AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-1999
SA: Australia s survival school impressed by Bogucki trek
ADELAIDE, Aug 23 AAP - Australia's elite military survivalists are impressed by American
adventurer Robert Bogucki's trek through Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert.
Squadron Leader George Lilley, the commanding officer of the Townsville-based Combat
Survival Training School, said the Australian outback was a dangerous place for humans without
advanced survival skills.
"It's obviously impressive and I really don't know how he did it without having a fair
amount of water," Mr Lilley told AAP.
"If he has been moving about, he needs at least eight litres of water a day. Where did that
come from?"
Mr Lilley said those involved in the school, which teaches survival skills to army, navy
and airforce personnel, had been watching the month-long search for Mr Bogucki with great
interest.
Mr Bogucki, 33, was today found alive in a creek bed in the Edgar Ranges, 180km south east
of Broome, after walking more than 400km across the desert.
Mr Lilley said humans could survive for three days without water and 30 days without food,
so water was the most crucial requirement for people in the Australian outback.
"The most dangerous thing that's going to happen to you is you are going to run out of
water, that's your most immediate killer," he said.
He said survivalists would find water by watching animal and bird behaviour - for instance,
birds fly high and fast if they are going to water and low and slow if flying away from water.
Plastic bags could also be tied tightly around tree branches in the sun to collect moisture
from the leaves while small animals could be killed to provide food.
Mr Lilley said plants and roots could also be eaten, but some could be toxic and the school
taught survivalists to use a 20-hour test to check whether plants were safe to eat.
AAP sn/bm
KEYWORD: CYCLIST SURVIVAL
1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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