Survival Shelter

Simple Survival Shelters That Will Conquer The Elements:

Survival shelters are essential to your survival success. Whether you’re planning a long-term wilderness bug out or want to be prepared for an emergency.

Forest Survival Shelters;

Emergencies are, by definition, unplanned events, “A serious situation or occurrence that happens unexpectedly and demands immediate action.”

So how do you do this in regards to forest survival shelters? By purchasing several survival tarps/basha. Then stashing them in your vehicle, your bug out bag, your day pack, etc.

Paracord has many survival uses, but with shelter building, it’s essential for securing tarps and lashing wood together.

So with just these two simple items (a tarp/basha and paracord), and a bit of shelter knowledge, you can protect yourself from most weather related survival emergencies.


Tarp/basha Shelter;

If you are planning a few nights or outdoors this is where the basha survival shelter excels.

Choosing a good base location. You want the natural surroundings to help reinforce your shelter. There are good shelter locations and bad locations. Always take a few minutes to select your location.

Figure out the prevailing wind direction. For most of us that’s going to be from West to East. So you’ll want to have the back of the basha facing to the west, that way driving rains and howling winds will be deflected by the basha. If you built your shelters entrance facing the prevailing winds, the winds will enter and push rain with it into your shelter.

Tip: Understanding prevailing winds is key for all survival shelter setups and not just for tarp shelters. You can combine most tarp/basha setups with fire if hypothermia is a concern.

Before we move on; a quick note about basha's:

Not all tarps/basha's are created equal. Cheap basha's rip.
Cheap tarps/basha have don’t have many grommets/eyelets.
You need lots of grommets/eyelets to make all the basha shelter variations.
And the eyelets that cheap tarps/basha's have, will rip the tarp/basha under very little tension.
Cheap tarps/basha quickly deteriorate under UV light exposure.
Cheap tarps/basha's are not good for survival situations.

Now if you don’t have a tarp, building a one-night survival shelter becomes a more labour intensive task.

Forests offer an abundance of resources if you need to build a strong survival shelter. Trees provide ample amounts of logs and sticks. They also provide pine straw and leaves. These are your basic building blocks to many survival shelters.

The Debris Survival Shelter;

The simple debris shelter is your next best bet if you are without a tarp.

Take advantage of what nature can provide. I’m talking about outcrops, caves, large burrows, or natural depressions. If you can find a natural area that’s protected from wind and rain, then by all means, use it. Take what nature gives. Don’t spend hours or days building a complex shelter when there’s an empty cave in site.

To make the most of a forests resources and to build a stable structure, you’ll want to have a few essential survival tools with you. At a minimum, you need a high-quality survival knife.

And for the more heavy duty survival shelter builds, you’ll need a survival hatchet, a small wire saw, and a portable tactical shovel.

Assuming you have these items you’ll be able to construct the following survival shelters with some knowledge and practice.

The Spider Shelter;
It’s a modified debris hut with an extra dome at the front to provide enough space to sit up in it. This kind of survival shelter is ideal for solo survival for both the medium or long term stay.

Now if you are staying for the long haul, then you might as well make your house a home with a few upgrades. Every day, add a few small upgrades to your shelter and in a few weeks, you’ll have yourself a longer-termer term shelter. Upgrades such as a sleeping mat, a fire hole, and more layers of debris for more insulation.

The Ultimate Wickiup;
This shelter is more elaborate and will take extra time and energy to build. However, you can scale this survival shelter design to include larger survival groups for long term stays.

If you’re planning an extended stay in a Wickiup, it makes sense to invest some effort making life a bit more comfortable. You’ll also have time to add upgrades to your shelter over the weeks or months that you’re living there.

Jungle Survival Shelters;
For emergencies in a jungle, your best bet is a tarp shelter. If you don’t have one, then you can build a debris survival shelter similar to the ones we previously covered. The trees species and debris will be different in a jungle, but the concept is the same.

The Survival Hut;
Jungles provide unique materials you can use to build with. They have thick vines, hollow shoots, large leaves, and the ground is often made of clay. Plus, you’ll have an abundance of water available to work with.

A survival hut starts by using the wattle technique to interlace shoots and sticks. Wattling creates a simple fencing structure. Then you use the dub technique to smear a clay-like substance onto the wattle and allowing it dry. These two methods create a substantial survival hut.