing to our car park. After more than two hours of trudging and navigating, I reached the car. I could then collect my wife and children from the school-bus-stop car park. There were happy faces when I drove in!
MY ADVICE: BE PREPARED.
# Know where you are.
# Make sure your loved ones know where you are: leave your route details.
# Take a local map and compass.
# Carry a pocket knife, such as a Swiss Victorinox.
# Always carry your mobile phone with enough credit and a charged battery.
# Always carry an emergency whistle rated at 120 dB. Whistling is not a naturally occurring sound, carries far, is noticed sooner and can be sustained much longer than shouting.
# Carry a “space blanket” or emergency blanket for protection from cold, silver side inward, or heat, silver side outward.
# Carry a small, packable, windproof and water-repellent Pertex jacket.
# Take two plastic bottles of drinking water.
# Take two energy bars.
# Carry a lighter.
# Carry a small LED light.
# Take a few plasters and an emergency dressing No. 1.
# Take a few metres of paracord for repairing broken laces.
# Take some Duck Tape, wrapped around an old membership card, for example.
# Take cash, including small change.
All this fits in a daypack, or can be distributed between securely closing jacket and trouser pockets.
ENJOY YOUR WALK!
Lees in het Nederlands
15% off 
15% off 
