Rafting 101 | Primal Survivor

it’s easier to carry my raft in pieces
and assemble it at the water’s edge
I got this long straight piece and I’ll
use this as my cross beams I sharpen
small pieces of hardwood into nails and
use them to hold cross beams in place I
want to make sure that I built this raft
is solid as possible because I don’t
want this thing falling apart it’s gonna
be taking a lot of abuse in the darién
building a raft is a basic life skill
not everyone in the tribe has a canoe so
for one-way trips down river they use
balsa wraps like city folk use rental
bikes take my friend Placido he picked a
tree
we made a raft and off he went then when
you get to your destination you’ll leave
the wrap for the next passerby to use so
then the final bit here to make this
thing really strong is tie it all
together with these roots better
dangling from the trees there will be
difficult parts of this river where I
can’t afford to fall in if I hit my head
on a rock
it’ll be game over just another victim
of the darién all right
maiden voyage
the river is my quickest way through
this terrain but I can’t go upstream so
initially it’s taking me away from the
coast and into the heart of the jungle
standing on the raft gives me more
leverage and allows me to survey the
river ahead it’s dry season and the
rivers are low but there are still small
sections of whitewater to navigate as
the river picks up speed on the bends I
struggle to keep my balance
kneeling you’re sitting will lower my
center of gravity and allow me to
negotiate the trickier sections and now
I’m making progress