Widowmakers: Widowmakers are the standing dead trees just waiting to
come down in the next big wind storm. It can be dangerous to build your
shelter in the midst of widowmakers—though you may not have a choice.
Water: Your shelter needs to be as close as possible to a source of drinking
water; the farther you have to travel for water, the more energy and precious
calories you burn in doing so. That said, you shouldn’t choose an otherwise
poor location—for example, the coldest or buggiest spot in the valley—just for
the water source. Try to balance the proximity to water with other factors.
And while you want to be close to a source of drinking water, make
sure you don’t build your shelter where the water will get to you, such as
in a dry streambed that may fill the next time it rains, or in any depression
that may turn into a puddle. Remember, flash floods kill more people each
year than most other natural occurrences.
Wigglies: Build your shelter in a
place that keeps you as far as pos
sible from the wigglies: biting,
stinging, slithering, and crawling
creatures such as snakes, spiders,
and ants. In the Amazon, the bul
let ant—which the Waorani call
the Maunyi—grows to be nearly
2 inches (5 cm) long and sports
a massive pair of mandibles. Jim
Yost, my guide and Waorani inter
preter, describes the painful bite/
sting combination of the bullet
ant this way: “Imagine jamming
a scorchinghot pair of pliers into
your skin, squeezing and twist
ing them as hard as possible, and
keeping them there for at least
five hours.” The Waorani fear this Bullet ants live in colonies of about 60
more than a snakebite; they know occupants. They will attack humans if
that three to six stings from the their nests are disturbed.
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