How to construct a simple Jungle Shelter

How to construct a simple shelter in a jungle.
Here I add my 10 cents worth to the subject of constructing survival shelters. There are an abundance of videos showing the construction of elaborate "survival shelters" but closer to reality this may not be the case. Elaborate shelters will require time to construct properly and in some cases more than one person will be needed. Elaborate shelters made from scratch will also require a greater expenditure of energy than building a shelter upon pre existing natural structures, such as: large boulders, fallen trees, overhanging cliff faces etc. Expending unnecessary energy in an emergency or survival situation may not be the wisest of approaches to survival.

Materials required for elaborate shelters may not be available, for example, branches or logs all of the same thickness and or length. It might be winter and you might be in a region where all the trees are deciduous, so you will need to know what to use for roofing materials etc.

All of that being said, it is paramount to understand how to build as many different types of shelters (including those of an elaborate design) for a given environment that one travels in. This is the skill of bushcraft and or survival. If you journey enough times into the wilds, these kinds of skills can save your life and maybe those of others.

The building "log cabin" style "survival shelters" is absolute foolishness unless you have loads of energy to burn: inclement weather is not threatening, chainsaws, axes and methods to drag those heavy logs into place and erect them all by yourself etc. Despite conjuring up the "survivalist" romantic approach, these types of shelters are best left to the armchair survivalists and those TV producers looking for high ratings. Also incorrectly made, these types of shelters can become a death trap or cause serious injury if not constructed to exacting requirements, just as nay building.

In a situation, being able to take cover as quickly as possible may save you, and your companion's lives. This video is nothing new, just my thoughts based around my experiences.

I used just one knife (a Extrema Ratio ONTOS survival knife)and my hands. All materials were natural i.e. growing or dead before I took them. The Hilton it's not but it is a shelter. Apologies in advance, I pull no punches in what I say and this is not meant to be a debate about whether one favours axe/hatchet over knives or saws but rather showing how to be resourceful. The best practice is to go to somewhere unfamiliar (but don't get yourself lost!) and try building a shelter.


Time to build


I guess if I took out the filming time. moving cameras and tripods etc, I probably made it in about under 2 hours (not counting the time it took to flatten the palm bracts under rocks-which took overnight since they were relatively fresh). The longest time of any one construction segment was finding non-rotten material (when I didn't use cut saplings) for the base. So yeah, I'd say that's a pretty good estimate. I probably wouldn't have moved any faster as I would risk falling over in the bush or getting carried away swinging the knife like a psycho. Plus it's not a good idea in the Aussie bush to move too fast, one can easily step on a snake by accident if it doesn't have time to move out of your way.