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n most survival situations, two things are necessary to survive the crucial first days of your experience: water and shelter. Since my field experience is in warm tropical climates where dehydration is a major concern, shelter ranks at the bottom of the importance list and water is the number one survival consideration.

The jungles and rainforests are filled with water potential, but streams and rivers may not be available during certain seasons or in high jungle regions. Another consideration is the safety potential of drinking directly from open sources such as this, especially if your short term adventure evolves into long term survival.

Waterborne viruses, bacteria, and even small parasites such as leeches and blood stream borers (flukes) can cause major damage, disease, and death. Although the Indians of Latin America think nothing of drinking directly from any water source, they have built a certain immunity over the generations. Gringos traveling the region should be extra careful.

Recently I traveled to the jungles of Central America to work with Mike Benish, one of the leaders of SpecOps tropical survival school. A major portion of this school involved safe water procurement. This article deals with water acquisition in a jungle survival situation and should never be used in place of available safe methods. Even during survival training, we use water purification tablets and/or filters to avoid unnecessary risks, since contaminated water is the leading cause of disease and death in under-developed countries.

Producing Water from Less Obvious Sources
In a true survival situation you could take water from any available river or stream. This water could then be purified by boiling in improvised bamboo pots, by filtering through makeshift filters, or you could just hope for the best and drink without treatment. But what do you do when running water is not present, or you wish to add an extra layer of protection against human or animal contamination? The best alternative method is extraction of water from plants.

PLANT WATER
Banana Trees
In a tropical region, most of the plant life is soaked to the core with water. Retrieving this H2O for use is relatively simple once you know what you’re looking for. Live banana and broad leaf trees such as the Bird of Paradise are excellent producers and generally safe sources. Using a knife or machete, cut the tree and leave a short stump protruding from the ground. Hollow the inside of the stump to produce a bowl shape. After a few hours, the live root system will fill the bowl with water. The first few bowl fills will have a slightly bitter taste but is safe for drinking. After drinking the bowl dry, always place a banana leaf over the bowl to prevent direct evaporation and to protect your source from bugs and animals. This system will continue to produce water for approximately 3 days.

Water Vines
Another excellent source of fresh water is the water vine. Found throughout the jungle and tropical regions they are easily identified by their size and shape (3-6 inches in diameter and round, not flat like ribbon vine). Cutting a meter long piece from a water vine will produce a stream of clear running water immediately. If you have chosen the wrong vine, water will not be free flowing and the dripping sap will have an extremely bitter taste and/or cloudy appearance. Do not drink this sap since it can be highly poisonous. The liquid from water vines will have a neutral or fruity taste, not at all repugnant.

The ironic part about true water vines is some are poisonous, but the water produced from them is not. For this reason it is best to not allow any cut vine to make contact with the skin since rashes and allergic reactions can develop.

Also remember that water procured from plants should not be stored for more than 24 hours due to the onset of fermentation.

Another resourceful place for finding water is inside the leaf systems of plants. Rain water will gather in the bowl like shapes of many tropical plants. Air plants such as orchids always have some amount of water collected within. Be careful when drinking this water since this secret is already known to all the insects and wildlife of the forest. It’s highly recommended this water be boiled or filtered.
Other tricks of finding water are looking for tree crotches or crevices in rocks that may contain water. Many plant roots can be mashed to produce their water content. Watching the animal life and trails can be signs of water. Birds will usually fly towards water in the evening and heavily traveled animal trails usually lead to a water source.

The Australian Aborigines use a method of tying tufts of grass to their feet and walking through dew covered ground. The grass absorbs the moisture and can be distilled or wrung into a container for purification.

Tropical areas are not the only places water can be obtained with these processes. Every region of the world has potential for producing water. Since most survival situations are relatively short term, I consider water procurement, shelter, and fire making to be the absolute essentials of survival. Knowing these skills should be number one on everyone’s list.