A 62 year old man who got lost in the Australian desert after chasing a camel, managed to survive for 6 days only by eating ants. This is an amazing survival story of human determination.
Reginald Foggerdy, a 62 year old hunter abandoned the car driven by his brother in order to pursue a camel in the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. He never expected to get lost as he has experience in tracking camels and yet, he embarked on his real-life wilderness survival trial.
The western Australia police trackers managed to find the man six days after he was reported missing by his daughter.
This is a true survival lesson because the man managed to stay alive for six days without having the proper gear. According to the police officers who found him, he went hunting wearing only a t-shirt, shorts and sandals.
Police superintended Andy Greatwood told the local radio that “His last couple of days of survival were achieved by lying down under a tree and eating ants”.
Although it is hard to speculate how much longer he could have survived, the rescue team said that he was barely holding on and he “was extremely dehydrated, disoriented and basically delusional”.
Some say it’s a miracle that the man survived so long without water, while others say that eating ants is the only reason why he is still alive. Regardless the reason, being able to survive for six days in a land where you are never too far from something that tries to kill you, is really amazing.
Although this site is not a news site, I wanted to publish this story as an example of what can be achieved if you have a survival mindset and a good knowledge about your environment. It is a perfect survival lesson and I’m looking forward to know more about the challenges this man faced.
I wrote a previous article about how eating insects can save your life. In that article, I was also saying that eating ants is a good solution for when food is scarce. Many readers wrote and said that they would rather die than eating ants and that eating insects is not a survival option for them. I assume that Mister Foggerdy wasn’t thrilled either by this idea. However, he knew that eating ants can save his life and he went for it.
Related article: Edible insects that can save your life
What one should take away from this survival story:
- A survival mindset will keep you alive, no matter where you are
- No matter how experienced you are, never go into the wilderness without proper gear
- Make use of whatever resources you can find; eating ants, grasshoppers or any other edible insects really works
- Learn to signal for help and leave traces for rescue teams (apparently Mr. Foggerdy didn’t leave any traces except for his footprints and tracking footprints in the desert is not easy)
- Stay put when you get lost (staying to days in the same place greatly increased the chances of being rescued).
This is an amazing story and you can look it up on the internet. There’s no better testimony about huma ingenuity and deterimnation to survive agasint all odds. Even more, the Facebook page of the Western Australian Police posted various pictures from the rescue operation.
Stay safe and God Bless!
Other Survival and Preparedness solutions you may like:
Drought USA (Secure unlimited fresh, clean water) – A DIY Project.
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
Bullet Proof Home (Learn how to Safeguard your Home)
Blackout USA (Video about EMP survival and preparedness guide)